You have to be kidding Do I respond

you would have to be male wouldn't you?

Thats so tempting,

I just find it amusing that they waited until they moved before they sent us the letter. I had another look at the letter an noticed it was just addressed to 'The Owner' so I will just throw it out with all the other election mail that is addressed the same way, they could not even be bothered to do a search and get our names.



Thanks Cazoraz If we get any further letter I think we will use your quote.

Neighbours can be so strange

Cheers Lou

I wouldn't take kindly to this, and haven't received a request for payment from any of our three neighbours (we were last)...and we won't be asking for anything from the one and only remaining land owner. I figure if we get to choose the colour before they are even here, then it's at our cost.

Reply to every legitimate question,really.
Its not until you live overseas that you find out how "prompt reply" of questions make you happy.
Q.Can you pay for the fence?
A. NO , we did not own the land when the fence was erected, contact the previous owner.

When you have to deal with countless organizations,businesses,family overseas with little or no reply, and then you send a request to an Australian organization , and they reply and say"i am sorry we cannot help you". Well let me tell this is the greatest gift i have ever had.
hooray for prompt truthful replies.They make the world a nicer place.
And you know my inquiries are not so different to your neighbors.I really was not sure if i can get reimbursed for a prior cost but when i looked into it i found i could not.I was shown my error and grateful that i did not waste anymore time with the wrong organization.

18 months before we bought our property the road was made, there was provision made for a footpath but as we were not the owners at the time the previous owners had to put aside in trust $133. This was organised by our Solicitor at the time. It's now 32 years later no footpath and from time to time I wonder what ever happened to that $133
Unless there is some special requirement these days for such things, and your Solicitor should have known this, I can't for the life of me see why you would have to pay for the existing fence
I would reply though as someone else suggested for them to recover the cost from the owner at the time - good luck

The owners of the adjoining lot which is built on and have erected the fence are quite in their rights to send you the bill--irrespective of who owned your vacant lot when fence was built, and original invoice supplied--they can only proceed to claim half when your building has commenced--you'll be in court and lose--think yourself lucky your not paying today's prices

Saxien,

I'm sorry, but at least in Qld, where the original poster is, this is wrong. You must issues a Notice to Fence before building anything, and if there is a dispute you must go to QCAT to get a ruling before doing anything, or you will not be able to claim anything from the other owner. I know this because I am in the middle of it now.

The original poster is not liable to pay anything for this fence.

If that was the case, what is to stop people claiming for a part share in fences, years and years later?

And over and over again!

one of my neighbors was an old widowed pensioner he asked me if I could wait a month to pay his share of the fence as things were tight, I offered to take his unused outdoor spa bath as payment instead.... a deal he was very happy with, I unfortunately didn't go and get the thing before he married a younger woman who committed him to a home and sold the property.
The sounds of the new owners enjoying their spa bath are a painful reminder.

See, don't pay for your half of the fence. You'll be committed to a home and loose your house

We had friends who bought in a development where there was a mix of new builds and vacant land-their contract stated that whoever was the first to purchase the land from the developer was liable for fencing costs....it was also clarified in their contract that if you bought a block from the developer next to a house with an existing fence then you were liable for half of the original costs...

Is it possible that this QLD system is in place with the existing office you mention and other legislated offices, where as if the criteria is not meet by either party , then you will have to pursue the matter in another lawful avenue.Which by means is available to All.

If I understand you correctly - then no, no other legal avenues apply. The only legislation in Qld that deals with fences is the Dividing Fences Act. If you do not issue a Notice to Fence, the Dividing Fences Act does not apply, and you have no legal recourse to demand any contribution of the cost of the fence from your neighbour. The only way to legal demand a contribution for a fence is under the terms of the Dividing Fence Act. There is no other way. This is not just my opinion, it is my lawyer's.

Talked to the neighbours also adjoining these people they also go a letter, they are also going to ignore it as well.

We all think its a bit rude as we both talked to these people before they moved out and they never once mentioned the fence, just gutless to send a letter of demand after they moved.

But basicly as we did not own the block at the time the fence was built and there was nothing in the land contract to say we had a liablity to pay. We just don't like how they went about it all and we will not be giving them the courtesy of a reply.

Cheers Lou

How rude of them, Lou!

And I'm sure they must know they're in the wrong. They're just trying it on... Good thing you didn't come down in the last shower.

I won't add anything new that others have not said Lou, I'd just like to post here to see what happens.
Good luck!

Oh why not, my opinion = shred it.

What about if you can prove that there was no way to contact the Lawful owner of the property next door at the time of Fencing?
Or are you saying that the QLD Office needs to have records of your intended Notice to Fence, in other words you register with them that you are pursuing a Notice to Fence Claim?
Would this not be addressed with the initial council Approval documents. It seems reasonable that a council should make you aware of such Legislation when submitting your plan to build a Fence?If the Council does not make you aware of such Fence Act,then possibly there is another avenue of recompense?.
I know what your lawyer said but there seems to be more paperwork in the trail than just sending a letter to your neighbor.It seems ridiculous at best to create a court ruling on 2 people arguing if they sent/received a letter or not back in 2001.
If this is the case then maybe the neighbor has already submitted his Notice to Fence with the required Office along time ago when the Council gave permission to build the Fence?

You know as a few people have mentioned already, its good manners to address the situation at hand.Ripping up the letter just proves that its not smart.If i was addressing the letter to neighbors i would address it to"Owner of the Household" or something like that.How are they really meant to know who has legal ownership, it could be your Mother who is signed on as legal Owner?

The local council will give you the contact details - it's where they send rates bills. It's the owner's responsibility to ensure this contact address is accurate. When you get to QCAT you need to be able to show you issued a Notice to Fence or they will dismiss the complaint. I used a signed receipt registered post letter to prove I served the Notice to Fence.

Here is another point of Order then.

Owner wants to build fence, he submits plans to council .
Council approve and give him info on Fence act.
Owner submits his Notice to fence,sends out letters in 2001.
No response from Letters.
Years later owner re sends out letters.
Owner has receipt of Fence + council docum + Fence Act Docum from initial build date.

This scenario seems normal, how many people have tried to dodge the fence payment by ignoring it for years?
The real questions here is does the original Owner have a Notice to Fence submitted in on the build date, and does the Fence act have provision for him to claim years later!