Need advice - fence etiquette

[merekc]

My (subdivision) neighbor has mentioned twice that they are putting up a fence. He has not asked for money, but I'm thinking he is wanting an offer from us.

I've always heard that the expectation is neighbors split the cost of the fence between their properties. However, I hate the idea that I will have to fork over money for something I don't want/need because someone else want/needs it. ...But I also don't want to cause problems with our neighbors.

What do you feel the appropriate thing to do is?

 

[Kimmumum]

Our next door neighbor put up a fence around their yard. Neither myself of the other neighbor paid for any of it. Why would you? They are fencing in their yard not yours. They even stain my side of the fence because they want to maintain their fence. I'm not going to stain their fence. I don't mean to sound cold but I hate fences so I'm not going to pay for or maintain something I don't like.

 

[disykat]

I think if you don't want a fence, you don't need to offer to split the cost. Many people use it as an opportunity and go ahead and fence their yard too, but if that's not the case - don't worry about it.

We put up a fence when we got a dog. I told the neighbors and sort of "got their approval" just to be neighborly. I had no expectation whatsoever that they would chip in. We also talked to them to get permission to weedwack and pressure wash our fence on their side (we need to stand on their property to do it) as needed.

 

[Bev J]

He is wanting to put up the fence, he can pay for it. Now if you choose to connect to his fence in the future then you should offer to pay half for the part that divides your two yards.
On the other hand if your going to benefit from the fence- keeps his pets, kids out of your yard or helps you keep yours in then it might be nice to offer to pay for half of the strip that seperates your two yards, or bide your time and see if he comes out and asks you.

Bev

 

[JerJan]

OK, I've lived in many homes that we have owned in Florida, California and Ohio and I must say that I have never heard of such a thing!? If your community allows it and you want a fence you should pay for it 100%. The neighbors that border your fence should not feel any obligation what-so-ever to help to pay for it!

 

[canwegosoon]

I have put up a fence at our summer house and did not expect (or ask for a dime from our neighbor)...IMO if you want the fence you foot the bill...but I do know that some neighbors who are friendly do split the cost of the abbutting line of fencing(and as a courtsy the better side usually faces the neighbor). They would never cover the entire fence cost(and splitting the one side only leaves you 3 sides to finish on your own and many times you can get a deal if both neighbors want to fence both properties).

When your neighbor brings it up again..say good luck, but we are putting our money else where.

 

[Kay1]

Hmmm. . . Our former neighbor asked us before he put up the fence that divides our houses. I thought he was being polite but maybe he was hinting! Anyhow, no. If he wants a fence, let him buy it.

 

[Hannathy]

Never heard of splitting the cost unless you both decided at the same time to do it. Also check the rules around here fences DO NOT go on the property lines they must be set in so many inches onto their property. They also are to be put up with the attractive side toward you and they maintain the fence and are responsible for trimming around it even on your side.

 

[LilGMom]

If he is putting up the fence that will be on his yard and when he sells his house the new owners will have 100% ownership of the fence than there is absolutely no reason for you to chip in on any of it. If you, in the future, want to 'tie' onto it (meaning go from your house to your neighbor's fence and use that fence to line that side of your yard) it would probably be a good idea to get approval first being tieing onto it.

 

[mickeyfan2]

He wants the fence; he pays for the fence. He cannot put in on the property border either. There is a set back from his properly line that he must adher to.

 

[Davidsmommy]

We've always had a fence around our backyard, and our neighbor asked us if it was ok to build his fence up to ours, and I was like, "Well, of course." I couldn't figure out why he asked us, why would we care? Lol

Maybe I am just too easygoing about the whole thing.

 

[Dory's Twin]

We have a 6 foot privacy fence and when it was blown down by a wind storm, my husband was rebuilding it and our neighbor came over and asked if he could pay for 1/2 of it...because he liked the privacy too!

I thought it was nice then and I think it is nice now!

 

[branv]

Oh no, you don't need to pay him anything! When we bought our house, they did not offer fences between the homes unless you paid extra. Our back neighbor had one, but there were not yet houses to either side of us.

Here's what you do IF you some day decide to build your own fence: We decided to build our fence on our own, and when we did, made sure to put in our own posts abutting his fence. We were not going to attach our fence to his and have to a) pay for part of his fence (Especially since the builder put his up, charged way too much and it was terrible quality), and b) we didn't want to deal with any problems in case his fence fell over or ours did and have to worry about resulting damage to the other's fence.

Just like fences make good neighbors, so does taking responsibility for your fence...which also means taking ownership of it. After we built our fence, the homebuilder started offering fences as part of the standard package, and when they came and built the houses on either side of ours, they tried to tie the side gates into our fence posts. We went to them and told them to remove it and build their own posts (Which was good since about a year ago a big storm came through and half the builder built fences..including our next door neighbors..came crashing down!). Also, now I wonder if our next door neighbors are under the impression that the fence we share is also theirs. I always wonder what we'll do if they try to build say a lattice onto it or something. (My two neighbors are...well, less than ideal, I wouldn't put it past them to accidentally set it on fire or use it as target practice )

 

[Julia M]

Well, you obviously come live in an area where not everyone has fences.

Where we are in CA, all the homes have fences, so when one needs to be replaced, usually one neighbot takes the lead, gets the estimates, okays it with the neighbor, and then it is done. Each pays half of the fence that divides their property.

In your case, I don't know why you would need to help financially.

Julia

 

[CTdiznymom]

Our property lines are separated with common hedges that our neighbors children have destroyed. Our kids are grown and in college now, and we never felt the need to have a fence for privacy or to keep our kids in the yard when they were small. A few years ago the neighbor mentioned that he was thinking about putting up a fence to contain the kids and he wanted to know what we thought about it and strongly hinted that we share the cost. My husband and I were dumbfounded. They are the ones with kids running all over the neighborhood and he wants us to foot the bill???? I don't think so! Needless to say, there still isn't a fence.

 

[shortbun]

I hate fences and would not share the cost unless it was a joint idea. Our neighbors fenced two sides of their yard but left that between us empty because they know we hate fences. I'm still not sure why they put up some but not all. I know the other side neighbors did not share the cost. I'd ignore the hints and if they ask outright, just smile and say "naw, I'm not a big fan of fences."

 

[NU2WDW]

My (subdivision) neighbor has mentioned twice that they are putting up a fence. He has not asked for money, but I'm thinking he is wanting an offer from us.

I've always heard that the expectation is neighbors split the cost of the fence between their properties. However, I hate the idea that I will have to fork over money for something I don't want/need because someone else want/needs it. ...But I also don't want to cause problems with our neighbors.

What do you feel the appropriate thing to do is?

Positively ludicrous to assume anyone else will pay for a fence on your property, and I've never heard of any such expectation. At least not in the U.S. I do know of a situation like that in Canada where the laws are apparently very different regarding private property.

Regardless, I'd be more inclined to think he's trying to give you notice of the fence to avoid any issues of property boundaries. When we put up our fence, we had the property surveyed (even though the subdivision was only a few years old and everyone still has their plats showing the lines), then marked off the boundaries and told the neighbors on both sides "here's what the survey shows, here's the property lines, let us know if you have any problems". This was a solid month before the fence was actually put up. Our concern was to avoid anyone saying after the fact, "hey, you didn't tell us you were putting a fence on THAT line", or some such. Despite this, our one neighbor, the day the fence was going in, raced over to b&t@h about "are you sure that's not over too far" even though the fence company deliberately spaces inside the line about 4 inches just in case. Of course, you'd have to know this neighbor, she lives for drama and conflict...

Anyhow, where I'm going with all this is, I'd just ask your neighbor point-blank if they've had the property surveyed and to let you know exactly where the fence is going to be. It could save a lot of bad feelings down the road. And if he's tacky enough to actually suggest you help pay for something you had no intention of buying yourself, just tell him "thanks but no thanks." No reason to feel uncomfortable about it.

 

[NemoMOm]

Also, you need to take in consideration it would be his fence and would value to his property not your own.

 

[bookgirl]

If they initially put up the fence they can not hold you responsible for half of the fence that seperates your property...UNLESS you put up any type of fencing of your own. If people on the side put up fences then you put in a gate or enclosure that utilizes their fence (say both sides have fences and in back and you put up gates only ,even if you use your own posts, you are benefiting from each of your neighbors fences) you are then assumed to be benefiting and are responsible for upkeep. You might not pay but they could legally take you to small claims and get part of the money back if the judge decided you skipped out on paying for the fence while benefiting. However if you put up no gates or fences then you are not utilizing their fence and not responsible for the upkeep. I think this varies by state or city but there is a law I think it's called implied responsibility, that is used.

We had one neighbor replace one side because her dog gnawed on it and put holes in it, on the other side the guy is a builder so we bought the materials and he and his kids built the fence. The guy in back has a lower yard and put in an eight foot that meets up with our six foot. But that was before we moved in and he has rotweillers. So we've been very lucky.

A long time ago we did put in a whole fence, one neighbor also replaced his so we split but the other didn't want to get a wood fence so we just built up to his cheapy chain link and put our wood next to it.

You just have to do whatever you feel is right, and keeps peace in the neighborhood.

 

[undertheradar]

The custom here in Southern CA is to split the cost. We just did this in December. Both neighbors benefit from the fence.