The fence its in a really bad condition. So your situation depends heavily on who dug into the hill and installed the retaining wall in the first place--your neighbor's predecessor, or yours. I text him to have proof and he calls me to answer do I have no write that he agree to go half. If it is on your property and you are sure of it (please make 100% sure) then yes you can go ahead and do whatever you want with it, such as tear it down. First off, the biggest one is if everything you say is correct, there was not a valid reason to replace the fence in the first place. I hope this answers your question somewhat good luck with your neighbor! Our backyard fence (100) is on or rear neighbors front yard side fence. Your right, the Good Neighbor Law does not cover upgrades or replacing a fence just because it looks bad, yet I will not go into detail regarding this as this information is all clearly stated in the article which you would have known had you fully read it! Join for use: the attachment of another fence to the boundary fence Any thoughts not input would be greatly appreciated. I do not think this qualifies for a Good neighbor fence. Lagging consisting of wood, steel or precast concrete panels is inserted behind the front pile flanges as the excavation proceeds. We had no say in the decorative fence. I figure if its on mine I have complete control although I will most likely make enemies with my neighbor. You need to stand your ground, tell him you will not be paying for any of the costs of the wall, or anything else for that matter. The neighbor is bullying you in order to make money off you. Redwood trees at top of slope in his his corner hides the fencing in this area. He did not cut the wood to fit the slope setting the first panel adjacent to backyard neighbor fence up off the ground, leaving a large, hollowed out, open area in the slope on my side which now will cause erosion, and I believe failure of the fence when winter comes. 2) If a retaining wall is attached to a building or if a building foundation is directly dependent upon the location and design of the retaining wall it is to be included in the building permit for the construction of the building. in the table. If you have any further questions regarding Californias Good Neighbor Fence Law call RC Fences today and we can walk you step by step through the entire process to make sure you dont make any mistakes and risk having to pay the entire cost of your new beautiful fence! Am I correct? What can we do? We were both in agreement to pay half each. Am I supposed to send another certified letter with the bids on replacing the fence and give them a demand again or just go to small claims court and ask the judge to rule that they need to split the cost on fixing the fence? Neighbor wont negotiate further and wants me to pay half now to a terrible looking mismatch. I would send them a letter certified mail with return receipt requested (for proof should you need it down the road) to immediately stop[ all harassment against you, state that you will not be paying them a dime as you were not the homeowner at the time of replacement, and should they wish to take you to court, go ahead! I have issues with that because the old fence had the planks on my side. -Was the wall there from the very beginning when the houses were built or is it because of some type of new construction? I told them they need to trim back their trees and shrubs and that I would be getting estimates to repair the fence and take them to small claims court. poor maintenance, or sprinklers hitting the fence, etc., causing damage to the fence, therefore, causing the fence to have to be replaced before it should have with proper care and maintenance. My partner and I ran across this different website and decided to take a look around. However, you can be right and still have to pay for the whole fence. I noticed this when it was almost done. I don't agree with Mr. Olden. Entire enclosure: the property owners entire property is enclosed by the attachment of other fencing to the boundary fence I do not see why you wouldnt be able to do what youre proposing except for the fact that it could bring along with it a lot of issues. The Folsom Municipal Code adopts, by reference, the 1997 Uniform Building Code (UBC). Thank you Jason, I appreciate the advice! Failure of your wall could lead to landslides or other unfortunate occurrences. Originally the bad planks are on their side and the polls on our property what will be the best to do in this situation. In fact once you file the small claims suit and he is served most people will end up paying then because they dont want the hassle of going to court and they realize they will likely lose anyway. If you dont agree to her doing the job, which I would be very wary of and personally would never allow, then she has no choice but to pay for it all herself or you guys use a different contractor. Our backyard neighbors dont trim their trees (70 feet high) or their shrubs and now a few sections of the fence are leaning in our backyard due to the foliage pushing against and through the fence. Remove quotes around phrases to match each word individually: "blue drop" will match less than blue drop. This applies only if the fence is currently directly on the dividing lot line. He agrees to go half on the material (over the phone) its done and now he not telling me when or how he can pay me. The back line of our fence lined up with all the adjacent neighbors fences who also border these townhouses in that development. For example, in the area where you live, all of the houses have had fenced yards going way back to the 1950s. Best to have a survey done. Neighbor wants to replace fallen fence due to construction on his property. There is no splitting costs here as there is not shared structure. My new neighbor just started replacing all his fencing in his backyard. He then complained about us buying expenseive material (6ft red wood) and did not want to spend that. As I just stated I would be very hesitant to allow her to build the fence for two reasons. Can she force me to pay for the materials and she do the labor? We could not afford to replace it so we said we did not want it removed, as it was enclosing our property. The second and third reasons only apply if the fence needed to be replaced in the first place, but I will touch on them anyway. I appreciate your comment, but you must realize the majority of the time, these cases will be fought in small claims court by neighbors without much legal knowledge or without additional attorneys and the judge will likely follow the letter of the law. At the beginning of March I put a notice on there door that were replacing the fence with a textured vinyl fence. The solution is simple a fence called a good neighbor fence where the rails as you call 2x4s alternate with every post linearly. All the Best. It benefits the homeowners as they now have a legal route to take to replace their fences, which obviously is exactly the reason the law was created! I will have to replace the rest of the fence to install the gate since I am moving it. Now as far as the law is concerned although your neighbor is not being a very good neighbor nor is he being very diplomatic, but I believe he still has a right to refuse the vinyl fencing whether or not he is paying a dime. There are many reasons disputes may arise between neighbors when it comes to fences. The shared good neighbor fence between my yard and the neighbor fell during a storm 3 months ago. The neighbor and his fence company will then need to do what any reputable company would do and fix it to make sure both adjoining neighbors are 100% satisfied with the final fence. Detail(s) showing complete construction details of the retaining wall. But did not want to go through our contractors. Secondly, his dogs have broken through the panels multiple times and bit our dogs twice. 2017 Montclair Constructions | Designed by by Web and SEO Guru. Deferred approvals will not be permitted. He came and did the job. To further answer your question as to what constitutes a valid reason to replace the fence in the first place, the fence must absolutely be beyond repair and failing. This definition also applies to freestanding pool walls. During these early years, most of the neighborhood had children. Do they have the right to force us to sign their agreement to allowour work to start? There is a large high substantial retaining wall holding back higher ground in the ownership of our client which is in poor condition. Of course, like many laws there are exceptions. Now there are two fences that not only a too totally different styles but heights. Apparently our fence was in bad shape, and the townhouses owners wanted it removed because they thought it was ugly. Spoke to the neighbor again, told him I want to move the fence to the property line, first he said fine as long as its a block wall, so we got estimates but that was too much, so then he said we could move my fence to the property line, and then yesterday changed his mind again and said do not remove original fence! It blocks NOTHING in only on their side, which is why they want it done. I hope the business property has to clean up and replace it. It was always referred to as their fence, and nobody else could touch it. modular concrete units stacked in a running bond pattern without mortar or reinforcement. The wall was apparently put up to create a level lot downhill from my property so another house could be built. A building permit can usually be issued over the counter when two copies of the following are provided along with a completed permit application: Segmental gravity retaining walls such as Keystone, Allan Block, etc. Never consulted us. Why would this be true.. the fence is not on the boundary like therefore it is the responsibility of the property owner in which has the entirety of the fence on their property to maintain it as they like. This is why I believe it is best in your situation to try and come to an agreement amicably with your neighbor! It is not something that NEEDS to be done. Having said this I can see where he is coming from, many people are still on the fence as to whether they like the look of vinyl fence yet. Only one of them communicated this to us. This height does not include the wall and depth of footing below grade. Use of tiered walls is a special condition where two or more short walls, horizontally offset from one another, are used in lieu of a single tall retaining wall. We agreed. Whos fence is it and do we have the freedom to modify it or remove it without permission from the neighbors? They replaced it a couple of times, and eventually changed the style to a more traditional looking front yard fence. If you cant abide by the rules that make the neighborhood clean and what probably attracted you to purchase in the first place, buy elsewhere! The development has remained pretty much the same over the years, and only a handful of people chose to put up decorative front yard fences. First off, they cannot tell you not to touch the fence at all, the fence as long as it is on the property line is both your neighbor and your property and therefore you have just as much right to it as they do, whether or not they paid for it. The existing fence isnt bad at all. ( Remember, we were never approached about this at all. The cost of rebuilding a retaining wall on appellants' property cannot be held to be equivalent to the cost of restoring respondent's property to its original condition by mere speculation and without some evidence, and the finding of damages is therefore not supported by the evidence. A week later, I came home to find a for sale sign in his lawn. How do I keep the gap clear or how can I get my neighbor to allow a new fence on the property line (since he has 2 large dogs it cant come down without his participation)? border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; Also a small child or animal could possibly get into his yard and get in his pool. Then he said he would come up and build the fence and also move my gate for which I would pay him for and 1/2 the neighbor fence. Code 841, but my fear is that after having a letter certified to her, she will either ignore it or refuse after the 30 days. Most houses have nothing between them in the front yards other than a concrete mowing strip or plants, if anything. Revised on 02-04-2022 A retaining wall is a structure designed and constructed to resist the lateral pressure of soil, when there is a desired change in ground elevation that exceeds the angle of repose of the soil. You are not responsible for any of the costs whatsoever and therefore you should not pay half much less the full costs, which I have no idea how this neighbor believes this to be fair. Do we still split it in half? Which has become an eyesore. Hi Annie, thanks for the great question! This year the fence is leaning towards our house and part of the fence is on the ground, my wife got 3 bids and has contacted a contractor to build a new fence she sent a letter to the gentleman to tell him we are going to replace the fence and He sent us an e mail and I quote as for sending me a bill for my portion of the fence, since I personaly did not agree to participate in the replacement there for I will not pay anything. Soldier piles retains soil, using vertical steel piles or wooden posts with horizontal lagging. Our backyard back fence ( about 100 feet long) had a wooden fence built on our property. I think she should pay half. Actually, under the law, any maintenance to keep the debris from the trees off the the fence could be billed half to the neighbor. Call Now (925) 405-7658[email protected] RC Fences and Decks Est. Does this remove us from mutual benefit responsibilities and paying half of the replacement? What options do I have? I had not notified him yet of the contractor doing the job as it just got scheduled. What recourse do I have? Ninety-five percent of Californians live in urban areas. margin: auto; Cantilever or segmental gravity retaining walls with an exposed wall height of three feet or less, where the retained soil does not support a surcharge (i.e. ), As he approached my wife in such a critical harsh manner I feel less inclined to offer him anything. This has been on going for 3 years. I have now recently discovered he placed video surveillance pointed /monitoring my front yard. Any tips on how to proceed? I dont want to get taken to court over this, but my other concern is I am struggling as is, and can no way afford to give our neighbors $3,000 for a fence. The fence is old and rotted and they have ivy growing on it which has helped to cause it to fall into my yard. I had contacted my neighbor twice that we need to get the fence fix. We have both got estimates that are similar in price. I am a little confused as to your question. I understood and said whatever wood you do your fence we can get. Even more important than that is I believe many contractors would not want to get involved with something such as this due to another company building part of a fence they built, so if there are problems down the road, all of a sudden they might take the blame for another companies poor workmanship. for court! Whatever their purpose, retaining walls come in infinite shapes, sizes and styles. The fence is horrible now because it does not match existing and neighbor says too bad, that I had agreed to the estimate, even though I had sent link to what I wanted. Is this situation an exception? This is no less true in California, where houses are packed closely together and neighbors like to maintain their privacy. He asked us to help pay for the leaning retaining wall between our properties. If they bear the cost, its probably not my business; but if we share the cost, is it reasonable for me to ask my neighbor to remove the trees before repairing (or replacing) the fence? Since the water is now drawing towards my side of the property. That 32 of fence is behind a large hedge and is not even visible from my property. Still proceed to have the fence repaired and then take her to small claims? Can my neighbor legally stop me from replacing the fence until we do a survey? The other neighbor does not own but rents, so I contacted the rental company and informed them of my wishes to replace the fence. All other retaining wall conditions such as taller walls, tiered walls, and/or walls supporting sloping backfill (or other surcharges) will generally require a building permit. He would have had to get at least 3 bids from reputable companies and presented all these to you. Im in LA county and spoke with a small claims advisor they said that I could sue for half the cost of the job with quotes, but apparently a judge cant order for the consent of the job, but I figure at that point if youve already had to pay you might as well agree to the fix. The sides of our yard are 6 white vinyl. There better be good reasons other than make my yard look better. If the retaining wall was a structural requirement of the lot grading . If and when we need to replace the fence sooner that should have to be, what action should I take since he doesnt seem to comprehend that what he has done is probably illegal. Neighbor and I share a panel/lattice on top fence for most of our shared fencing. Then once the fence is finished you can go after him for half the costs minus any extra work that was solely for your benefit (the gate). Construction Landing Page Pro Theme by: Rara Theme. I contracted with a contractor to do the job this month and let the brother know 2 months ago I did this because he never responded with a quote and I can finance the fence with the contractor and the homeowner is not responding. The neighbor also has a pool. Unless the fenceless owner someday decides to fence in his own property benefitting from the already existing division fence. Also if you file a small claims suit you can go after him for all your time you spent going after him for the money like the time it took you to go to the courthouse, etc. The fence is old and grey but was being maintained with new planks when needed. Both property owners own the fence erected between the property lines when both use it. Repair vs Replacedue to preference or aesthetic. We were gone for a free days, and the contractor had a job cancel, so he asked if he could come early and remove the fence. Weve contacted our neighbor to alert him of the project but he refuses to have the fence removed. What can I do Im being harassed. Structure footings supported by the retained soil It is entirely visible on their side. The neighbor does not want to share the cost to fix it, and states it is my sole responsibility. While repairing is an option sometimes, although we usually do not recommend it, this article is based on the notion that your fence has fully failed, needs replacement immediately, and your neighbor refuses to pay for it. 215-579-9390. After I threaten to take him to a small claims court. That or they will have to take it to small claims court where you will then be able to plead your side and hopefully you have kept pictures, notes, correspondence between you and neighbor as all this will be very important to your court case. If there was and the fence is being replaced you would ONLY HAVE TO PAY for the sections that run along your property line and absolutely nothing else. It gets a little complicated when it comes to retaining walls. The only issue is now you must collect the amount ordered to be paid to you. What other option does a homeowner have if their fence is failing miserably and needs replacement immediately, yet their neighbor refuses to pay a dime? If there is a better option out there please let all our readers, as well as I, know! Anyway, now that I told my story, I want to get your opinion on whether or not I was within my rights (morally and legally), to refuse to pay for a decorative front yard fence that solely compliments his landscape and is not standard in our neighborhood (even though I did end up paying). Although I know this is now besides the point, I would actually always recommend a custom built fence to the prefabricated fence panels they carry at big box stores. State they didnt have insurance policies he wanted. Before I can answer your question as to who would be responsible for the retaining wall I need to know the following information: -Whose property if higher up, i.e. The scenario where the uphill neighbor would be responsible for a retaining wall is when he fills his yard so that it is level. Please let everyone know if you have any ideas as to another route to take. His tenant dog Kill my dog. The panel sits at about 8-9 ft off the ground. That being said I believe if you are set on getting a vinyl fence you have two options. If he followed these steps then he could go after you in court and would likely win. I came home from work one day and noticed they had replaced this fence (visible from the street as I passed). A civil or structural engineer should design any walls that rise more than 1 m high. Typically, H-piles are drilled or driven at regular intervals along the planned excavation perimeter, cast in to concrete pier hole. It just appeared one day. 3 quotes My relationship with this neighbor is not good. (Please confer with a licensed Attorney to confirm as we can only provide information and not legal advice!). But, our neighbor says that vinyl fence is the cheapest. One side of my fence is 630ft of that side 220ft of the fence are a neighbors backyard privacy fence that the builder put in. Re: Retaining wall law. When tiered walls are not properly offset from each other, the upper wall may impose a surcharge condition on the lower wall. However, the fence installed has a deep setback, meaning half our lots side yard has new fencing, and the other half has no fencing at all (dont think it ever did). are frequently available from local building supply warehouse stores. text messages, etc.) Hope this fully answers your question, if you have any further questions please let us know. Retaining wall responsibility My neighbors are claiming that an existing retaining wall that is failing is on my property and that I am 100% responsible for it. Seems your neighbor would be reaping the rewards with no out of pocket costs for him. I sent the neighbors a demand letter as they would not answer the door to us for several months of trying (nearly a dozen times). This neighbor is neither very smart or kind, and I just want to be prepared for when he goes apoplectic once a fence is installed, as well as collecting half $$ once he decides to modify what will then be his side. Neighbor has constantly harassers me constantly if he sees something touching his fence. Also, the fence was still in decent shape and we hadnt planned on replacing soon. Also, I think you lucked out not having your neighbor or his family members build the fence themselves, they sound like a bunch of flakes. There is a rebuttable presumption that can be overcome. We intend to remove the fence. Unfortunately there is a gap of 10 to 12 inches between the fences and all kinds of weeds, bushes and trees are growing inside. Well, its simpler than that. All other retaining wall construction will require a separate Building Permit. I have a shared fence with my neighbor and we plan to share the cost of the fence equally. whose property is the retaining wall actually retaining? Once your neighbor sees that you are suing him for considerably more than half the cost of the fence that you initially requested he will likely want to pay you the initial amount immediately. This is simply the exposed wall height and it is for this reason that the Planning, Inspections and Permitting Department interprets UBC 106.2, item 5 as follows: A building permit shall not be required for retaining walls that are not over 3 feet in exposed wall height unless supporting a surcharge .
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