Speicher said:
I expect his MIL would like a reply before 2012!
I have also recently been reliably informed that the law govening ownership of fences has been changed over the last decade. Each fence is now in shared ownership of the householders each side.
I was going to suggest Student Services as well.
What it is on fence ownership- Most new houses now are sold with shared ownership fences. Any older fence is still down to the old rules of ownership.
If the landlord is letting to students then he probably does not care about the house too much so will not do much of a job on the house if you did manage to track him down.
Best thing to do is to repair the fence yourself and then you own the fence. Yes you have the cost of this but then you also have the driving seat.
You cannot rely on the ownership in title deeds as ownership may change if one party (either) assumes responsibility. The side the post is on may help but lots of modern fences with panels are double sided with post between panels.
There is nothing to stop you putting up your own fence. Also there is no easy way to try to get someone else to repair their fence.
PS if you do look on Land Registry site for the owner, it may cost £1 for a copy of the title deeds as I dont think you can get their name for free - you can just see if they have the title there for free (IE that it is registered).