Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 31, 2009 11:38 am hello everyone, Does anyone had experience/advice going to court for small claims about dividing fence? My situation is this: we served the neighbour a notice to fence and they agreed to it (only through phone no written agreement). Then we had the fence built and I wrote a letter asking them the money. After a week, still not hearing any from the owner and thinking of bringing this matter to small claims tribunal. Any advice? thank you Re: Dividing fence small claims 2Aug 31, 2009 11:45 am If they are your neighbour, have you knocked on their door to speak to them? Also, what state are you in? The fencing laws/rules are slightly different depending on your location 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Dividing fence small claims 4Aug 31, 2009 12:06 pm Personally, I wouldn't do anything so drastic after only a week. They are your neighbours and this would, I'm betting, cast a shadow over your relationship with them... Could you send one more letter reminding them that you require payment (specify by a certain date), pointing out that you are out of pocket and tactfully saying that if you don't get payment by that date you will be forced to take this further? And that way, if they don't respond, you can comfortably say that you did everything you could in terms of fairness and politeness. This is what a small claims tribunal would want to see that you have already done anyway. Good luck; your is not an enviable position Re: Dividing fence small claims 7Aug 31, 2009 12:51 pm We're in a similar situation...sent first letter gave them 2 weeks to pay..heard nothing..after the 2 weeks sent a second letter...asking again to pay in a week...got a reply saying how rude we were to send 2 letters... AFAIK, If you've sent the letter to fence, they've agreed, you've sent them a letter to ask for payment with at least 7 days to pay and they don't pay you can then take it to small claims. Make sure you've sent the letter by registered post or hand deliver to someone at the house so you have proof they've received the letter. Check http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGIS ... fenA53.pdf if you want to know the actual rules. Good luck. Built Liberty 42 - Handover 26th Feb 2010 forum thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17243 Re: Dividing fence small claims 9Sep 01, 2009 8:01 am Tenants would have no rights to agree to such a thing as it wouldn't be coming out of their pocket. It's the landlord you need to get in contact with - either directly or via the real estate. Re: Dividing fence small claims 10Sep 01, 2009 11:32 am Sent the letter to the owner of course. I rang the council to get the contact details of the owner of the house and was given a PO Box address, so didn't use the registered mail. I am not sure about using registered mail with PO Box addresses. Nightshade >> did you have to go to use small claims tribunal or you sorted it our of court? And thank you for the link. Re: Dividing fence small claims 11Sep 01, 2009 11:48 am About 6 months ago (maybe even longer?) we put up a new fence between our place and our next door neighbours. It was because we had an old wooden fence and my dogs kept getting out through the gaps or simply jumping over the top. Anyway, we erected this massive fence that our neighbours agreed to go halves in (probably about 30metres long) In the meantime, our neighbours privately sold their house and moved interstate. We never saw a cent. Moral of the story (harsh but unfortunately true) - dont expect to be paid anything! We made the same mistake and had nothing in writting and got stuck with the cost of the materials and the cost of hiring a post hole digger and of course we had to do all the labour ourselves. Kind of sucks that some people can be that rude My advice, if you know the owners, contact them directly. Either a phone call or go to around to their house. Otherwise, I'd say wait a few more weeks. As someone has already said, they may just be on holidays. Or they may not have the money right now, and are waiting for pay day to be able to pay you their share? On the up side, the one good thing about doing the fence youself...at least the pretty side will be facing your side and the ugly side with the posts and that will be on their side Good luck anyway, let us know how you go Building 'The Kingston' (with 'Boston' elevation) through Blueprint Homes in Hocking, Perth **PCI complete 06.02.10** My Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17607 Re: Dividing fence small claims 12Sep 01, 2009 12:46 pm It can be really difficult at the beginning to figure out whether you're in for a long battle, or whether there has simply been an oversight, or whether there is a delay which sometimes people are too embarrassed to admit to which if only you knew you would consider not unreasonable. I do think a week isn't very long and talk of going to court is premature, though it doesn't hurt to know what your options are if you don't hear from them. Who exactly did you originally speak to on the phone and what exactly did they say? Did they agree to share the cost or only agree to the "idea" of the fence, the choice of materials? Did you specify a time limit in your letter? Do they live locally or interstate, which affects how quickly you can expect mail to arrive? Re: Dividing fence small claims 13Sep 01, 2009 1:24 pm Haven't sorted ours out yet...after the angry letter we received, thought i'd wait a few weeks before going any further. The cost of taking 1/2 a day off work ot go to small claims and taking the risk the judge will take their side + the stress of the whole thing makes me hold out hope. 2 of the other neighbours (I had 6 to deal with for the fence and overall I have 9 to deal with in regards to my house...downfall of battle axe block...) had PO boxes and it's fine to send registered mail to them. They just get a note in their po box saying they need to come inside to get somethig. It's big things that like say deliver some computer equipment you can't send to a po box. Honestly...I was glad the most of the neighbours agreed and paid fairly quickly...my thought was I'd pay for it myself..then I get what I wanted, the colour i wanted etc. and if any of them coughed up some money it was a bonus to me that I can put towards something for the house. Built Liberty 42 - Handover 26th Feb 2010 forum thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17243 Re: Dividing fence small claims 15Sep 08, 2009 5:50 pm Excellent!! Good to hear things worked out for you Building 'The Kingston' (with 'Boston' elevation) through Blueprint Homes in Hocking, Perth **PCI complete 06.02.10** My Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17607 Re: Dividing fence small claims 16Sep 08, 2009 10:41 pm Good to hear it all worked out for you. Built Liberty 42 - Handover 26th Feb 2010 forum thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17243 Re: Dividing fence small claims 17Sep 08, 2009 11:55 pm Quote: On the up side, the one good thing about doing the fence youself...at least the pretty side will be facing your side and the ugly side with the posts and that will be on their side That ugly side can be used as a ladder to climb into your property. (by standing on the rails). My dads neighbour wanted a new fence and the neighbour asked for the rails on his side for this reason. Hi all, We are looking to build a new two storey house in western Sydney. Can anyone recommend a smallish builder to go with? We are trying to stay away from the big… 0 12158 consider putting in wall WC instead of robe in the same bedroom, then it might be doable to hook up to the existing piping. 4 6634 Hey, I am wanting to add a second toilet to my house, bit we have limited room. 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