Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 22, 2021 7:53 pm Hey all, We are wanting to replace an old colorbond fence that is at the back of our house as it is warped and the paint is powdering off. The fence is also about 400mm lower than both our side fences which means we look over into the neighbours house behind us. We were planning on replacing the entire fence and making it match the height of our side fences so we can't look into their yard. Win win for both parties. The house is a rental and the owners don't see an issue with how the fence is now as they dont live there to care. Which means we will be paying for the fence entirely ourselves (which is not an issue). Our issue comes as the back fence is basalt and our side fences are woodland grey. If we were to replace the fence we wanted to change it to match our side fences. The owners of the neighbouring house aren't happy with a colour change as half their fence will still be basalt (even though this half is covered by Tiger grass). We live in NSW. I'm unsure where we stand. As far as I'm concerned if we are paying for the fence then they don't get a say in the colour providing we replace it with another colorbond fence. What are people's thoughts or where do we stand as I can't find anything in legislation to help work out if we can do it without their permission Re: Replacing old fence neighbour issues 2Aug 22, 2021 9:29 pm Shannon288 Hey all, We are wanting to replace an old colorbond fence that is at the back of our house as it is warped and the paint is powdering off. The fence is also about 400mm lower than both our side fences which means we look over into the neighbours house behind us. We were planning on replacing the entire fence and making it match the height of our side fences so we can't look into their yard. Win win for both parties. The house is a rental and the owners don't see an issue with how the fence is now as they dont live there to care. Which means we will be paying for the fence entirely ourselves (which is not an issue). Our issue comes as the back fence is basalt and our side fences are woodland grey. If we were to replace the fence we wanted to change it to match our side fences. The owners of the neighbouring house aren't happy with a colour change as half their fence will still be basalt (even though this half is covered by Tiger grass). We live in NSW. I'm unsure where we stand. As far as I'm concerned if we are paying for the fence then they don't get a say in the colour providing we replace it with another colorbond fence. What are people's thoughts or where do we stand as I can't find anything in legislation to help work out if we can do it without their permission Not sure about NSW but in Vic there are clear guidelines about the fence height and colour in estates. The question would be what happens if tomorrow the neighbour takes out your newly installed grey fence and installs a new basalt fence without asking you to pay ? Have you throught of installing another fence or timber decorative fence in front of it and that way you could increase the height and select any colour you want. Just a thought. Re: Replacing old fence neighbour issues 3Aug 22, 2021 10:25 pm The neighbours are cheap scapes so I know they wouldn't bother, the house is a money making machine and that's all to them. They don't care if we replace the fence to increase the height but at the same time the owners don't understand why we'd want to do that either as they don't see it as an issue. They have never lived there and don't even visit the house and its rented out through real estate. They think it'll interfere if they wanted to sell the house as they think buyers will be turned off by having a different coloured fence even though the other part that will be a different colour is screened out by Tiger grass. The current tenants planted the tiger grass so obviously they find our neighbours looking into their yard an issue. In today's property market here on Mid North Coast of NSW I don't see this as being an issue. The house would sell in a day. Our fencing covenant states it must be woodland grey colorbond which is why we are wanting to replace it with woodland grey to match our side fences and the rest of the estate. The fence we are replacing is also visible from the road so comes under this covenant. I'm unsure as to how building another fence in front of the existing fence would go securing into our side fences. We've been told structurally it's better to replace the old fence that is already buckled and not straight from their kids sliding into it ect with a whole new colorbond fence as this will give us the best longevity out of the fence and for our moneys worth. Re: Replacing old fence neighbour issues 4Aug 22, 2021 11:59 pm I'd write to the owners and let them.know that due to the fact that the fence is deteriating, doesn't match the estate colour and is below the 1800mm high you want to re-fence and are requesting that they pay half. Give them a certain time frame to respond in and make it clear that if they haven't you will assume that they are not paying for the fence so you will proceed with the fence that matches the estate covenant. Yes, it may be annoying having to pay for the full fence but you get complete control. We had to do this with our rear neighbour. They were adamant that they weren't going to pay for the new fence, but demanded that we put in a hardifence if we were going to replace the fence. We basically told her that we would pay for the fence (she thought she had won) then put in the colourbond fence of our choice. She couldn't do anything thing because we paid for it. In the big scheme of a house build, a thousand bucks on a fence to get what we wanted was well worth it. I'd prefer to take a small hit to get what I want and get the overall win. Plus the neighbour can't complain because in a strange way they think they won because they didn't pay. Accessible Carpentry & Cabinets accessiblecarpentry@gmail.com accessiblecarpentry.com.au https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessible-Carpentry-Cabinets/583314911709039 Re: Replacing old fence neighbour issues 5Aug 23, 2021 11:13 am chippy I'd write to the owners and let them.know that due to the fact that the fence is deteriating, doesn't match the estate colour and is below the 1800mm high you want to re-fence and are requesting that they pay half. Give them a certain time frame to respond in and make it clear that if they haven't you will assume that they are not paying for the fence so you will proceed with the fence that matches the estate covenant. Yes, it may be annoying having to pay for the full fence but you get complete control. We had to do this with our rear neighbour. They were adamant that they weren't going to pay for the new fence, but demanded that we put in a hardifence if we were going to replace the fence. We basically told her that we would pay for the fence (she thought she had won) then put in the colourbond fence of our choice. She couldn't do anything thing because we paid for it. In the big scheme of a house build, a thousand bucks on a fence to get what we wanted was well worth it. I'd prefer to take a small hit to get what I want and get the overall win. Plus the neighbour can't complain because in a strange way they think they won because they didn't pay. Yeah we are paying for the fence ourselves as we feel it's a great investment. They won't even give a cent to us and we haven't asked them too either because we knew how they are. I'm just finding it frustrating that they think they can dictate the colour when they don't want to help pay. I'm just unsure if we can legally go ahead with the fence if they don't agree with the colour Hi, we live in an area where the black soil is prone to a lot of movement. We have an old 50's house with masonite everywhere and nails popping out, warping, rusted etc.… 0 4499 Old Home Restoration / Renovation Try your local council. They should be able to advise in regards ownership of next door dwellling and give advice as to what steps you have to take before doing any work 1 9790 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Hi, I have an old fence/barrier made of treated pine logs bolted to plates and these are bolted to very large metal posts/girders. The plates and bolts are rusted through… 0 15111 |