When a shared fence turns into another neighborhood battle.
Living next to a difficult neighbor is exhausting, especially when every disagreement seems to become a legal threat. After being blamed for damage to a shared fence, this California homeowner discovered that the neighbor’s own contractor attributed the problem to years of rot, not a lightweight plastic table. Despite offering to split the cost and work toward a lasting solution, the homeowner fears the neighbor will move forward alone and sue anyway.
Things are going to get messy for these two families here. One of them believes the fence they shared was damaged by a plastic table, while the other has evidence that it just rotted because it’s old. It’s one word versus the other. And of course, one of the families is afraid they will tear the fence down and take them to court to make them pay for it.
I don’t understand why this situation has to escalate like this. For instance, if they share the fence, splitting the cost of getting it fixed is a good middle ground. This was proposed by the homeowner, but rejected by the neighbors, who are blaming him for the destruction. By this point, and understanding that the second family is not willing to agree on something, it’s going to get complicated.
Having the professional opinion of the contractor was a good strategy, since he’s the one who understands these things better than anyone, and confirmed that the fence needs to be replaced because it’s old, and there was nothing to do when it was going bad, rather than time and humidity.
I hope they can settle on something so they don’t stress about something that’s not that complicated, and they both agreed that they need to build a new one. They all want the same thing: to live in peace and to have a good fence separating both properties. So why not sit and have this situation sorted out by talking rather than in court?
Author: Kayitsi.com
