Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 06, 2022 5:59 pm Fence issue with my neighbor,
So, a few weeks ago my neighbor who is building on a vacant lot, asked us to remove our back fence so they can lay the brickwork for their garage wall and put the fence back in place. I found it odd that they came to us just a few weeks before the bricklaying was meant to take place. I asked them to get their builder to get in touch so that I can understand the finer details, once I got a call from their builder it turns out their wall is going to be built on the boundary and the builder will need access to my property to do the work. Felt a bit deceived that the neighbor didn’t mention anything that the builder told me, none the less I tried to negotiate with the neighbor and come to a common ground, I requested for the wall to be rendered as I am not a fan of their brickwork. They refused this offer and said it's their property they don’t have to render the wall and said they will send a formal complaint to the council if we don’t remove the fence. I tried getting in touch with the council to understand more about this and to get a copy of the proposed building plans and permits, but the council directed me to the building surveyor, and they refused as it was a civil matter and told me to get in touch with my neighbor. When I approached the neighbor about this, they told me it was a breach of privacy, and they won’t share any plans. What are my options here, do I have to just live their brickwork, or are we able to reach a win-win scenario? And how should I proceed further? Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 3Nov 06, 2022 9:04 pm If the builder needs access to your property to work, that is at your discretion I would have thought. I’m surprised by your neighbour’s attitude (we have already discussed removal of fence and property access, as well as neighbour’s preference of fence vs garage wall upon completion before we even demolished the old place), and not sure you want to make it worse, but I would think that you could say a condition of access to your land is that they render the wall. Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 5Nov 07, 2022 10:33 am if the looks is your primary concern, then it's in your best interest to let them access your property, so they can do the job nicely. otherwise they will do it from the other side and you'll be staring at a poorly finished wall. is it right on the boundary, or about 200mm off it? if it's the latter then you can ask for the fence to be reinstated after they are done. it's a bit crap that they only letting you know with two weeks warning. we're also building to the boundary, and i've let our neighbor know as soon as we have finalised the working plans and they went to council for approval (about 6 months before we actually got to the bricklaying stage). unfortunately maintaining good relationship with your neighbors is a foreign concept to some people now if they are asking you to remove the fence yourself, that's something you're fully entitled to refuse. they should be removing it, reinstating it, and wearing any costs for that, as well as remedying any damage the tradies might do to your property while doing the job (landscaping, rubbish etc) Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 6Nov 07, 2022 1:21 pm ![]() remove our back fence so they can lay the brickwork for their garage wall and put the fence back in place. Doesn't this read like they will put the fence back, implying they will be building slightly off the boundary and just need to remove the fence to build it properly? In which case, this seems to be fine and if you don't like the wall you can see you could plant a tree/hedge in front of your fence? Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 7Nov 07, 2022 2:15 pm ![]() Just ask them to build slightly off the boundary and then reinstate the fence. You should be able to see the plans, that is weird. I found it odd that they won't give me access to view the plans, I've organized a meeting with their builder this week, hoping I can get some more info Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 8Nov 07, 2022 2:20 pm ![]() ![]() remove our back fence so they can lay the brickwork for their garage wall and put the fence back in place. Doesn't this read like they will put the fence back, implying they will be building slightly off the boundary and just need to remove the fence to build it properly? In which case, this seems to be fine and if you don't like the wall you can see you could plant a tree/hedge in front of your fence? from what the builder has told me, it's going to be right on the boundary wall. so, the fence won't be able to go back. I'll have to talk with the owner/ builder to see if we could arrange some sort of false fencing or share the cost of rendering Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 10Nov 07, 2022 5:40 pm ![]() should be illegal to build to boundary as there is always a loser and it's not the one with the new house I don't necessarily agree with that. You own the land right up to your boundary so you absolutely should be allowed to build up to that point. Particularly with lot sizes becoming smaller it can be critical to maximise your lot I do agree that good neighbours would make sure that this process has as little impact on their fellow neighbour as possible and make sure that everything is rectified on completion. Ultimately many people are quite happy to have a nice face brick wall as part their fence line and if they don't then simply build the fence hard against the side of the wall. I think it's wasteful to have a small strip of dead and unusable land that will grow weeds and cause moisture issues when you sit the house 200mm in off the boundary. I think it's all about being reasonable on both sides and trying to work together for the best outcome, but also recognising that you may not get everything your own way. When you are the first to build it's easy to forget that your builder used the neighbours lot's to park on, work on and dump materials on but when it's your neighbours turn to build you then hold them to a higher standard and don't want to cut them any slack. Having a house built next door is definitely an inconvenience but it is a short period of time compared to the length of time you may end up living next door to your neighbours. Accessible Carpentry & Cabinets accessiblecarpentry@gmail.com accessiblecarpentry.com.au https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessible-Carpentry-Cabinets/583314911709039 Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 11Nov 07, 2022 5:56 pm What’s happened with slab/footings? They will know your movements already, work or home, and have a plan to complete wall. Most likely turn up with 3-4 man bricky crew and do wall in day What is the situation with fencing rules/Act? Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 12Nov 08, 2022 12:41 pm We built in Brisbane city council area 2 years ago, with a garage brick wall about 450mm from boundary. Our certifier made us provide plans to the neighbour, and request approval to build close to the boundary. The neighbour requested we render or paint the brick wall facing them, which we did. I thought this was standard but I guess must vary by local govt. Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 13Nov 08, 2022 12:58 pm On the plus side, you could do fair bit of creativity with a brick wall than with a fence.
zeroing in garage wall is a reality, spin it positive ! Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 14Nov 08, 2022 1:01 pm ![]() We built in Brisbane city council area 2 years ago, with a garage brick wall about 450mm from boundary. Our certifier made us provide plans to the neighbour, and request approval to build close to the boundary. The neighbour requested we render or paint the brick wall facing them, which we did. I thought this was standard but I guess must vary by local govt. it depends on council, your block size and also on whether it's part of 'emerging community zone', as i think those have special guidelines as to what's allowable as far as setbacks go (usually because lots are more narrow). in some areas if you have a lot with very narrow frontage you must build to boundary, you don't get a choice, for slightly wider lots you can choose whether you do or don't, and for even wider lots you're not allowed to. i am a bit surprised to hear that you need neighbors approval to build 450mm from boundary, and that they can demand things like render etc. Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 15Nov 08, 2022 2:23 pm ![]() On the plus side, you could do fair bit of creativity with a brick wall than with a fence.
zeroing in garage wall is a reality, spin it positive ! Sounds great and some people may let you do it, but at the end of the day the wall doesn't belong to you it's the neighbours house so you can't do anything to it, particularly starting to attach items to it. You could open yourself up to issues if you started modifying what is your neighbours house. Some owners may be happy with you attaching light items to the wall but anything substantial would be a bit of a stretch. Accessible Carpentry & Cabinets accessiblecarpentry@gmail.com accessiblecarpentry.com.au https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessible-Carpentry-Cabinets/583314911709039 Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 16Nov 08, 2022 3:45 pm ![]() ![]() On the plus side, you could do fair bit of creativity with a brick wall than with a fence.
zeroing in garage wall is a reality, spin it positive ! Sounds great and some people may let you do it, but at the end of the day the wall doesn't belong to you it's the neighbours house so you can't do anything to it, particularly starting to attach items to it. You could open yourself up to issues if you started modifying what is your neighbours house. Some owners may be happy with you attaching light items to the wall but anything substantial would be a bit of a stretch. You are right Chippy it may not be a given! I only wish if the council made it a precondition for zeroing in that you would allow neighbours to make minor changes to walls as long as it won't compromise the wall structurally. I always thought the fence line (just like fence) belongs to both parties or to neither. Oh well. Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 17Nov 17, 2022 9:43 am If the plans have been approved, you don't have other option but to accept removing the fence. Of course, the costs of removing the fence should be covered by your neighbor, btw did they pay for half of the fence? If you do not allow them to remove the fence, they can submit a dispute and they'll surly win. If you don't want to allow them to work from your side, you can refuse so and they have to accept that. The downside of refusing them access to your property is that you'll get the bad looking side of the brick work. Re rendering the wall, you can't force them to do it and neither you can't do it yourself without their permission. Even though the wall is on the boundary, it is still their wall. So, you can't do anything with that wall unless your neighbour allows you to do so. About the plans, they are in their rights to refuse to show you the plans as it is their house and you have no rights to see them. It is a privacy issue (I know it sounds odd, but it is a fact). Besides there is no valid reason for you to see the plans. If they are building on the boundary, it is because they have the permit to do so. Otherwise, they won't get the OC. My personal opinion is that you allow them to remove the fence and give them access to your property. Then, when they see you are open to let them work, try to see if they will be keen to render the wall if you contribute half of the costs. If they still refuse to do so, you can ask them if you can render it at your expense. I know that this is not what you were expecting to hear, but those are the only options you have. As someone else pointed out above, it all depends on the personality of your neighbour. If I were your neighbour, I would've agree to render the wall at my expense. However, it seems like your neighbour doesn't care about good neighbour relationships or maybe they are building an investment and don't plan to live there. Also, note that the way you approach them is highly important. If you go and tell them "I will authorize you to remove the fence and work from my property only if you render the wall", it sounds you are an 'entitled' person who wants to condition and influence their construction. However, if you go and say "yeah, no problem. Btw, would you consider rendering the wall?" and explain that it is your backyard and a brick work may not go with your landscape, I am sure they will agree or be open to discussion. Probably this ship has sailed as I just read your post again and it says " I requested for the wall to be rendered as I am not a fan of their brickwork". This does not sound like an 'offer' as you said, it sounds like conditioning your permission and not a negotiation. I think there have been mistakes on both sides. You didn't know how to handle the negotiation. Your neighbour is a stubborn and too sensitive that felt offended by your request. It seems the ball is know in your neighbour's side and you'll need to try to cool down things. Otherwise, you won't have a say on this. Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 18Jan 18, 2023 9:25 pm Hi all, Glad I came across this thread. I’m in a similar situation but am the one building to the boundary and rather than having a neighbour it is boundary with council owned walkway. The lane is about 1600-1700mm and council have said I would need to leave about 1500mm for access (otherwise have to close the lane way) so that doesn’t leave much room for the bricklayers to work. I have heard they can do overhand from my side but have heard finish may not be great and also the garage is brick veneer so I’m not sure how they could do it through the timber frame as that would go up first. Does it sound doable from my side? Any suggestions for options or is my only option really to close the pathway for a day while they brick? Re: Neighbour wants fence removed to build their garage wall 20Jan 19, 2023 7:01 am ![]() I would imagine in your case they could do the finish from the laneway side. But this is something best discussed with your builder. Thanks for the reply strannik, doing OB so I am the builder. So are you saying they can do overhand through the timber wall and then just finish it off from lane way side after that? With the width of the one and the requirement to leave approx 1500mm it only leaves about 100-150mm to work without lane closure Yes it is a take it or leave it contract, standard form contract. Can try and negotiate terms and conditions. Best to sit down with dictionary and read contract, read… 7 17595 You need to install drainage in the 8 inch area. You can try one of the drainage cells that can go in narrow spaces along your garage wall with Geofabric protection and… 1 10642 what's the rationale on this? In my mind, the risk weepholes mitigate isn't solved by acrylic render. 9 42456 |