Neighbours bolted fence to my wall during construction

Bobbris84 · Sep 04, 2021 4:15 am

Hi everyone. We are currently building a house in south east Queensland, we went to look at our build last weekend and found the neighbouring property has bolted fence to our garage wall. The wall is 200mm on our side of boundary. I have spoken to my builder and they said its not their problem. I thought the builders were responsible for the building until handover. Is this correct? Should the builder be rectifying this problem with the neighbouring property? My thought is they should be as in our signed contract there is no fence attached to the brickwall? Thanks for any advice. First time building so unsure exactly what should happen in this situation.

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Splashers · Sep 04, 2021 10:21 am

The blockoff fence looks just like a quick fix to maybe stop animals from escaping. It is not a good permanent fence. The best way is to knock on the neighbours door and have a discussion about the fence and the future fence for your neighbouring properties.

Dont send builder or letters because they are your neighbous for many years just have a nice chat and you will probably find its only temp fence

NathanPS · Sep 04, 2021 11:37 am

Splashers

The blockoff fence looks just like a quick fix to maybe stop animals from escaping. It is not a good permanent fence. The best way is to knock on the neighbours door and have a discussion about the fence and the future fence for your neighbouring properties.

Dont send builder or letters because they are your neighbous for many years just have a nice chat and you will probably find its only temp fence

A temp fence bolted to their wall.. I’d be annoyed too..

But as Splahers has said, have a quick chat with the neighbour, they may not even know it’s not legal to do that and could even offer to rectify for you.

aussieta · Sep 04, 2021 12:47 pm

your new brick wall now has drill holes in it
i would be severely upset. but almost impossible to repair without making it worse

Callifo · Sep 04, 2021 3:32 pm

If they were to use a post, where would it be concreted in? Your slab will overhang the boundary line, and they'd otherwise be jackhamering into your slab. I had this issue when I put my fence in with my neighbour on zero boundary. Their concrete underground overhung like 100mm, the option was two bolts in the wall or jackhammer a hole in the slab edge overpour. Went with the bolts...

aussieta · Sep 04, 2021 3:59 pm

install post as close as practical and cantilever rails 100mm

chippy · Sep 04, 2021 4:21 pm

Callifo

If they were to use a post, where would it be concreted in? Your slab will overhang the boundary line, and they'd otherwise be jackhamering into your slab. I had this issue when I put my fence in with my neighbour on zero boundary. Their concrete underground overhung like 100mm, the option was two bolts in the wall or jackhammer a hole in the slab edge overpour. Went with the bolts...

No part of a build, including the footings should encroach on the neighbours land. With zero lot construction they should be using an off set footing.
What happens if the neighbour is also building zero lot. You would end up with one house possibly having to sit on the other houses footings. Hence the reason no footing should be in the neighbours land.

Bobbris84 · Sep 04, 2021 5:44 pm

Callifo

If they were to use a post, where would it be concreted in? Your slab will overhang the boundary line, and they'd otherwise be jackhamering into your slab. I had this issue when I put my fence in with my neighbour on zero boundary. Their concrete underground overhung like 100mm, the option was two bolts in the wall or jackhammer a hole in the slab edge overpour. Went with the bolts...

We are 200 in from boundary. There is definitely room for a post.

strannik · Sep 05, 2021 1:56 pm

Other than them not asking you before doing that, what exactly is your concern with it?

There's going to be a fence there (whether it's bolted to your garage wall, or to a post next to it), and it's their property, so you won't be able to walk in there or see anything behind the fence.

I'd just talk to them, but you have to be clear what is it that you actually want. We had similar situation where our neighbors built to boundary, and we have about 1m between our garage walls, so we agreed that we'll hang a gate on our garage wall, and drill a hole for the latch in their wall.

aussieta · Sep 05, 2021 2:36 pm

that's is the point you agreed on the decision, these people did not
it is not neighbours property, it is 200mm of op property
this needs to be a lesson for the future when people search whirlpool to understand it is not ok to take liberty with neighbours wall, just to make it convenient for your self

strannik · Sep 05, 2021 2:52 pm

i think i clearly said in my post "other than them not asking first"

Bobbris84 · Sep 05, 2021 3:18 pm

strannik

Other than them not asking you before doing that, what exactly is your concern with it?

There's going to be a fence there (whether it's bolted to your garage wall, or to a post next to it), and it's their property, so you won't be able to walk in there or see anything behind the fence.

I'd just talk to them, but you have to be clear what is it that you actually want. We had similar situation where our neighbors built to boundary, and we have about 1m between our garage walls, so we agreed that we'll hang a gate on our garage wall, and drill a hole for the latch in their wall.

As we didnt build right to the boundary we will be running a fence up that side of the house to avoid anything being screwed or bolted to that wall in future.

Pedro4137 · Sep 05, 2021 3:39 pm

Fascinating situation.

New bricks without fixing holes as well, means different colour mortar if replaced.

strannik · Sep 05, 2021 4:28 pm

Bobbris84

strannik

Other than them not asking you before doing that, what exactly is your concern with it?

There's going to be a fence there (whether it's bolted to your garage wall, or to a post next to it), and it's their property, so you won't be able to walk in there or see anything behind the fence.

I'd just talk to them, but you have to be clear what is it that you actually want. We had similar situation where our neighbors built to boundary, and we have about 1m between our garage walls, so we agreed that we'll hang a gate on our garage wall, and drill a hole for the latch in their wall.

As we didnt build right to the boundary we will be running a fence up that side of the house to avoid anything being screwed or bolted to that wall in future.

going to be hard to do that without trespassing on their property...

Bobbris84 · Sep 05, 2021 4:44 pm

strannik

Bobbris84

strannik

Other than them not asking you before doing that, what exactly is your concern with it?

There's going to be a fence there (whether it's bolted to your garage wall, or to a post next to it), and it's their property, so you won't be able to walk in there or see anything behind the fence.

I'd just talk to them, but you have to be clear what is it that you actually want. We had similar situation where our neighbors built to boundary, and we have about 1m between our garage walls, so we agreed that we'll hang a gate on our garage wall, and drill a hole for the latch in their wall.

As we didnt build right to the boundary we will be running a fence up that side of the house to avoid anything being screwed or bolted to that wall in future.

going to be hard to do that without trespassing on their property...

I will be requesting access formally from the neighbours. So no it wont be tresspassing.

michaelled · Oct 21, 2021 7:58 am

That's really amazing!

Pulse · Oct 21, 2021 8:52 pm

This issue keeps coming up with builds to the boundary.

If you are going to build to boundary you have to expect this sort of thing. It is a bit rude for them to drill holes but really not a big issue.

You will get people planting trees, garden beds, fixing washing lines, fences, water tanks etc. These are all things people normally have near the boundary. If you build on the boundary you should expect this sort of thing after all it is a small price to pay for being allowed the benefit of utilising that extra space.

AnjC · Nov 09, 2021 10:02 pm

I'd be really annoyed they drilled in to my wall without permission - and it's not even like you have a zero lot block, really, as it's 200 from the boundary.

I think I would be having a chat with the neighbour and asking them what their long term intentions are re fencing - and tell them what yours are.

And for those who know such things, is it possible to replace the brick(s) that were drilled in to? We've had a feature wall built recently and the brickies laid a brick the wrong way about and when I mentioned it to them; they fixed the problem by replacing that single brick in the middle of a whole wall of others - so I would think it was possible?

Sprocket Man · Nov 10, 2021 1:40 pm

I'm surprised that the builder has pushed back on this. My understanding is that they are wholly responsible for the site security for insurance and safety reasons. I would be following up with the neighbour and contractor directly (and independently of each other).

They have ultimately caused damage to your structure which is totally unacceptable, however minor the damage.

jake_paul · Nov 16, 2021 3:32 pm

Bobbris84

Hi everyone. We are currently building a house in south east Queensland, we went to look at our build last weekend and found the neighbouring property has bolted fence to our garage wall. The wall is 200mm on our side of boundary. I have spoken to my builder and they said its not their problem. I thought the builders were responsible for the building until handover. Is this correct? Should the builder be rectifying this problem with the neighbouring property? My thought is they should be as in our signed contract there is no fence attached to the brickwall? Thanks for any advice. First time building so unsure exactly what should happen in this situation.

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have a friendly conversation with the neighbor,
hear their reason, if they give a proper explanation accept it
or if they answer rudely
you can take legal action by the law
before everything kindly talk with them.