Back fence argument with neighbour

Dear Property chat gurus,

I have an issue over a fence with my back neighbour.

The neighbour have a swimming pool, and did not pass pool safety inspection because of the fence, and he said the council are going to force him to drain his pool. They neighbour approached asking if we are happy to share the cost of replacing the old timber fence (which has no issues), we said that’s fine, and happy for them to get couple of quotes, all went fine, I signed the quotation.

Due to my wife’s nature of work, she cannot have any work done in the house during her working hours. 2 weeks ago, the neighbour texted my wife that they arranged the fence work on a weekday, and work, access, removal or old fence, concrete,….etc. will be from our house. this was never discussed with us. They complained that they have limited access, and the swimming pool is restricting the access, the fencer will charge them more if we do not provide the access. Even they were arguing when I asked to get a tax invoice. We agreed with them to keep it on a Saturday, after we cancelled all our commitments for the date, they sent us yesterday a new date due to hot weather conditions.

Can you please advise me what should I do in this case. I spoke to couple of my work mates, and their advice is to have all the access from his side as long as he is requesting the replacement. if he insist, I should say, I am out of this, and if he needs to install a new fence, that’s his problem.

This neighbour is in the back street, so I never met them, and never spoke to them, I like to keep good relationships, and I think I should pay, but without granting access from my house.

Please let me know your thoughts

 

I think this is an unreasonable requirement.

Sounds like they're just thumping chests. It'll be from whichever side is easier to keep cost down. If there's a pool near the fence I imagine they won't be able to get in there.

No offense intended, but I think you're playing with emotion and pride rather than logic and reason.

 

Hi D.T.,

That's why I am asking for opinion, I maybe right or wrong. regarding my wife's work."unreasonable requirement", this is exactly what the neighbour said to me . but this is reality, and I checked, and we really cannot grant access, and she have to take the day off.

Thanks

 

How much noise does building a fence create? Circular saw, air compressor - not much for very long. Move to the library for the day if necessary.

 

They are accessing your YARD, not inside the house.
Fencers are generally pretty quiet.

Do you feel your wife needs to monitor them or something?

That said, I would have asked them to pay for the fence in full seeing the current fence is good condition.

 

Sounds like family daycare or similar. Anyway the fence doesn't actually need to be replaced, it has no issues. I think you are being reasonable in offering to share the cost, if the fence isn't in a state of disrepair you are under no obligation.
Not sure why they couldn't access the fence from the neighbours property. Hole digger, extension lead, nail gun and saw.
How hard is it.

 

why do you need to cancel your "commitments"? Are you helping install the fence? just leave the side gate open/unlocked

 

@bob shovel,
I am not trying to cancel my commitment, that's why I signed to quotation. but the neighbour is very demanding, and he decides that date without asking us, and just send us a notification.

Also, he is replacing 2 other fences, and he want the access still from my house. which I am not happy with.

Thanks

 

To be honest, I think you're getting caught up in the details. You both agreed that you wanted to replace the fence and that's what should be the focus here. It's just one of those things where either your wife will need to take a day off, or move to another location for the day as suggested above.

Also, it may not just be your neighbour that's demanding - dealing with tradies, they aren't really that flexible and it's either at their convenience (usually business hours) - or forget about it.

At the end of the day, you still want the fence replaced but just agree on a date, be flexible and hopefully you can move past this

 

If the fence is in good condition, why doesn't it pass council regs?
Is it that there are climbing/foothold points? (Like horizontal rails). Surely it would be cheaper to nail some nice vertices slats to the existing rails to meet compliance.......

"If" this neighbor is have side fences replaced at the same time, it seems ODD that they are not accessing through his or a side neighbor's boundary
Be buggered if I'd be wanting to carry out 3 old Fences and bring in materials for 3 new Fences from the furthest point of access
Fences always cause arguments

 

I had one 8 years ago
Still angry

Old timber fence was falling apart and over in places
(Could "walk thru)
As the neighbors place was tenanted I tracked them down, supplied 3 quotes for the min standard timber fence (but made it clear I wanted a colorbond fence and was prepared to wear the additional cost)
The new fence was colorbond, I even had a 6" wide concrette plinth put in under it, cost a pretty penny.
They refused to pay a single cent as agreed to in writing and emails for the cost quoted and agreed.
It went legal, briefly, their argument "i hadn't issued NOTICE TO FENCE"
I gave up when the legal costs got to half of what they owed me

 

Sorry, my curiosity has got the best of me. How does access via your yard completely debilitate your wife's working day inside the house? As they are replacing a rear fence at some stage the workers are going to have to step into your yard to get that fence up. Is it really that much of an inconvenience to have them use your side access to get to the fence?

Looks like you have agreed to the fence so if the issue is just the date of access have you explained to your neighbour why this can't happen because without that information it may appear like you are be being difficult for no reason.

 

I wonder why you agreed if there was a fence already there in good order, the pool problem is theirs, unless they were offering you use of the pool, I would have said no to the request.

Now that you said yes, or if you also wan a new fence, well you have to let the people doing the work be able to do the job, is not like it is going to be 6 months of construction zone, your mrs needs to be reasonable, as this denial is unreasonable from what you posted above.

 

Yup if the fence was perfectly good condition and fine for your uses, I would have politely declined to pay any of it. It is the neighbor who needs the changes done and gets all the plus side of it.

 

Write everything down and get each to sign it is the best way.
you said I said only leads to disagreements.

I once had a neighbor at an IP rock up to my PPOR to ask me to sign a piece of paper. I said no (and asked him not to contact me again)

 

Fencing , pools (& both), more often than not its an absolute nightmare, whether its a PPOR or an IP for all involved.
But it all comes down to planning, a win/win for all parties involved, but most importantly its communication with all parties & follow through to completion
I put in a pool into my PPOR backyard last year, It had many planning challenges.
I had no access, none of my 3 neighbours bordering my LHS of our property had adequate access, neither did the house behind, nor the rental house (not owned by me) on my RHS....but the house further to the RHS of the rental did (its an OO).
Both backyards were largish , pretty barren & very uneven (basically uncared for).
I contacted & sat down for a chat with both the owner of the rental next door & the owner occ beside him.
The fence (which would be part of the pool fence) between us & the rental was shot at the time, I put forward I would replace to pool standard at my cost.
The fence between the rental & the OO was relatively new but I would repair to satisfaction.
I told them straight up that the excavator & bobcat involved would tear the hell out of both backyards being in a Melbourne winter at the time as they went back & forth.
But upon completion, I would spread enough topsoil on both backyards to level them out nicely from their current very uneven state & resow grass for the whole backyards for both.

They both agreed, my family got its pool.
I spent a weekend in each of their backyards repairing/improving what they had previously.

I also slipped the girl renting next door a couple of bottles of wine & a Myer gift card for the inconvenience.

At the end I got what I wanted, they did too (or felt adequately compensated).
Win/Win....& we are all still on good terms going forward.

 

Well you agreed to paying half of the new fence – that’s quite a concession when you could have easily said no. But in saying that the guys have got to be able to get in and do their work.

My basic test is to offer the neighbour a deal you would like to receive if the roles were reversed.

Why not just say you will agree to reschedule (with full access via your place) so long as it’s a Saturday only (with notice) ? Not unreasonable. If that doesn’t suit them they choose the day that suits them but access via their place not yours.

It seems access via their yard is tricky…..so if that’s the case they should respect your limited timeframes as you are actually doing them the favour in this case. I would actually make that clear to the neighbour, and then book the date directly with the contractor, rather than have the neighbour doing any scheduling on your behalf. If that’s not received well recind your offer altogether. You want good neighbourly relations, but you don’t need to be generous to a fault.

 

Thanks everyone for your reply and advice. I reached out to the Neighbour and we both agreed to do the job through my backyard in a Saturday suitable for both of us.

Appreciate your responses!

 

If you are happy to pay for the additional cost in full Do not give them access to your property because peace and quiet is very important to your wife. Alernatively go on a short holiday break the worlk to erect the fence would be no more than 3 days

 

My mother in law ( 88yrs) agreed to a similar thing,
1. neighbours builder 'separated' the wrought iron gate from its fixings instead of knocking on the door to ask for it to be open.
2. Covered all her flowers in rubble, while removing fencing.
3. Used her manicured lawn to store pallets of building materials, while the neighbours ( who wanted the work done) were on holiday.
My suggestion would be to ensure that no damage was done to your property...
I hope this helps!