Boundary fence in absence of existing fence or neighbours

Have you tried to discuss this with your neighbour, they may contribute to the boundary survey together with the fence.
At least let them know you want to slash the weeds along the boundary line. I'm sure once you tell them you want to fence it, they will be concerned the fence is going up in the right place.

If you are going to get a fencing contractor you will need to clear the line or pay them to do it, either way, their hourly $ rates will be much less than a Surveyors $$$. Having a clear line of sight will save on survey fees. Same goes for your Level & Detail (contour) survey. We quote based on time so if the block is a jungle its going to take a lot longer to survey.

Also based on your description your Surveyor will likely place additional marks along the boundary to assist the Fencers.
As for the 1860's plan, if there are no more recent survey plans that tie into your DP, the Surveyor will have a challenge to re-establish your boundaries. He (or She) will be looking for 'reference marks' placed by the original Surveyor 156 years ago.
if your property is in the northern beaches it might be me.

 

So I know where the edge is. Its going to be temporary for many years I suspect. I also have kids, so its nice having at least some vague indicator of where they can wander to. The usual reasons you want a fence. Its just generally nice to know where your property ends, especially if you're planning to build a house and do landscaping and are actually on the block, its really good to have a visual indication of how far you are standing from the boundary.

The other side of that block is pretty normal and just runs parallel to a nice green colourbond good neighbour fence, its the steep side that's the problem.

I will have to figure out how to find the owner next door to talk about fencing. There's no clear line of sight on that side because of the slope. Definitely not getting a fence contractor in at this point, I was just going to run a few star pickets and some wire. Paying someone else to build a 'proper' fence down that side will cost more than building the damn house so I think its always going to be a wire fence.

The local surveyor says they have a reference mark about 6 doors down the road from a survey a few years ago and quoted me about $2500 for a full survey and BAL assessment. Most conversations with people tend to comment on how old the block is. I got sent a copy of some amazingly archaic diagrams from someone at NSW Railways when I was trying to find out about the easement.

Will the council tell me the name and phone number of the neighbours if I ask them?

 

Most of the blackberries are toward the back of the block which borders NSW Railways land. Someone else said I can get a landscaping permit to do things on their land, although tbh I don't think they're going to mind much if I get rid of their blackberries too. I'm a big fan of painting neat glyphosate on fresh cuts on larger plants, seems to kill virtually anything. Its a big job though, I'll probably get professionals to do at least some of the clearing.

Its regional. Despite the photo looking like its in the middle of nowhere, its actually on an established street in the middle of a reasonable sized town within stone's throw of all services. Its just this hill thing that has been left alone while houses have been built around it. On either side of this pocket of steep vacant land is a long run of quaint picket fenced cottages squished together on 400sqm blocks.

 

Don't do that! They are the worst gov authority to deal with. It would take 6Months to get an answer on the permit, to which it would be a no, to hard basket for them.
But you should claim their land as your own! Within reason, they need the tracks! But if it's uncleared push a temp fence back to gain some extra yard

Once you start clearing perhaps the other owners will come out of the woodwork or the locals will speak up and tell you that billy-bob owns next door

 

Its not tracks, its a power line. It looks like they keep the scrub on there down (fire risk and all) but that's it. Pretty much fair game to quietly grow things on >.> Their block runs the entire length behind mine, so that's a good 60m or so of land that could be quietly encroached on with flowers and herbs and stuff. Obviously you wouldn't put a swimming pool or a garden shed on there but I've had a couple people point out that you can make your land seem bigger than it is, you're not the first

Basically there is a large vacant lot behind mine that has a pole or two on it and is never going to have houses on it, and is going to be kept reasonably clear. This is not actually a bad thing. It stands between my land and a large burny fire hazardy forest thing.

NSW Railways were unbelievably hard to get hold of. I actually have the contact details of their assets guy now.

 

Is there a survey peg or not? Your posts are confusing as whether there is or not. If not then that is obviously your first job- get it surveyed/pegged out. As for the fence- If want to build it on the boundary line then of course you need to consult your neigbour as he/she will be 50% responsible for it (regardless of who pays for it).

I guess you could build the fence inside your boundary, but then you are losing some land. Also I don't understand the logic of going to the time and expense of building some crappy wire "temporary" fence if it just has be be replaced some time in the future anyway. Why not talk the neighbour, agree on a proper fence and go halves in the cost. Do it once and not have to worry about it again.

 

How do figure that?- typical timber paling fencing is not expensive, even cheaper if you DIY, which is not hard, and costs can be shared between the neighbour. Given you will have to do it anyway at some point why pay for two fences?

 

No, the block is unsurveyed and I can't tell where the edges are, which I swear I've said a dozen or so times. Its unsurveyed and unfenced and bounded on three sides by similar land. The first job is clearing the land approximately (which probably involves clearing some of the neighbour's land), and the second job is getting it surveyed.

And star picket and wire fencing will cost about $100 for the entire length and it really isn't worth chasing the neighbours for $50. The odds are high this fence will end up permanent anyway since I'm struggling to think of any other sane kind of fencing for a slope. Is paling fence easy to install on a steep slope? Isn't that a bad idea in a bushfire zone? I was thinking metal sheets and that sounds hellish on a slope.

I'm assuming the council will give me the name and address of the neighbours to even start this conversation? I have no idea how else you track down where people live.

Edit: note that you will never actually be able to see this fence from either side. It will be several metres above both building sites, and maybe 20 metres away from both building sites.

 

Another thing ... how do you even build a fence that needs concrete anyway? Where do you get the water from? Bring your own in old spring water bottles in the back of a car?

 

@RumpledElf I agree with your plan of attack. Clear/control the block with an 'oops did I go on your side? I had no idea as I don't know where my block ends' then get the surveyor out then a simple star picket and line fence will do as a visual boundary.

Just make sure when you are clearing that when you get in the boundary grey area that you don't clear anything that might be special like a tree etc, shrubs, grasses etc are fine.

 

I've been told I can't clear anything that looks native (there's nothing native on there) and nobody has mentioned significant trees but that was a thing in SA and there are some enormous poplars on the block, easily 1m in diameter. I figure the surveyor will mark the trees and then I can apply to council to remove some. I've never had poplars before so I'm going to have to look up if they are troublesome trees or not. I think there are oak trees too.

Honestly, I want to plant fruit trees and strawberries along that boundary since I can't build anywhere near it and its too steep to be crossed in the building process new trees won't get disturbed in the year or so before build starts and landscaping is SO much easier with an actual fence

The other side (50m to the right of the bad boundary) is closer to flat and is going to get driven all over by heavy machinery and there's no point even thinking about a fence (or planting fruit trees) until the slab is down.

 

Yup we've been given some carte blanche with anything non native but I still wouldn't want to risk destroying the neighbours favourite tree even if they haven't seen it in 20yrs

 

Haha, the neighbours haven't had the property that long. I had a dispute with the valuation so got given RPData records for the area by the agent, they've had it since 2014 but haven't started building yet. Its always entertaining knowing for sure you've bought the cheapest property in the area in the last several years by a huge margin

I guess I'm going to start getting development notifications in the mail shortly, having bought between two vacant blocks that recently sold. Or not, turns out I had a new house built 2 doors down from another house I own and I only found out about that from a friend who keeps an eye on the place for me.

When we had to build a fence on that one we owned the property on both sides so didn't have this issue, and the property before that had 3 street frontages and the other side already had a fence (a bit low to hide the neighbour's drug crop though) so just happily slapped up a boundary fence without asking anyone on that one too. Place before that the neighbour initiated the new fence (the old one fell over in a slight breeze one day) and I had to pay half of about $500 in colourbond seconds and his tenants did the labour for free. So I've had a pretty good run with fencing up until now!

 

If they are new owners you might want to see if they want their place surveyed at the same time as yours - might be a discount.

 

You make a VERY good point there. I shall start stalking them as soon as I am actually the legal owner.

Their block is a slightly smaller near mirror image of mine, but according to the valuation company theirs is less awful and is worth several thousand dollars more. I don't see it, but hey. My side has the northerly aspect, a better view and a much nicer 4m high retaining wall (theirs is concrete blocks) and I'm cool with this.