# All My Neighbors Use My Fence, Now Upset My Son Broke Our Fence **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684 "2015-08-12T20:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/21 "2015-08-13T02:19:33Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > “This fence is on my side of the property line. I no longer wish to have my fence up and will be taking it down in 14 days.” > “But my fence is attached to yours!” > “ **When you attached your fence to mine, you encroached upon my property without permission. I let you use my property free of charge for X years.** I’m taking my fence down now, so you’ll have to find some other solution.” > “But but but…” Is there any possibility that, by letting neighbor encroach and attach fence for X years (for sufficiently large X), that neighbor has gained an easement on OP’s property to continue doing so, by adverse possession? (In plain English: After being allowed to do so for X years unchallenged, neighbor acquires a reasonable expectation that he may now do so indefinitely?) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/22 "2015-08-13T02:38:08Z")
Here’s an FAQ from a real estate firm about fences, and it specifically addresses neighbours [attaching their fencing to yours](http://www.thecolumbusteam.com/2012/06/central-ohio-fence-building-faqs/). ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/23 "2015-08-13T03:07:07Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Is there any possibility that, by letting neighbor encroach and attach fence for X years (for sufficiently large X), that neighbor has gained an easement on OP’s property to continue doing so, by adverse possession? > > (In plain English: After being allowed to do so for X years unchallenged, neighbor acquires a reasonable expectation that he may now do so indefinitely?) I was wondering this too. I have no time for asshat neighbors, and when you move into an established neighborhood, (i.e. You are the new guy), a lot of people seem to feel a need to assert themselves for some reason. I guess they want to piss on their space, and make sure you know where they think the property line is (from their POV, anyway). Before doing anything, speak to your township zoning office and find out what the fence zoning regulations are in your town. These are written specifically for each municipality, and that is where I would start. Next, if you are dead set against confrontation, hire someone to survey your lot and tell you where your property lines are. If the fence is on your property, and you want to take it down, you have that right (as long as there isn’t some rule in place that states after x amount of time, if your neighbor’s use of your fence without your objection gives him the right to have that fence in place… Which I doubt, but who knows?) I sympathize with you. And IMO, a good fence IS a great neighbor. I have never had a bad experience with a fence. And once properties start to flip, the great relationship you used to have with your next door neighbor is gone as soon as they leave, and you are at the mercy of the new neighbor. If you have assholes as neighbors (and it sounds like you do… Paint your fence without your permission? That’s an asshole.), and you take the fence down and they have a dog, don’t be surprised to see that dog in your yard taking his morning constitutional, and then you’ll have to deal with that. What I would do is get your properly lines surveyed, and see what you are dealing with. Maybe a solution would be to offer your neighbor the fence you are planning on tearing down, PROVIDED HE MOVE IT ONTO HIS PROPERTY COMPLETELY. Give it to him for free, but only if he moves it before a reasonable deadline. Either that, or you are going to have it removed and he is on his own to provide a fence for his pets, or whatever he wants one for. Stick to your local laws, and you can’t go wrong! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/24 "2015-08-13T06:06:29Z")
I’d be a little concerned right now with potential liability should one of your neighbors get injured by the damaged fence falling on them. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/25 "2015-08-13T08:35:49Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I think you need a survey done before you do anything. You actually have no idea who’s property that fence is on. . Definitely! Be careful, before you start causing problems with strangers. Make sure you know whose fences sit on whose property. Maybe one of your neighbors wiill get angry, hire a lawyer, and a surveyor…and then it turns out that “your” fence which you tore down was actually 10 inches inside his property, and you had no right to touch it. You could end up with bigger problems. Start with a professional surveyor who will mark the property lines. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/26 "2015-08-13T14:31:26Z")
About 10 years ago we had a survey done before we did some work improving the back yard. This was 5 or more years after we’d bought the place and moved in. For 1/2 acre of difficult terrain it cost about $300 and was money very well spent. It turned out that when we bought both the seller and the existing neighbors had a consistent idea of where the lines were. Which understanding I “inherited” from them and accepted as the truth. Which turned out to disagree with the eventual survey by about 3 feet all around the multi-hundred foot perimeter of my lot. Stuff I thought was mine was really theirs and vice versa. We were all on good terms and nothing bad happened before we sold the place. But if my buyer had been a jerk he could have required much of one neighbor’s driveway to be ripped out since it was on my land. We made damn sure a copy of the survey was included in our seller’s disclosure paperwork even if it didn’t exactly call out the neighbors’ encroachments. All the houses were built by the same developer over the course of just a couple years. And still the developer didn’t manage to build according to his own plats. Step one for the OP is a survey. You need to know to a legal certainty exactly where the boundaries really are. Then comes a knowledge of the local law. Given that info you can start to formulate a plan. Anything else is pure speculation until you have those facts in hand. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/27 "2015-08-13T15:23:30Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > About 10 years ago we had a survey done before we did some work improving the back yard. This was 5 or more years after we’d bought the place and moved in. For 1/2 acre of difficult terrain it cost about $300 and was money very well spent. > > It turned out that when we bought both the seller and the existing neighbors had a consistent idea of where the lines were. Which understanding I “inherited” from them and accepted as the truth. Which turned out to disagree with the eventual survey by about 3 feet all around the multi-hundred foot perimeter of my lot. Stuff I thought was mine was really theirs and vice versa. > > **We were all on good terms and nothing bad happened before we sold the place. But if my buyer had been a jerk he could have required much of one neighbor’s driveway to be ripped out since it was on my land. We made damn sure a copy of the survey was included in our seller’s disclosure paperwork even if it didn’t exactly call out the neighbors’ encroachments.** > > All the houses were built by the same developer over the course of just a couple years. And still the developer didn’t manage to build according to his own plats. > > Step one for the OP is a survey. You need to know to a legal certainty exactly where the boundaries really are. Then comes a knowledge of the local law. Given that info you can start to formulate a plan. Anything else is pure speculation until you have those facts in hand. My bolding - why would that have been him being a jerk? If he bought a piece of property, he has the right to enjoy it however he pleases, within the law. If anything, you were a jerk for not explicitly telling the buyer that the driveway was partially on the property. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/28 "2015-08-13T15:39:56Z")
[According to nolo.com](http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/who-can-claim-property-based-adverse-possession-ohio.html), here’s what the standard for adverse possession is in Ohio: > [@](#): > > As in most states, someone seeking to prove adverse possession in Ohio must supply evidence that his or her possession of the property has been: > > 1. hostile (against the right of the true owner and without permission) > 2. actual (exercising control over the property) > 3. exclusive (in the possession of the trespasser alone) > 4. open and notorious (using the property as the real owner would, without hiding his or her occupancy), and > 5. continuous, for the statutory period (21 years in Ohio under Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2305.04). **actualliberal** , if your fence has been there 21 years, your claim to the land inside the fence would be inarguable, as best as I can tell. (IANAL, and all that.) As far as the fence itself and the strip of land (presumably just a few inches wide) that it sits on are concerned, I guess it would depend on whether they’d regard your use of that strip of land as ‘exclusive,’ given that the neighbors are using your fence as their fence as well. But my uneducated guess is that you’d win that one, based on this case cited by [this Ohio real estate law site](http://www.ohiorelaw.com/2010/07/adverse-possession-in-ohio.html): > [@](#): > > Regarding the element of exclusivity, it is well-established in Ohio that the use of the property does not have to be exclusive of all individuals. Rather, “\*t must be exclusive of the true owner entering onto the land and asserting his right to possession. It must also be exclusive of third persons entering the land under their own claim of title, or claiming to have permission to be on the premises from the true title holder. If the title holder enters onto the land without asserting, by word or act, any right of ownership or possession, his presence on the land does not amount to an actual possession, and the possession may properly be attributed to the party who is on the land exercising or claiming exclusive control thereof. It is not necessary that all persons be excluded from entering upon and using the premises.” _Kaufman v. Giesken Enters._ (March 7, 2003), Putnam App. No. 12-02-04, 2003 Ohio 1027, P39. Since nobody else can enter the land that the fence itself is on, you should be good there too. But unless your neighbors started attaching their fences to yours more than 21 years ago, I’d say you don’t have to worry about _their_ making adverse possession claims against _you_. Anyhow, what to do: 1. I concur with the others: shell out a few hundred bucks for a professional survey to establish your property lines. 2. If your fence is wholly within your property lines, send each of your neighbors a letter noting that while their fences (or paint jobs) may have impinged on your property to some modest degree by attaching to (or painting) your fence which is wholly on your property, you are formally giving your permission for that state of affairs to continue. (The reason you’re saying this is that granting permission is an absolute defense against adverse possession claims, since the use of your property required to establish such a claim must be without your permission.) And while in addition, you have no problem with their using your fence to contain their children or pets, you have little interest in maintaining your fence, and cannot be accountable if its deterioration allows their children or pets to escape their yards. You have no objection to their repairing your fence at their own expense if they are willing to do so, or they can construct their own parallel fence within their own property lines. 3. If your fence isn’t entirely within your property lines but it’s been there 21+ years, my second link says you must file a ‘Quiet Title’ action to establish your ownership of the fence and the land inside it. Consult a lawyer if this is the case! (If you’re able to successfully do that, then follow it with step 2.) 4. If your fence isn’t entirely within your property and has been there _less_ than 21 years, I think what I’d do is to keep the fence sufficiently patched to keep it functional until it’s been there 21 years (the impression that I get is that you’ve been there a good while, so you probably don’t have that far to go), and then go to step 3. But YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/29 "2015-08-13T15:57:40Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > My bolding - why would that have been him being a jerk? If he bought a piece of property, he has the right to enjoy it however he pleases, within the law. If anything, you were a jerk for not explicitly telling the buyer that the driveway was partially on the property. You are strictly correct that a decent moral (and perhaps legal) case could be made that my buyer should have been fully apprised of all the details of our knowledge of the situation. But I’m pretty sure neither you nor I nor most other folks here have ever bought or sold a house with actual \*full \*disclosure of every detail of every wart known to the seller. The view of myself and my neighbors was that the “traditional” boundaries we’d all been used to were close enough and resulted in net practical benefits to each of us individually and all of us collectively. The alternative of spending serious money to re-conform all our driveways and gardens to what’s ultimately just a line on a piece of paper at City Hall seemed pretty stupid. These were hillside lots at different heights and the traditional boundaries conformed to the terrace edges as graded; the legal boundaries mostly fell at odd places and angles along / across the slopes. Had we really given a damn the least-bad solution would have been to re-plat the lots to conform to the reality on the ground. The complexity of that solution once you get HOAs & master-planned development corps involved was also cost & effort prohibitive. Not to mention the several mortgages, title companies, etc., that would be involved. Unsticking that tar baby would be the work of a decade even with the best of goodwill on all sides There are embedded defects in real estate records allover the US, not to mention the rest of the world. This is just one more example of “No real harm; no real foul.” The fact none of the current owners had a hand in creating the initial mistake and nobody had an axe to grind over it made it easy to ignore. My overall point in telling the story to the OP was to inform him that 1) surveys are pretty cheap, and 2) legal status may not match what you think the realities on the ground represent, no matter how long you’ve known those realities. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/30 "2015-08-13T16:55:00Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I think you need a survey done before you do anything. You actually have no idea who’s property that fence is on. There’s a small chance it’s not even on your property on three sides, for all you know, whoever originally built it did some encroaching of their own. In that case, you can just let the other property owners have it. I could be speaking out of my ass, never having owned a home, but shouldn’t there be a plat of your property on file at your county courthouse? If so, it will be a public record, and it might help you figure out where your property lines are. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/31 "2015-08-13T17:00:57Z")
A surveyor will not just or even primarily draw up a plot of your land - they will put legally enforceable markings, such as an iron pin or monument, at the corners of your property and anywhere else you request. A plat alone is fine for knowing how long a property line is, and how much area you have, but not so useful for determining exactly where on the ground the line is. You need markings for that. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/32 "2015-08-13T17:32:48Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > A surveyor will not just or even primarily draw up a plot of your land - they will put legally enforceable markings, such as an iron pin or monument, at the corners of your property and anywhere else you request. A plat alone is fine for knowing how long a property line is, and how much area you have, but not so useful for determining exactly where on the ground the line is. You need markings for that. There’s also a pretty good chance that such markers are already present – a metal detector and a small shovel are useful. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/33 "2015-08-13T17:35:49Z")
Go to the apropriate county office and explain your issues. It just needn’t be nearly as hard as everyone here is making it. They have the answers you need and are more than willing to share them with you. Make sure you get a copy of all applicable bilaws etc.( make numerous copies. ) Once you’re properly informed (you may discover your neighbours are/were perfectly entitled to built onto the existing fence, and to paint their side or attach stuff if they like, it’s so in my area!), you can take whatever decision you prefer knowing full well you are in compliance with all existing bilaws and that you have dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s, as it were. Just knowing the actual facts should give you all the confidence required to move forward. If you decide to take down the fence, compose a pleasant letter acknowledging that your fence has provided them benefit through many years but now they will have to address their fencing needs for themselves, you’re sorry for the inconvenience but you aren’t interested in repairing or replacing it at this time. Mention you have consulted the county and enclose a copy of the applicable bilaw and the number for enforcement should they have questions. Done and done. Easy peasy! ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/34 "2015-08-13T18:08:05Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I could be speaking out of my ass, never having owned a home, but shouldn’t there be a plat of your property on file at your county courthouse? If so, it will be a public record, and it might help you figure out where your property lines are. According to **Omar Little’s** link, “The city does not locate property lines or mediate property line disputes resulting from misplaced fences.” Although as someone else mentioned the property may have already been surveyed in the past, though I would have no idea how to go about finding that information. If it hasn’t been surveyed, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon and suggest getting a professional survey done. If you go to a lawyer for assistance chances are the first thing they will want to do is look at a survey, for all the reasons mentioned already. It’s a good idea to have your property surveyed anyway. First, as this thread shows, it will be useful if and when you ever sell the property (full disclosure, etc). Second, sometimes things come up and having a survey in hand will make life easier. Example: a friend of mine got a letter in the mail a few years ago stating that FEMA had re-drawn the local 100-year floodplain map and his house was now inside the floodplain. He didn’t agree, but in order to avoid buying flood insurance he had to get his property surveyed. Turns out his house is above the 100-year floodplain—b_y 8 inches_. Without a survey he’d have been on the hook for a $400/month flood insurance rider that he didn’t need. As it was the process took 6 months and during that time he had to purchase flood insurance. Cost him a pretty penny that could have been avoided from the get-go had he already had a survey. Read [this](http://www.katu.com/news/local/23150209.html) story. It’s a bit outdated, but I think it highlights some of the reasons a property survey is so important. The bottom line is, I think you 1) need to have your property surveyed, and 2) talk to a real estate lawyer. This is definitely a CYA situation. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/35 "2015-08-13T18:33:31Z")
If you want to tear that fence down go for it. I would mess with a formal letter, but I would go door to door and inform the neighbors of your intentions. I’m also in a C’bus burb, but farther out of the city. I got my neighbor’s permission before we built our fence off of his. His is more poorly constructed (his contractor ripped him off) and therefore is the one falling all apart at this point. I’ve replaced a few of his fence boards myself. But we get along pretty well and it’s not a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/36 "2015-08-13T19:07:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > You are strictly correct that a decent moral (and perhaps legal) case could be made that my buyer should have been fully apprised of all the details of our knowledge of the situation. But I’m pretty sure neither you nor I nor most other folks here have ever bought or sold a house with actual \*full \*disclosure of every detail of every wart known to the seller. You DID disclose it, by providing the survey. The buyer is a fool for not looking at it closely enough, or he didn’t care. There is no requirement that you disclose “every detail of every wart”. But there IS generally a duty to disclose any known facts of material defects or clouds to title . Illinois’ required disclosure is statutory, and specifically includes “property line disputes.” [765 ILCS 77/ Residential Real Property Disclosure Act.](http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?ActID=2152&ChapterID=62&SeqStart=300000&SeqEnd=1700000) In IL, I think you’d be on pretty thin ice if you knew your neighbor’s driveway or fence encroached on the property you were selling, but you said “no property line disputes” because you and your neighbor didn’t care about it. ---
**Author:** ![edwardcoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@edwardcoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwardcoast)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/37 "2015-08-13T19:14:58Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > First things first - are there property line markers? A survey? Some way to formally demonstrate which fence portion is on which property? > > Did you give permission for your neighbors to attach their fence portions to your fence? Did you make an agreement in writing? Good questions. I’d like to add, does your city/township/county require a permit to put up a fence? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/38 "2015-08-13T19:20:26Z")
> [@edwardcoast](#): > > Good questions. I’d like to add, does your city/township/county require a permit to put up a fence? Post 13 quoted the city rules on fences. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/39 "2015-08-13T19:22:02Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > I’m waiting for the pros to comment on this, but IMHO, you want to tear down the fence, send all the neighbors a formal letter and tell them “Hey, this is our fence we paid for and we maintained it. We don’t want to bother with that anymore, so in xx number of days, we’re going to remove it. If you’re depending on this fence for any reason you need to make plans to deal with this. If you want to put up a fence, feel free to do so but make sure it’s on your side of the property line.” It would be a nice touch if you included any documentation that you paid for your fence. I haven’t read the entire thread, and my program just ended so I have to get back to work. But I was going to suggest writing a letter to all involved, stating that you are the owner of the fence. And what **Marion\_Wormer** said. I’ll check back later to see if that quote had already been addressed. ---
**Author:** ![edwardcoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@edwardcoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwardcoast)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684/40 "2015-08-13T19:22:28Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > FWIW, I’m not too inclined to just tear it down. I think part of that was thinking out of spite. I just am not too interested in investing much time or money maintaining it, and certainly not to buy a new one for the benefit of others. Here’s the problem. If you don’t tear it down, then you are going to be subject to be bothered about the fence. As was suggested, send everyone a letter saying the fence is being taken down because you have no use for it, and don’t want to invest the time and money to maintain it. I think it was rude of people to link and/or paint your fence without getting permission. The only down side is if without the fence you risk other people and dogs running around in your lawn. As for them being upset about it, that’s too bad. You made no such agreement with anyone to keep the fence there for them to use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-my-neighbors-use-my-fence-now-upset-my-son-broke-our-fence/727684.md?page=3)