Yup, Karma. And be careful what you ask for.
Tell her to build her own damned fence. He gets the setback for his own use!
Was the fence on her side of the property line?
Good story. Lots of property line Karens out there get surprised when they go nuts and demand a survey only to find out that THEY are the ones who need to move a fence or an entire building.
I like this story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keE81T6pflw
Seems like this guy resolved it pretty well. l
Classic case of “be careful what you ask for, you just might get it”.
When I bought this 5+++ acres & prepped to fence, I made VERY sure of the Surveyors pin locations.
FLAGGED THEM ON HIGH POLES.
THEN RAN HARD STRING between PINS, using extra T-post to stay straight on the 2 sides that about other properties.
DESIGNED & BUILT fences that are between 6-8 inches or more INSIDE the pins. THESE ARE NOT “COMMON FENCES” that can “be used by each side”.
THESE ARE MY FENCES—and if you bring in livestock NEXT TO ME-—YOU MUST BUILD YOUR OWN FENCES. Property next to me on long side-—630 feet isn’t occupied. Property behind me==389 foot side & OLD LIVESTOCK fencing was already there, but I still built MY fences INSIDE the PINS by at least 6”.
DIDN’T COST me any more-— but it certainly will end any future arguments. Been here 19 years-—fences still in very good condition. HOT WIRE==OVER 2 1/2 MILES. T-posts every 10 feet. 13 weeks==every single day with 4 of us working.
I love that this guy is refusing to build a fence for HER dog.
A new neighbor moved into the house next door to my parents house which was on 5 acres. We had a horse pasture with a fence down the property line. The new neighbor had his 2 acre lot surveyed and found out about 40’ our pasture fence was on his property by as much as 2’. He asked my father to move it.
My father/mother had previously owned dairy farms with as much as 500 acres. This new guy was a city guy who had moved to the suburbs. My father and us kids moved the fence, but my father did not talk to that neighbor for the next ten years.
If he just went ahead and gave her the nine inches, maybe she would have been more reasonable.
Where did this take place?
About 5 or 6 years ago I built a fence in my back yard. I talked to my neighbors and we decided on a good place to build the fence. We knew an approximate property line based on some survey pins, but were both too cheap to pay for a surveyor. We shook hands and I built the fence. It was a great deal for my neighbors, I paid for everything, built the fence, and all they had to do was give me a thumbs up when it was done.
Then, a year later, they sold their house. That meant I got a new neighbor, more specifically, I got Anne! Anne was from the big city, Anne was a realtor, Anne had flipped 8 houses in 12 years, Anne loved this new house and planned on staying for a long time, and Anne had a dog. Razzy was a German Shepherd mix that spent most of the day outside while Anne went to work. Razzy was aggressive towards children, animals, insects, and any plants that waved in the breeze. Razzy also, as Anne once told me, LOVED to chew on furniture. That’s why Razzy stayed outside so much.
About 6 months after Anne moved in I saw a surveyor walking around in my neighborhood and he was paying special attention to my back yard. The next day Anne showed up at my front door with a stack of papers and asked me if I was going to pay her for the 9 inches that my fence was encroaching onto her property. I explained the handshake deal with the last neighbors, but she was having no part of it! She wanted the fence moved or she wanted money, no discussions. She had spoken to her lawyer friend and was perfectly happy to take me to court over the fence. She told me “I don’t know how you guys do it out here in the sticks, but where I come from we follow the rules!”
So, I got rid of the fence. The next day I unscrewed the horizontal rails from the brackets, stacked the fence panels up against my garage, and pulled up the fence posts with my work van.
About a week later Anne shows up at my front door again. She wants to know when I’m going to be building a new fence. Turns out, without my portion of the fence she has not been able to let Razzy out unattended for fear that he will run away, attack something, or get hit by a car. She also told me she can’t keep him in the house all day while she’s at work anymore. Her furniture and carpet are all but ruined.
I told her “Well, Anne, I’m not going to be rebuilding the fence. I don’t want any legal trouble and the best way to stay out of trouble is to not build near your property.”
The look on her face was priceless!!! I thought she was going to cry! (She probably did when she got back home.) She tried to protest, saying that she really needed the fence back and she would even help pay for the new one. She told me how much she loved the style and aesthetic of the old one, it was just the location that she had a problem with. I stood firm. There would be no new fence.
She never got a fence. She made half-hearted attempts to put up some bamboo fencing, but Razzy tore through that stuff like wet newspaper. Eventually, I sold my place and moved away. I took the old fence panels with me and I still look at them everyday when I let my dog out in the morning.
TLDR: New neighbor with dog didn’t like where the old neighbor and I built a fence. She threatened legal trouble, so I completely removed the fence. Dog destroys her house. I keep the fence.
Depends on if the fence was ON the property line. IN NY at lease, when you build a fence, it cannot be ON the property line. It must be 6 inches on your side so as to not be on the neighbor’s property.
If the fence was improperly placed, she may have had the right to insist on it being moved.
Like a good neighbor stay over there!
Based on the article, the neighbor with the dog simply wanted a fence on her terms that SHE didn’t have to pay for.
It’s your dog. If you want it controlled, it’s YOUR responsibility. No neighbor is obligated to put out their own money for a fence they don’t want for YOUR convenience.
I’m glad we live where we have no neighbors we can see.
There’s always one ding Dong trouble maker around who gets off to it
The fence built as a courtesy to the former neighbor was on her property so it technically belong to her. He should have told her that and said it is your problem.
You realize that Reddit is a fiction site?
Adverse possession. My friend had bought a trailer court and a trailer had been parked thirty years when a neighbor demanded it be moved or I’ll sue even after told the trailer is not owned by the trailer court. The judge said that the trailer does not have to move by the court and used Adverse Possession.
Had a similar incident. House flipper next door was pulling down my wood privacy fence as the previous owner’s absolute jungle of a backyard had destroyed it on that side of my house. I asked the realtor for the house to have the flipper/owner to call me to discuss what they planned to do as I’d heard they were going to put in a vinyl fence. I was going to pay to put in new wood fencing myself. The owner never called and they put up the ugly white vinyl ONE FOOT on their side of the property line. The new owners are nice though.
Interesting timing go see this. Surveyor JUST left my yard to lay out lines for the fence guy!
Having a crappy neighbor is like living in hell. Everyday is unpleasant. I had two neighbors who were horrible horrible people. Loud, trashy, ignorant, and did I mention loud.
On the flip side nice neighbors are great. I had one where my driveway encroached about 2 feet on their side of the property line, so when they built a fence and had the surveyor make out the property line (something that hadn’t been done, probably ever) they just said, “No big deal,” and I moved a few sheds back and they built their fence. But geesh. I can’t imagine going to legal battle over a few inches.
Had a chain link fence on my property, set back to be sure I was not on next door property. No surveying yet, but my property is “higher up” then next property. Came home one day, chain link fence was gone, and nicer looking wooden fence was up there, but moved closer to my house!
Talked to lawyer, he said “be nice”(no charge!!!)...so I got property surveyed...talked nicely to neighbor...he agreed to move it back to property lines, and I helped him to pay a bit for the move..Upshot, got better looking fence...and a bit more land than I had with chain link fence...overall a draw, but my neighbor and I have a congenial relationship instead of antagonistic....