My attitude towards it, is that since he built his fence after mine, he should have taken that into consideration and brought his side in more or put concrete or something down to prevent stuff from growing on his strip.
I did not mind spraying the weed/grass killer, and they had agreed to it, but once mid summer hit, they started having issues with it because they wanted to place the blame of their fence, dogs, etc killing areas near the fence onto my spraying grass/weed killer exactly how we agreed. When they complained about it, I told them I only did what we agreed to and they actually agreed with me (said that they saw me do it the way we agreed to, but still had a problem with it…that I should knock on their door first and get permission each time before I sprayed from then on…which I would not agree to…and told them they need to spray it or cut it themselves from then on). They half cut it once a month or 6 weeks…so I was out there cutting it each week for a while until they had issues with that. So, I don’t want liability of damaging their fence and I since I know that even if we agreed that I could cut their 4 inch strip, they would still come over and complain about it or when they have a bad day use it as an excuse to take their anger out on me like they have previously. So, that is the reason(s) I don’t want to cut their stuff…and that is pretty good reasons…and yes it makes me happy not to have spend any of my resources maintaining their land do nothing but trash mine and randomly verbally harass/assault us.
Oh, I don’t worry about getting so pissed about their BS anymore. I just record any conversations they initiate and write down what happens. I will put cameras up and if I have any damages or future issues, I will take it to court or the police. I am the type that spend $500 in court fees over something worth less just because of the principle of the matter.
Okay, trolls are coming out now. I guess I will no longer ever post anything on a public message board since most people cannot understand the English language well enough. Yes, I understand this was an IMHO because I was not sure if it should be in General.
The gist of the matter is that neighbor takes issue with me maintaining his 4 inches of space…even though he has agreed to things, he eventually complains about it. Yes, even stepping one foot on someone else’s property is trespassing…and so is leaning against their fence. At least that is how it is in my area.
I will not give any use of my property to anyone…and an issue for the neighbor created by the same neighbor is that person’s responsibility to remedy.
All of the posts that I have read previously on SD were through google searches and were filled with good posters giving insight and if they did not understand what the OP said, they asked questions for clarification. I realize I gave a long explanation, but it was to give you enough information to understand everything possible. I even gave additional information in my responses just in case.
I am unfollowing this thread and deleting my account since I now realize SD has mostly gone the way of America.
Well, looks like you just joined, so your leaving will be no great loss.
If you had truly checked around, you would have seen that folk around here do not simply line up in support of the original poster. Sorry it bothers you to have folk observe that some aspects of your past and current behavior is less than optimal.
I didn’t see anything in the responses that impressed me as particularly trollish.
Yeah - that struck me as odd. He gave his reasons - apparently thinking it allowed him to maintain scorched earth outside his fence up to the property line. But by doing so, and then not allowing his neighbor to butt up to his fence, and by keeping a laundry list of real and perceived greivances large and small, he played a big role in creating the current situation.
I realize you have stated you don’t intend to return to the board, but I hope you’ll change your mind and realize that a lot of people find useful advice here even if and when their positions are criticized. Said criticism and disagreement is often—though not always—unrelated to language difficulties.
Meanwhile, in case you do return, be aware that accusations of trolling against other posters aren’t allowed outside of the forum known as The Pit, so please don’t do this again.
On my other side, when we put in a fence, the neighbor had an ash tree pretty much on the line. We talked with them, and with their agreement put the fence where it is to best join up with the other existing fences, and to keep the tree on their property. I honestly can’t recall if it was a foot or 2 on our side or their side, but I know it is not on the line. Since then, the tree died and has been cut down.
I honestly don’t remember if the fence is on our side or theirs. Right now, neither of us has any inclination to move. Should they move eventually and the new owners’ survey says something, we’ll either ask them if they are OK with the fence as it is, or we’ll pay to have it moved closed to the line. (Heck, I know I have the paperwork at home, and I think there is a pipe in the corner. But with good relations such as we have with those neighbors, a foot or 2 either was is inconsequential.)
There’s only so much you can do in installing a fence, but you should make your choices concerning the worst possible case, should relations w/ current neighbors sour, or new folk move in. Like I said, our fence is entirely permitted. The neighbor COULD install their own fence, creating a foot of so wide no-man’s land, which would be impossible to maintain. Sure, it might be best to put down fabric and/or stones or something, but we cannot require it. So we might end up with a weedy foot between the fences. If that occurs, our options would be to ignore it, or take our fence down and maintain the yard up to their fence. Neither option is perfect, but you can’t expect perfection living in reasonably urban environments.
In my city ordinances, it says you must be 3’ inside your property lines on all sides unless you come to an agreement with your neighbor and have it signed by the building dept.
I’m guessing so that when you do maintenance on the outside of your fence, you have 3’ in which to work and not disturb your neighbor.
My fence is 3’ inside my line at the back and on one side. But since I’m cool I went to my other neighbor and worked out the deal for connecting to his fence. He signed the thing I wrote and it was all breezy. When his fence became inadequate to hold my new dog, I ponied up to replace his little fence (our shared fence) with a much taller fence and he was happy and I was happy. My fence guys rolled up his old fence for him to scrap, even, so he came out $75 ahead.
Just checked my city code (bored at work! ;)) It says in residential areas fence may be constructed “adjacent to the property line” with the decorative side facing out. Other than that, it talks about maximum height in various locations (behind front of house, within certain distance of street, etc.) What I understood about 4-6" inside, was from discussions w/ various code enforcement folk and fence installers in 3 different communities.
All this is what I was talking about when I mentioned obsessive behavior. Jeez. Just let your neighbors temporarily put a foot on your property sometimes. It’s not a big deal. It’s not going to cost you your property rights. This whole situation wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been so adamant about the idea that no one can ever step on your property.
In my opinion…you are crotchety old man who was played by your own game and now you’re trying to drum up support that you don’t deserve. Get over yourself…i bet anyone you’re an ex-marine…they are also the worst neighbors…i know wherefore I speak because my dad and uncles were are in the Corps…in their 80s now and still terrorizing the neighborhoods…bar none!!
I find all of this fascinating. With the exception of living on acreage in a rural county, every house I or any of my friends ever lived in had a fenced yard where the fence was built on the property line with shared responsibility for maintenance.
Same here. This idea of setting a fence back so a neighbor can’t lay a finger on it seems to make unreasonable hostility the basis of the relationship.