Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Fence costs and neighbours 10Mar 25, 2011 8:13 pm The fence was removed because it had to be removed. She was informed of it (why it had to be done, when, etc.) and verbally agreed to it. Re: Fence costs and neighbours 11Mar 25, 2011 8:22 pm The_Matriarch
If you want suggestions from posters, you may want to give a bit more detail. Obviously up to you, but your post suggests you advised her the fence had to go, she reluctantly agreed and now you expect her to pay half for a new fence. Which could be unreasonable. But without any detail, it is hard to tell.................. Re: Fence costs and neighbours 12Mar 25, 2011 8:22 pm The_Matriarch If you want suggestions from posters, you may want to give a bit more detail. Obviously up to you, but your post suggests you advised here the fence had to go, she reluctantly agreed and now you expect here to pay half for a new fence. Which could be unreasonable. But without any detail, it is hard to tell.................. Fence costs and neighbours 13Mar 25, 2011 8:24 pm But was she under the impression it was being reinstalled? Ie when we built we needed a retaining wall. We had to remove the existing chain mail fence (next door has there for forty years). We removed it then once the house wS finished it was replaced at our expense. Just because it was rusty doesn't necessarily mean it was ready for the scrap. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Fence costs and neighbours 15Mar 25, 2011 8:32 pm She didn't "reluctantly" agree. The fence was very old, rusty, had almost fallen over (was no longer doing its proper fencing job), and she was informed that, due to the new construction on the site, it had to go. She agreed to it (not reluctantly, although she didn't care if the old fence had stayed or been removed), arguing it's entirely our cost, as we're the ones who decided to build. I can see her point of view, but I'm also looking at this from my point of view, thinking it's completely unfair for her to have demands on what type of fence should be erected, so we can keep the peace, yet have no intention of contributing to its cost. Re: Fence costs and neighbours 16Mar 25, 2011 8:45 pm Kyton is spot on,in your opinion it was not doing it's job.It's a hard call when there is an existing fence very hard to prove it needs replacing.At least you can choose what style you want,good luck Re: Fence costs and neighbours 17Mar 25, 2011 9:22 pm hmm a touchy topic, we've been best friends with our neighbour ever since we put up our new fence.. NOT Anyway, it looks like you won't be inviting them over for the housewarming anyway, I don't think you should stress too much about keeping a good relationship with them. If you try to think from their perspective, they were probably happy with the old falling apart fence, if they are from the t-rex era, they probably don't need an extra expense like that. The fence was pulled down because you had to build, not because they needed a new fence. On the other hand, if they are not paying, they have no right to be picky imo, don't approach it liek you are asking their permission, but rather, notifying them this is what is going to be built and when. If they are unhappy about that, they can take it to court (passing the legal cost to them ), who knows, maybe this way you could get 50% of the costs back once it's in court Good luck Re: Fence costs and neighbours 18Mar 25, 2011 9:29 pm We had to pull down a termite riddled fence in qld, we served the neighbour with Notice of intent with 3 quotes prior to the old fence being pulled down even thoough the nieghbour had verbally agreed. If you are happy to pay all the cost just put up the fence you want if she wants a say let her know that she will have to foot 50% of the cost. But whatever you intend to do still serve a notice of intent with quotes so you are legally covered. Cheers Lou http://take2-customdesigndownslope.blogspot.com 07-10-09 omg they have cut the block 14-05-10 we finally have the keys Re: Fence costs and neighbours 19Mar 25, 2011 9:49 pm We have had similar fence issues in SA with a neighbour claiming they wanted no part of any costs for the replacement of a 40-50 year old fence that was falling over. As they were from the T-Rex era ( they had lived there for 50 years) their contribution was $600 and I could not be bothered arguing about it. As it had to be replaced I served them with the appropriate notice under the Fences Act but left their contribution blank and advised them they could contribute anything between $0 and $600 and it was entirely up to them but when considering their contribution to consider the improved quality of the fence and continuing good neighbourly relations. They were quite chuffed at the approach that we had not tried to enforce the full $600 on them and readily agreed to $300 instead of $600 ( which put me $300 up on the $0 they had agreed to previously). Crow Slab Down: 2/6/11 Moved in 13/3/2012 Current Status : Waiting for the garden to grow. My build thread : viewtopic.php?f=31&t=47031 Re: Fence costs and neighbours 20Mar 26, 2011 4:58 am I totally get your situation. We have bought an old house with a 40 year old fence. Currently it is held up ON OUR SIDE by wire and steel pickets. Our pool goes in on Monday and there is no adequate side fence. Our neighbour, who is lovely, says we don't need a new fence as I think she doesn't want to spend the money, justifiably. However, it is a retaining wall divider fence and is going to cost $1000's!! I have been looking into regulations and they somewhat state that whoever has to retain their land pays unless the other property cut into the land. This makes it confusing for us because we have to retain and they cut in! I am not sure where to go but in all likely hood, I am going to go with the contribute a certain amount approach rather than half - just to maintain neighbourly relations. HOWEVER - I will be choosing the fence! Good luck it depends on the natural ground level, if they excavated their boundary wall needed to be built as a retaining wall. If you filled, which sounds like the case then you… 1 7092 The only thing to add to these comments is that where possible it's always good to try and work with people than just say "no" because you can. Having someone… 4 17153 4 11221 |