Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 29, 2012 9:38 pm I am building a house in VIC, and it is nearly finished, now I need to construct fence, I requested neighbours' information from council, and two of the four neighbours' land is still on sale, in the letter council sent me, they have PO box address with a person name, looks like a real estate investment company, the fencing contractor sent quotes to them but no one replied. Now I'm a bit worried, as even if I occupy the house, I cannot stay at home all day, so people can break the window and get into the house very easily, I thought about paying the fence in full, and I contacted the agent who is selling the land on behalf of the owner company, they said they cannot pay it and they can pass on the bill to the people who buy the land in the future, but I asked this on another forum and got some replies: 1. if I build it now, neighbour can refuse to pay the 1/2 share because I did not negotiate with them. 2. even if they pay, they only need to pay 1/2 of the cheapest price in that area. Now I'm renting and paying loans at the same time, so it is really a trouble for me. I am not a lawyer and I don't know what is the best I should do now, can anyone give me any suggestions? Thanks a lot! Re: Need to construct fence but neighbour's land is on sale 2Aug 29, 2012 10:00 pm Hi Hao, You've got two choices in the end if the block next door hasn't been sold yet and the developer has been indemnified from contributing to the cost of a fence in your land sale contract (most developers include a stipulation that they are only required to contribute $1 towards the cost of the fence) - either wait to have the fence put up so you can get your future neighbour's contribution, or have it built now and pay for it all yourself. Even it you do decide to wait for a neighbour to arrive on the scene it is indeed correct that they only need to pay 50% of the best quote you (or they) can obtain for the minimum spec fence that is required, as set out in the developer / local council guidelines for your area. If you are going for a higher spec fence (eg. a hardwood paling fence instead of a standard treated pine paling fence) they you will have to pay the full difference between the minimum acceptable spec fence and the one you want to build. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Need to construct fence but neighbour's land is on sale 3Aug 29, 2012 10:10 pm Thanks for your reply! In my house's estate, there is some guideline for fencing: http://www.fenceable.com.au/estate_kingsford_estate.php So I think there is no much choice regarding the spec, however, I'm worried what if the future neighbour does not pay? I am in a hurry not only because I pay rent+loan, but also the builder won't do the landscaping if there is no fence, and it is not secure as I work full day and 5 days a week, there is no one at home. cmhamilton Hi Hao, You've got two choices in the end if the block next door hasn't been sold yet and the developer has been indemnified from contributing to the cost of a fence in your land sale contract (most developers include a stipulation that they are only required to contribute $1 towards the cost of the fence) - either wait to have the fence put up so you can get your future neighbour's contribution, or have it built now and pay for it all yourself. Even it you do decide to wait for a neighbour to arrive on the scene it is indeed correct that they only need to pay 50% of the best quote you (or they) can obtain for the minimum spec fence that is required, as set out in the developer / local council guidelines for your area. If you are going for a higher spec fence (eg. a hardwood paling fence instead of a standard treated pine paling fence) they you will have to pay the full difference between the minimum acceptable spec fence and the one you want to build. Re: Need to construct fence but neighbour's land is on sale 4Aug 30, 2012 7:42 am hao Thanks for your reply! In my house's estate, there is some guideline for fencing: http://www.fenceable.com.au/estate_kingsford_estate.php So I think there is no much choice regarding the spec, however, I'm worried what if the future neighbour does not pay? I am in a hurry not only because I pay rent+loan, but also the builder won't do the landscaping if there is no fence, and it is not secure as I work full day and 5 days a week, there is no one at home. Your future neighbour generally does not have to pay if you build the fence before they buy the block. That is just how it works, so your options are as I mentioned earlier - have the fence done now and pay for the side adjacent to the vacant block yourself, or wait for someone to buy it. If you are going to wait then you will need to get some quotes from fencing contractors once someone has purchased the block - remember that the neighbour will only be required to contribute 50% of the best (cheapest) quote for the minimum spec fence. They can also source quotes of their own to make sure that the quotes you have supplied are reasonable. Once you are armed with quotes then you need to contact your neighbour to negotiate an agreement regarding the type and placement of the fence, as well as the contributions for each party (normally split 50/50). You will need to get everything in writing (including date the fence will be erected and the payment schedule for your neighbour if they cannot pay right away) and have both parties sign the agreement, just in case things go pear-shaped in the future. If your neighbour refuses to negotiate an agreement or they sign off on an agreement and then renege on it then there are legal processes you can follow if needs be - having said that though I would not necessarily be going all gung-ho and serving your (new) neighbour with a Notice to Fence right off the bat as it's a good way to sour the relationship with your neighbour before it has even had a chance to begin (and the expectation is that you should try to negotiate an agreement with your neighbour before taking things further in a legal sense). You can find some info here: http://www.lawhandbook.org.au/handbook/ch10s02s05.php# as well as here: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/archiv ... /index.htm and the fencing act legislation for Victoria is here: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/ ... /fa196867/ One thing that these sites all espouse is that the option of taking out legal proceedings should be seen as an absolute last resort - once you start getting lawyers involved in a full-on legal battle then legal costs for both parties might end up being greater than the contributions each party would have to pay towards the fence (and the likely outcome is that each party will still have to make a 50/50 contribution anyway). Also note that you can pretty much disregard the points relating to "not being able to find your neighbour" - the owner of the land is the developer until the block has been sold and you will almost certainly have a "no developer contribution" clause in your land sale contract (usually stating that the developer only has to pay $1 towards the cost of any fence that may be required). Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Need to construct fence but neighbour's land is on sale 5Sep 30, 2012 10:02 pm In Victoria anyone selling vacant land has NO obligation to pay for their half of the fence. We wnt through this recently but luckily the owner of the land next door was great and paid his half quickly. A bank is a place that will lend you money only if you can prove that you don't need it... Joe, it depends on your certifier but we are noticing the ones we deal with are really cracking down. 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