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Hi. I feel compelled to put my two cents in here, because you seem to making enemies where you shouldn't. I see you are building in North Lakes ? Or is that where you live? Anyway the QLD fencing ACT, holds the OWNER of the land responsible for notifying you of their intention to put up a fence. NOT the builder. It is totally and utterley up to your neighbour to let you know they are going to put up a fence, and it also suggests they ONLY need to notify you should they wish to be paid half. For you to pay anything, they needed to let you know PRIOR to installing the fence. As they haven't done that, Lucky you, you just received a free fence. As you also noted you are both building at the same time, it comes down to first in best dressed with everything, including retaining walls and fences. On that note, Did you notify your Neighbour with intent to put up your fence? If so, then I can understand your frustration.
Sorry to say, but again in defence of fencing contractors, they would not put up a fence without the pegs being in place, and if the pegs aren't in place, they would make the owner of the land reinstate these prior to construction of the house. This would include you aswell. If you believe the boundary pegs to be in the wrong position, this is something you could put back on the Developer rather than the builder.
As both your Supervisor and their Supervisor have met and have resolved the issue, I doubt there is anything else you can do, other than approach your neighbour to mutually replace the fence. As they appear to have complied completely with the fencing act, there is no legal action you can take and if you were to touch the fence you would be committing a crime and liable for charges.
In all honesty, I only say this out of concern, Tread carfefully. These are your neighbours you are battling. There is nothing worse than living next to people that you can't get along with.
The arrogance update - it appears the neighbours have won the first round - and raised me one!
After further examination it seems that the fence is not in the right place - despite the pegs being clearly visible - but it is out as far as it can possibly be without giving me clear legal grounds to have it removed. Instead of the fence being evenly placed over the boundary it is 70mm too far into my property at the rear (where space is at a premium) and 70mm too far into the neighbour's property at the front (where I don't need more space). The only explanation I have been given is that the fencer was having a "bad day" and that when he dropped the plumb line from the peg at the top of the rock retaining wall, he made an error. No explanation was offered for how he got it wrong at the opposite end. So now we have a skewed fence that "just touches" boundary at either end, the neighbours don't care because they just wanted to get into their new house, and the Building Services Authority is unlikely to act because the fence is likely to be considered to be within permissible tolerances.
Still reeling with that knowledge, I am now gobsmacked by the neighbour's solution to their pool fence problem. Concerned about the possibility of children climbing over the fence (via the rock wall) I made a number of enquiries and discovered that neither their pool builder or pool certifier had a plan to cover this situation. I even met the pool builder onsite, where his only suggestions were barbed wire (!) or a perspex screen.
Now I find, again without the least consultation, they have extended the fence across the back and this is what I have to live with. Can they really raise the fence this high without planning permission, or consultation?
The view from the back yard
The view from the rear bedroom
The back corner showing the fence overhanging the boundary peg
Bloody hell - that is one of the ugliest things I have seen! In Victoria, pretty sure you need planning approval for fences >2m high, which that one clearly is. A quick call to your council is in order to ask about what YOU would have to do if you wanted to build a fence of this height. Then ask them what happens when a fence is illegally built...
Don't know about QLD, but my understanding in NSW is, if the neighbour puts on the fence without your agreement in writing, you can have it removed.
Why bother about all these trouble and sleepless nights? You already have enough stress with the construction work.
If I were you, I will just tell them to remove it asap, follow up with a letter with details written down (so that in case have to go to court in the future, got something in writing), otherwise will report to council and say don't like the height, colour, material, ...etc. Any of those should be sufficient for council to order it to be removed.
Looks like the fence position issue is a non-starter. A little on their side and a little on your side evens out in my book. But that pool barrier is incredibly ugly. On the other hand what can anyone suggest that would look good ? It's hard to think of anythingthat could creep up the rock face and still present well. Maybe it needs an extra interior fence on their side ?
OMG that is
shocking, tell them to put a fence in their yard around the pool then if kids do climb the wall they still have to climb the pool fence. How !@#&%$ can you be building such a thing, some people OMG.
Edit if the pool has coping the interior fence can be located on it, if the pool is that close to the fence they won't be using the coping anyway and why am I not surprised that they put the pool so close to the boundry after seeing their fencing solution.
The problem is that they sited their pool too close to the boundary to be able to put a standard pool fence inside.
I think I have exposed a shortcoming in the system whereby all the planning is left up to the pool builders, who play a bit of a guessing game about what is required for certification. Council has no jurisdiction at this stage - it is up to private certifiers, who do not inspect until the fence is complete and the pool builder requests certification.
In our situation, the certifiers had a plan submitted to them but claim they "didn't know the rock wall was <i>that </i>high". Meanwhile the pool builder clearly had no idea how to deal with the situation when I met him onsite.
The whole thing seems very poorly thought out to me.
I will definitely be contacting the council after New Year.
Bloody hell.....I would have hated to be the fencing contractor trying to build that fence!.
As regards the boundary issue....
The fencing contractor usually gives a "price/metre" and asks
"where do you want it" to the person paying the bill and also "what side do you want the palings" He takes a line of site then digs 300mm X 600mm holes and puts in a 100mmX75mm post. Most modern fences don't have the rail notched into the post. They are usually just tek screwed to the post so the fence is actually 100mm + 75mm +20mm thick. i.e. 195mm wide.
I agree it's not exactly on the boundary but considering the alternatives I think it's best you try to live with it and don't get all bitter and twisted. (hard sometimes)
You do have a free fence but you have been hard done by in the consultation process (none at all). It appears that the neighbour/builder has jumped in first and got the best result for their pool problem. They also require the "good side" of the fence to be on your side so that it complies with pool fencing laws ( climbable rails to be 1000mm apart) so they have kept you out of the discussion process and have paid for 100% of the cost as a result.
I'm sure you want the safest fence possible to keep your children out of the neighbours backyard.
The biggest problem seems to be the "ugliness" factor of trying to contour the fence of the boulders. Maybe the the more artsistic people here can give you a better solution but i try removing the diagonal palings (it attracts the eye too much) and just go verticals. Also try to get some long lengths of palings and replace the jointed ones.
The other solution is to take advantage of the money saved by not paying for the fence and clad it with maybe blueboard and render or paint it.
When you get some landscaping in place that will also soften it up.
It's not nice when you are unhappy with a job but sometimes trying to fix it just makes matters worse.
Happy New Year
I totally get that it's not worth getting bitter and twisted over it. If you can't change something you accept it and move on. I guess I'm not convinced yet that I should, or have to, live with the latest development.
I am also still completely astounded by the attitudes I have encountered in this situation.
1. The "we got in first, so take that" attitude makes no sense. Both sides have to live with a fence for a very long time and ought to have a say in it. Just because one side is willing to bear the whole expense doesn't mean they should impose their will without consultation. In this case the neighbours are only 2-3 months ahead of me in terms of completion. It's not like there was a vacant block next door with no development in sight.
2. It's quite clear that they had every intention of charging me for my share despite the lack of consultation and disregard for the Fencing Act.
3. Before the requested meeting about the boundary could take place, the fencers came back and completed the unfinished fence. How much more arrogant can you get?
4. I made polite enquiries about the pool fence and got no answers. Then out of the blue they throw up this structure!
I see nothing but selfishness, incompetence, arrogance, and a hideous great wall.
I haven't read every post since it's getting quite long. This is what I would do:
1) Accept the fence as is (in my mind). It may be over into your property a bit, but this does not affect the value of your land since it's size is determined by the boundaries not the fence.
2) Ignore any request to pay.
3) If the neigbour pushes for payment, then say "OK, let's go out and pick a fence together and place it exactly on the boundary. And we'll spit costs 50/50."
It might be a good time to say thank you to everyone for your invaluable suggestions and moral support.
I have accepted that there's not much I can do about the boundary fence, but I hope that discussion was/will be helpful to others who find themselves in a similar position.
My remaining concern is the height and ugliness of the pool barrier (see pictures in Dec 30 post), and I would welcome any further comments about that.
If you're doomed to live with the ugly and ultra-high fence, then all you can reasonably do is to make it less ugly somehow.
Perhaps you can clad your side with some other material - there are lots of options if you look around hardware stores and landscaping suppliers. Lazydays already suggested blueboard/render, but there's brushwood screening or hardwood decking-style screens, plus many other choices.
Normally I'd suggest planting something to hide it, but I'm not sure what you can grow in that rock pile that would provide an adequate screen. Maybe a climbing plant though?
If you're stumped, it would be worth consulting a landscaping expert for some advice.
Oh dear. How about some Natureed over it? I think it will improve it .(anything will don't you think?). If you can plant at the base (can't quite see) you could try Chinese Star Jasmine. If not, may be you could squeeze a nice pot in there, to take you eye away from the rest. (in conjunction with the Natureed will look nice) If you wanted to have some little succulents hanging down to soften the rock face, you may be able to fill a few cavities with succulent mix and poke a few in there randomly. You will be suprised at how well they grow. Just a few suggestions. Sorry you are in such a horrible situation.
I would be looking at the possible effects of storms on the "ugly" timber fence adjacent to the boulder wall. Doesnt look very stable to me (granted - based on limited information from the photo).
There must be council or state govt requirements re structural integrity of boundary fence or pool fencing. Does this timber extension comply?
Sorry I have no time today to research this aspect but it may be somethig you may want to look into (or have already?)
Have you contacted your council? I'm sure if you aren't happy with that height, they will have to take it down.
The main issue that I think you can "win" on is the height - surely this would require planning approval from the council? First call would be to your council to discuss what does and doesn't require planning approval...
Have you contacted the neighbours, now that it look likes they have moved in. Try to sort it out as adults and not in court or councils. The last thing you want to do is get off on the wrong side of your neighbours.
Have you contacted the neighbours, now that it look likes they have moved in. Try to sort it out as adults and not in court or councils. The last thing you want to do is get off on the wrong side of your neighbours.
Only 1 post.
You are not the neighbour by any chance are you?
No I am not, just think that this post has gone on for to long, and like most things we are only getting one side. We had a dispute similar to this years ago before forums and the internet, and we sorted it out over a coffee. Just a suggestion thats all..