Flat with shared garden during covid lockdown

My rented flat has a shared garden with the flat downstairs. The garden is technically divided in two down the middle (ground floor owns the left side, 1st floor owns the right), but currently no physical barriers.

The garden in total is about 5m wide and over 8m long (so approx 2.5m x 8m for each). My tenants are complaining that they cannot use the garden because the government advice says only one household can use the shared garden at a time.

I cannot find anything quite so specific, neither from the local council nor central government. However, some other council websites seem to say things like “If possible they [the neighbours] should use the outside area separately.”. From what I can tell though the general advice is simply “make sure you keep 2m apart”.

My tenants are demanding that I install a fence so that they can use the garden at the same time. Am I obliged to do this?

I do not want to install a 6’ high fence as that will block all the light in the garden (which somewhat defeats the point!), and if I install a 3’ fence, that will do nothing to solve the problem of distance / co-use of the space.

If they are allowed to use the garden at the same time, there is ample space for them to do so while maintaining the required distance. They also have access to a large park and open land a few minutes walk away. So my instinct is to just tell them no.

why not get a roll of tape type barrier and string it down the garden on a couple of poles

Hi Matt, I understand that people wish to remain safe, but it seems like this really isn’t your problem and that a little common sense from the two sets of tenants could resolve the situation quite easily without you being involved!

I’m not personally aware of any legal reason for you to build a fence due to covid, and it’s unclear what epidemeological role a fence would play in any case.

Sam

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you should have a clear visible marker set dividing 2 different properties in any instance as this falls under the rule of being totally self contained if each property has its own title deed then the title deeds should indicate the rule of a physical fence, if it doesn’t yet there are 2 separate title deeds then one should always separate them visually in any event, nothing to do with covid-19!
in your instance of not wanting to install a 6 foot fence i would recommend any fence like structure at any height, probably 3foot high fence would be the easiest solution and the cheapest yet i wouldn’t do this now during such awkward times, yet you could buy some metal barrier steaks & tape now and put them up as a temporary visual reference marker until you do the fence later yet if you wanted yet nothing to do with covid-19 this is just standard good practice and it will make it look like your doing something by using steaks and cordon tape towards the covid-19 situation hence the tenants cant run around saying your doing nothing to help and it can all be done in minutes for under £100 so would be a winner solution all round i think.

do you own both flats? if not then I would have thought you’d need to liaise with the other flat owner

Alternatively tell them to talk to their neighbours and come up with a solution