I built a new house and moved in 15 months ago.
I needed new fencing down 1 side, elderly neighbour at the time wouldn't agree to pay and share at least some of the costs. I needed the fencing done so we could add concrete paths properly - the old fence had moved into our property (25 year old fence and our property is lower than them as we're on a hill). Ended up paying the full cost (about a year ago), and then the neighbour listed their house for sale 2 months later.
Now they are starting to develop next door, and had a builder come over today and tell us they needed to remove the last 9 panels of our fence to add retaining (it's a long block - about 45m long!).
The 9 panels of fencing is our whole backyard - they're building it to fill their land - and the retaining wall with the fence will be over two metres high. I've attached an image for reference - there will be over 1m of retaining done with the fence on top - this means the fence line will be straight and even, however be hideous for us.
Two questions:
I am in SA and my research shows they should give me 20 days written notice of this with plans and timeframes. They told me today and have already pulled our fence down.
Ignoring the fact that I paid for the whole fence - there is significant retaining being done which won't look nice as they are going for the plain grey concrete slats. I asked the builder to speak with the developers about getting some nicer looking slats, either coloured or decorative - and the developers said that they've chosen the grey colour (most likely as it's the cheapest) and if I want to get nicer looking stuff then I would have to foot the cost. Is this right? I wouldn't care if it didn't affect us much however it's a significant retaining wall and we've literally just finished building retaining for our garden beds - and this now makes me rethink our whole backyard plans.
Am I in the wrong to push for coloured or decorative retaining given it won't cost them too much more, and the same developers are also currently developing another block nearby?
Picture: Light blue is roughly where the retaining wall will be built up to (they're adding an extra slat to right-most fence in the photo, and that height will be kept the whole way).
The dark red is roughly where the top of the fence will end up once it's on top of the retaining. Note the garden beds we've literally just finished adding