Last reviewed 30 October 2026. General guidance, not legal advice.
First steps
- Make it safe. Keep children and pets away from leaning panels and loose posts. Wait until the wind drops. If power or phone lines are down, keep well away and call the network operator: 105 for power in England, Scotland and Wales.
- Take photos. Of the damage, from both sides if you can, before you move anything.
- Work out whose fence it is. Look at your title deeds or the title plan from HM Land Registry, and the property's sale papers. Most title plans don't show exact boundaries, so talk to your neighbour.
- Talk to your neighbour. Agree who repairs it and how the cost is shared, before work starts. Put it in writing.
- Ask your insurer. Policies differ on fences and storm damage. Ask before you pay for a repair.
- Repair or replace. Broken panels can often be swapped into sound posts. Rotten or snapped posts usually mean new posts, set in concrete or in metal spikes.
Height rules
In England, you can usually put up or replace a fence without planning permission if it is no more than 2 metres high, or 1 metre next to a road used by vehicles (or its footpath). Listed buildings, some new estates and other cases have extra rules: the Planning Portal explains them. The rules differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: ask your council.
Walls are different
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 can apply to a garden wall built on the boundary line, but not to a wooden fence.
Before the trade comes
Measure the length of fence, count the broken panels and posts, say what kind of fence it is (panels, close board, picket) and whether the old fence and posts need taking away.
Find the right trade
- Fencers: what to ask and what to check
- Handymen: what to ask and what to check
- Carpenters: what to ask and what to check
- Gardeners: what to ask and what to check
Sources
- GOV.UK: your property boundaries
- Planning Portal: fences, gates and garden walls
- GOV.UK: party walls and building work
- Met Office: weather warnings