Opinions about my neighbor building a fence

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve lived in this house almost 30 years. There is no fence between my property and my neighbor’s. A couple of years ago a young family moved in next door. I’ve had just a few minor interactions with them and they seem pleasant enough. A few days ago the wife approached me while I was outside and told me that they are planning some extensive landscaping and are thinking about adding a fence between our properties, because at some point they may get a dog for their kids. Her main question for me was about the property line.

So after that conversation I started wondering if I should offer to pay half the cost of the fence. The neighbor said nothing about that. On one hand, it’s their idea to have a fence and if I had my choice I’d leave it as is; a fence is just going to obstruct my view a little. It seems a little unfair for me to pay what will probably be a substantial amount of money for something I don’t want. On the other hand, a fence is a fence and it’s along my property line too. I suppose there’s some (slim) chance I might get a dog too at some point, in which case I’ll be enjoying the benefit of the fence for free.

Any thoughts?

2

I think the most important thing about offering to pay half is that you would clearly have a say in what kind of fence it is. Being neighbourly is a bonus. Of course being on the property line, you have that right anyway, but letting them pay the whole cost while limiting the fence type to your own preferences seems rather awkward! By offering to pay half, it becomes a more cooperative venture and may make for better long-term relations.

3

And if they decline anyone else’s stake in it, they can have the fence offset into their property sufficient that it’s entirely in their land and completely free of any external obligations.

4

This.

If you’re in an area where fences are common, 2 fences a few inches apart is better than a shared fence that you both will be sharing with whoever lives there next. Doesn’t much matter what it’s made of, it will need maintenance and that means ongoing cost. And ongoing opportunities for disagreements about need for maintenance and cost sharing.

Separate comment: I once lived in a suburban area where border fences were all but unheard of. If somebody got a dog, they built a run well away from the property lines to contain the dog.

Relevant to the OP’s situation I’d had friendly property line discussions with both my adjoining neighbors (excellent people both) as part of a planned landscaping redesign. The neighbors had been there since the tract of custom homes was developed piecemeal and I’d bought my later-built house from its original owner a few years after it was finished. On a hunch I had the land surveyed. The cost is relatively trivial, a couple hundred dollars.

Turns out the legal property lines were several feet from where the neighbors thought they were. On one side the neighbor’s driveway encroached on my land a bunch. The lots had evidently been graded and the houses built with scant regard for the actual property lines.

We ended up ignoring the issue since the lots were large, nobody had a fence, and there wasn’t a pressing need to fix anything.

But I’m sure glad we didn’t build a fence along the lines that we all assumed / believed were the legal boundaries. Lots of complexity follows if you do that. Which complexity gets real unhappy once one or another property is owned by a jerk or a greedy person.

5

Well, I’ll start with the SD mantra and then go into my anecdote:

Check your local laws, regulations, and CCRs.

The previous house my wife and I bought, 8 years ago, had two of three fences (south and north; the west fence overlooked an arroyo) leaning considerably when we initially looked at the house. We liked a lot of the rest of the house so, as part of our considerations and diligence, we asked the north and south neighbors if they would be willing to help pay for the replacements. The guy on the south said he had been contemplating a replacement for a while and hadn’t been able to set aside time to do it. I took that to mean time to personally do it and, since I had installed fences before I offered to pay for half the materials and do half the work with him. We rebuilt the fence together and got along great.

The neighbor on the north acknowledged that the fence was leaning quite badly and laughed about doing anything at all about it. Instead, they planted trees along the fence line, with the expectation that theywould grow taller and thicker and eventually support the fence better than the rotting posts. Do I need to say we didn’t get along well with those neighbors?

My wife got sick of the branches coming over the rotting north fence and cut some back, and the wife on the north side threatened to sue. We noted that it’s perfectly legal to cut back branches that grow over a property/fence line, but that made the wife on the north even bitchier. Eventually, my wife caved and bought a new sapling – rather than pay the estimated cost (for a full grown tree) quoted by the wife on the north – and the wife on the north side was prudent to plant it well away from the fence line.

By the time we moved away, the ‘damaged’ tree had grown back completely and it was impossible to tell it had ever been trimmed (which is a different issue, entirely). I suspect the north fence is still leaning on those trees that they planned right on the property line.

That, by the way, is another reason to check your laws, regulations, et cetera: In our area it was not actually legal to plant new trees right on the property/fence line particularly because the trees will eventually grow, damage the fence, and cross the property line. We have discussed on this board the fact that some laws allow a property owner to annex property by taking care of the neighbor’s property and growth for a certain number of years. You don’t want that fence placed on the wrong side (in either direction) of your property line.

–G!

6

I don’t think you need to worry about sharing the cost. For one thing, you’re not really getting the benefit of the fence. Only one side is on your property. The other thing is that you don’t want to get involved in cost decisions. If you pay for half, they may decide to splurge on upgraded fencing material, hardware, additional gates, etc. If you were also fencing in your whole yard at the same time, then I could see splitting the cost of just the one shared side.

7

I have to really disagree with this. Suppose you want an ornamental steel bar fence but your neighbour wants a big wooden fence. So you build your fancy steel fence and then the neighbour puts up a big ugly wood fence two inches away from it. What has been accomplished? Or, conversely, the neighbour puts up a small ornamental fence and you put up the Great Wall of China beside it. What great neighbourly relations must ensue!

IMHO the only thing that works is collaboration and compromise. I get it that some people are assholes and this isn’t possible, but a good resolution isn’t possible then, either. When this happens between nations, they declare war. Sometimes that happens between neighbours, too, but it rarely goes well for either of them. :wink:

On the contrary, if I was paying for half of something – and furthermore, something that affected my property – I would definitely want to be involved in all the decision-making. And clearly, the only thing I’d be paying half for is the shared fence, not any other stuff like gates that they built on their own property.

8

Hmmm. Perhaps I misunderstand, but I would disagree. This is double the maintenance. And I’m thinking it would probably be a privacy fence. Cedar or something. Two fences means there is no way to maintain the little strip of grass in-between (I would pour concrete in that situation). And, well, I guess you only stain one side of it.

9

I am amazed. In Australia there are fairly simple laws that make both parties equally responsible for the building, maintenance and repair of a common boundary fence. There are steps to follow if there is any disagreement and a tribunal or court can make a binding decision if necessary.

10

Yeah - I disagree as well. Around here, as I understand it the best practice is for the person who wants the fence to build it such that the concrete around the fence poles is on their side of the property line. So that could create a small “no man’s land.” But it would be better for the other neighbor to eventually place posts for the perpindicular sections just inside their side of the property line, and fasten an essentially free hanging extension of a foot or so to cover up the gap. (I’m sure that description will make no sense to folk who have not encountered it.). No need for 2 fences inches apart.

Also, the “finished” side generally ought to face out, such that the posts are on the builder’s side.

But then there are the issues of what style of fence, and who maintains it - including string trimming on your side. If you dislike your neighbor do you allow them on your side to trim the grass? But if you don’t, the new fence gave you the chore of trimming.

If you want a say in the style, you could try to influence that and offer to pay part, but that is not anything I could have imagined with any of my several past neighbors. I imagine the vast majority of folk have an idea of what kind of fence they want - low cost, specific look, etc - and would view any input from a neighbor as intrusive.

A survey is definitely desirable - if not required by local permitting. I wouldn’t offer to pay anything, but I would express an interest in seeing where the survey is, just out of curiosity as to exactly where the line is.

The specific property line is important, because if either of you sell, the new buyers can take issue with a fence that encroaches on their property. We’ve got a weird one. When we built a fence, our neighbors asked u to build it slightly on their side so as to meet up with 2 other sections of fencing. Wish we hadn’t. They have moved, and if the new owners wished, they could ask us to tear it down - or tear it down themselves.

I should link this thread to the other one about kids hitting balls into neighbors’ yards. Some folk seemed to think that neighbors don’t get upset and bear grudges over seemingly minor things! :wink:

11

I’m tempted to say “no” because it is their idea and desire, not yours. On the other hand, if you contribute nothing to the project, they are going to feel that they have complete control over what kind of fence is built. I have an uncle in Texas, and it is understood that adjoining neighbors share the cost and decisions about fence building, repair, or replacement. It seems to work well for them.

12

It seems that the UK is similar to Australia with regard to fences. I’m in a terraced house where the fences were built at the same time as the houses. The land registry document clearly shows that the fence on the left (looking out my back door) is mine and the one on the right is my neighbours.

13

Yes, I was going to say the same. And the fence that is yours tends to have the fence posts on your side - so the neighbour gets the nice side. But then having fences around your back garden is 100% normal, so most people know the rules, and I get the impression that isn’t so in some parts of the US, the OP included!

14

I can’t imagine building a fence entirely on my property that I paid for and having the ugly less-finished side facing me. I put that up for my aesthetics, nobody else’s.

In one tract house I had the builder had built fences between each backyard that met up with the side of the houses near the front face of the house. Wooden posts every ~8 feet, two 2x4 rails about 1’ & 5’ above the ground, then ~1"x8" x 6’ tall vertical pales placed edge to edge to create an opaque barrier. Each panel between the uprights had the pales on just one side, alternating as it went. So the side facing me was half finished half not. Neighbor had the same. If I was in a cost-sharing arrangement for a wall, that’s one way to split the difference on the pretty / not pretty axis.

I wonder how much people’s impressions of the right thing to do are colored by how long they or their neighbors live in one place. I think of houses as totally temporary possessions. A fence or whatever else I build will be there 3 or 4 owners after me. if for some strange reason I did live in one house for decades, I’d expect a constant parade of new neighbors in each house around me.

Clearly there are other neighborhoods where the only turnover is generational, and both you and your next door neighbor still live in the house your respective grandparents built. And which you expect to will to your kids for them to live in soon.

Big difference in expectations about neighbor trouble later between those two models of living.

15

That’s what climbing plants are for.

16

well, unfortunately that is actually the law in many (most?) jurisdictions in the U.S. at least. And there is good reason for it beyond aesthetics. If the posts or beams need maintenance or replacement, then you can access them from your property rather than the neighbors.

they do!

17

I disagree. When I moved in, there were chain link fences on three sides of the yard. First my neighbor on the right took down the chain link and installed a vinyl fence. Unfortunately , that caused a little problem because his handyman was trying to put the fence so that the fence was 2 inches into my yard with one edge exactly on the property line ( that happened because when my neighbor renovated the house, he put the basement door facing the fence there are only a couple of feet between his house and the fence.The lots are 20 feet wide) ) But aside from that, no other problems. The people on my right eventually put up a wooden fence right up against the chain link fence. No problems. The people at the back put up another chain link fence two inches from the existing one, and then put corrugated metal against that. That was a problem until new owners replaced it in 2020. For however many years it was, weeds and bushes would grow between the two fences and leaves would acculmulate in the gap. I couldn’t get rid of any of this because of the fences so close together. I wish I had been home when the new fence went up, because the contractor came by to ask permission to take the other fence down, but I wasn’t home to give it. If there had to be two fences, it would have been better for them to be right on top of each other. Although one fence would have been even better

18

With potentially three adjacent neighbors, getting all four parties to agree on the fence design and cost sharing would be very problematic.

In my experience, the person who wants the fence pays for the fence without any input from neighbors. Local laws and HOA covenants need to be followed. But otherwise, each homeowner builds their own fence to their preference at their own cost.

19

Around here we use the channelled concrete posts with concrete gravel boards. So both sides see the posts. The wooden panels eventually rot or get damaged in wind storms but it’s really easy to slot in new panels. The concrete posts have been going strong for 50+ years.

20

We have some laws & codes here, too, and they will apply if OP decides against an agreement. For example, if a neighbor wants to build a fence and I don’t want a fence, there might be a setback from the real property boundary enforced. How does Australia handle it?

If it’s co-owned and preexisting, it normally falls to individual litigants’ situations and a possible legal adversary situation.