Fencing Issues

[DRB120]

Im after some opinions on a fencing issue I am having, good or bad Im happy with either.

So we purchased a block of land that settled in February this year. The land was vacant and one boundary was already fenced 18 months prior to the purchase of the land. We met the neighbours with the fence and they were lovely people(and other than this issue they still are). Once the house started being built they had mentioned that they wouldn't mind extending the fence right out to the front, which would be another 25 metres. We stated we were happy to pay half of whatever they wanted. This part was put up and all was good.

About a week after it was finished they came and gave us the bill, however the bill was not just the $1000 for the front but an extra $2000 on top for the entire 89 Metres of fencing that was up. Now I nearly fell over when we realised as the block was sold to us with the fence in place and we paid extra for this particular block as the fence was in place.

I have spoken with the neighbour and let them know we wont be paying for the existing fence and paid for the front fence straight away. He has had a few words to say and as far as I am concerned we have done nothing wrong but would like to hear what peoples thoughts are on this.

I spoke with my solicitor and there advice was not to pay as it was not our land when the fence was put up and the neighbour had taken an assumed risk. They also advised it was between the land owners at the time which was the developer.

Cheers
Dale

[Swannie]

Send Jetcrew a pm

Swannie

[DRB120]

Send Jetcrew a pm

Swannie

Whats funny is this is no more than a couple K's from his place.

Cheers

[Swannie]

My personal view is you bought the block with a fence and you are not liable to contribute to a fence that had already been erected.

Swannie

[dazzler]

Yep.  Only up for any additional fencing after purchase.

Part 3, Section 20(1) of the Neighbourhood Disputes Resolution Act 2011 states;

"If there is no sufficient dividing fence between 2 parcels of land consisting of adjoining land, an adjoining owner is liable to contribute to carrying out fencing work for a sufficient dividing fence"

the kicker is;

If there is NO sufficient

[jetcrew]

Nah mate 

I had the fence battle from hell last year..

From my learnings and court orders from the judge dude ...

this is in QLD.

They have taken the assumed risk on building the additional 25mtrs based solely on your word, this is what I did and it took over a year and court to get my money.. so both parties should have entered into a fencing agreement..SEE BELOW LINK

 http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/180483/form-2-ndr.pdf

Now I am sure that you are man of your word so they will get the payment for the 25mtrs

In lieu of that document i had to go to great lengths and be very detailed to prove that my neighbours actually agreed to the fence. (15 page court brief) Now I was in similar ..part of the fence was there before they built and the judge clearly stated that he was glad I was only claiming for the portion built since they arrived as i would have had no claim against them for a fence built before they arrived.

So the advice of your solicitor is spot on , how could you have given any authority to construct a fence on land you did not rightfully own.

I believe the court would take a dim view of their actions, my advice ..

1, Right a letter of response.. RE-payment of costs for adjoining fence between xxxxx and xxxx (Property lot numbers) outline your verbal agreement and offer to pay for the costs as you agreed .. be as detailed as possible. Also add

" in respect of previous dividing fence construction between lot xxx and xxx  no payment will be made in respect of  these works as I/we were not consulted in relation to these works and furthermore held no legal authority to approve such works at the time of construction.

- would love to see how they prove you agreed to it... I had 15 pages and photos and letters .. I think they might struggle considering you did not live there LOL

Pretty low on their part IMHO

Always hard to balance good neighbourly relationships with these sorts of issues..

good luck


 

[Nomad]

Your solicitor and everyone else is correct.

Apart from Dazzler's extract from the Neighbourhood Disputes Act, you purchased the property with the fence affixed to the land and as such it was sold to you in situ.

Feign insult and tell your neighbours your are billy not silly and do not appreciate trying to be taken for a ride and that you expect more neighbourly behaviour from them in the future and that if they want a contribution for the fence they should contact the previous owner/developer etc etc.

Let them go to Qcat to argue the toss if they want because it will just get thrown out.

Love neighbours, especially my old Scottish git one who is the rudist old bastard I ever met.............and I should have handed him a bill for half my fence but didn't because I was trying to be neighbourly.

And what Jet just said lol.

Cheers Nomad. 

[DRB120]

Well I feel a lot better that its not me just being a stubborn so and so.

Jet, I paid for the front fence straight away as soon as the bill was given. As I am definitely a man of my word. I just don't understand their reasoning in thinking I should cough up for something that had nothing to do with me.

The annoying thing is we will move in in 4 weeks time and hopefully by then they have looked into it and realised that I was correct. At least it is a 6 foot high fence so we wont be seeing much of each other if it doesn't get more pleasant then it is now.

Cheers
Dale

[jetcrew]

Well I feel a lot better that its not me just being a stubborn so and so.

Jet, I paid for the front fence straight away as soon as the bill was given. As I am definitely a man of my word. I just don't understand their reasoning in thinking I should cough up for something that had nothing to do with me.

The annoying thing is we will move in in 4 weeks time and hopefully by then they have looked into it and realised that I was correct. At least it is a 6 foot high fence so we wont be seeing much of each other if it doesn't get more pleasant then it is now.

Cheers
Dale

Mate I am real sorry if my sentence structure was off    I certainly was not implying you would not pay..was more saying that as a myswag member you would be a man of your word not like my neighbour ..

Jet

[DRB120]

Jet

No offense taken at all mate. Just making sure I did mention that I had paid for the front fence as I should have. I still owe you a beer for all the advice when I was purchasing the block. If you are ever free during the day give me a yell as I am out there most days.

Cheers
Dale

[briann532]

Sorry to go a bit off topic, but............

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?   

Whatever happened to being honest and having integrity?

I hope the Karma bus drives past your neighbours.
Brian

[jetcrew]

Jet

No offense taken at all mate. Just making sure I did mention that I had paid for the front fence as I should have. I still owe you a beer for all the advice when I was purchasing the block. If you are ever free during the day give me a yell as I am out there most days.

Cheers
Dale

I drove past last Saturday night on the way to the tavern and actually said to lara that i wondered if you had progressed any more with things.. will def try catch you out there mate..if not you have my address so just swing by anytime for a cold 1 mate

Jet

[DRB120]

Heres a couple pics of where the house is up to Jet.

Brian

I don't get it either, I generally try and do whats right but sometimes you just can't help some people.

Cheers
Dale

[jetcrew]

looking the goods mate 

will try pop out on saturday, my mate lives about 500mtrs up the road

jet

[Nomad]

Nice roof line...looks great!

[oldmate]

My personal view is you bought the block with a fence and you are not liable to contribute to a fence that had already been erected.

Swannie

X 2.
They are just being cheeky pricks

[oldmate]

Nice house mate, they could of out the crapper inside though

[Cruiser 105Tvan]

Nice house mate, they could of out the crapper inside though

Yep, a bit rude expecting you to go out there. 
  Could have been beside, or even behind the house. 

[McTavish]

Lots of space for some decent solar panels on a roof like that !!
All the best with the fence issue mate...   Where possible always best to talk one on one then put the agreement in writing.   Going straight to a letter/email is asking for trouble with stuff like this as it will always be interpreted with their attitude and not the writer which is often not one in the same hey....

[oldmate]

Lots of space for some decent solar panels on a roof like that !!
All the best with the fence issue mate...   Where possible always best to talk one on one then put the agreement in writing.   Going straight to a letter/email is asking for trouble with stuff like this as it will always be interpreted with their attitude and not the writer which is often not one in the same hey....

Agreed, the same happens on forums sometimes.

[Beachman]

Got to love fence disputes. We recently got new neighbours who have a very big dog. On our first meeting they asked if I minded if they replaced the existing chain wire fence with a 6 foot wooden fence. I have to mention now that the chain wire fence was in good condition.

While I'm personally not a fan of 6 foot wooden fences, I understood where they were coming from owning such a big dog.

The following night I bumped into them again on my way home from work and he spoke about the fence again. This time he advised he wanted to extend it by another 6m and if I was okay paying half for the entire length. This is when I piped up and said I have no problem paying half of the new section, but seeing the existing fence was in good condition I'm not prepared to pay towards that.

Like expected he wasn't overly happy, but I did explain I applied the same rules to the neighbours on my other side during our recent extension. There was a okay block retaining wall, but due to the renovations I needed it altered, so paid 100% for it to be knocked down, new footing and new block wall built plus the core filling. (Not a cheap exercise)

Seeing the fence is so big we rarely see the new neighbours, but the other day we bumped into each other and I asked what I owe him and he just asked for a carton of beer towards the new section.

[jetcrew]

Lots of space for some decent solar panels on a roof like that !!
All the best with the fence issue mate...   Where possible always best to talk one on one then put the agreement in writing.   Going straight to a letter/email is asking for trouble with stuff like this as it will always be interpreted with their attitude and not the writer which is often not one in the same hey....

I agree a little bit... if you choose to have conversations in lieu of documents then ALWAYS write down the conversation after it has happened with a date and time..and sign it . NEVER have a dispute resolution conversation friendly or not without a record of the conversation.

They don't need to know you wrote it all down and filed it away.  A he said ..i said is worthless in court 12 mths down the track.. produce a record of conversation made shortly after the conversation took place with a date and time and signed by yourself accompanied by a statutory declaration.

Jet


 

[Swannie]

Myswag meet at Dales place

Swannie

[Steffo1]

Just as an aside, are there survey pegs with which to go off so
1) You know the existing fence reasonably follows the line of the common boundary with your neighbour
2) You are able to ascertain where the new fence should end.
Steve

[BTMNDR]

I'd say of you're new neighbours weren't pulling your leg, then they're showing themselves to be @rseholes.