High and mighty neighbours!!

[Tiger]

Dear all,

I have had a problem with one of our shared fences. My neighbour's (he is a surveyor!) property is slightly higher than mine and so he has rammed large bricks/blocks on his side to stop soil etc. from coming into my property. The end result is that the bricks have put pressure on the plinths with most of them flexing and some breaking. When questioned he says my property is higher so what am I supposed to do? Would be fair to say that if the plinth is being destroyed that the fence will weaken? If that wasn't bad enough, another neighbour is starting to do the same thing. Has anyone had a similar experience and is there another solution? Could something else be used other than concrete blocks? Am I overlooking a simple solution? I would say that the surveyor's property is about 200 to 300 mm higher than mine. Thanks in advance for any replies. BTW before you say the solution is to move, I've already considered that.

[doug the slug]

call the council and ask them to send out an inspector. they should be able to tell you who's right and whos wrong and what can be done about it. your neighbour is less likely to argue with them

[Zed]

doug (and his boobies are right) however be prepared to not get on with your neighbours once the inspector lobs up and provides a ruling. perhaps pre warn him if your chummy. otherwise give him the finger

[leeton]

Hard situation, if you call the council in, he will call the council, or coppers or whatever, when you do something to upset him, bloody neighbours...you have to live with em, maybe check out a price for new plinths and share the cost, tell him it is cheaper to do that now and save the fence, than 12 months down the track having to replace the whole fence....and at the same time, just get him to move his bricks an inch back from the plinth.

[wombat47]

I don't suppose I need to mention that dividing fences are the cause of most neighbourhood disputes.

I can attest to Zed's warning that calling in a building inspector doesn't always contribute to a atmosphere where the problem can be discussed and resolved rationally. I also know that regardless of what the building inspector might say, having to resort to solicitors to enforce the neighbour to abide by the building inspector's ruling can be pretty expensive. In my case, it involved the next door neighbour's decision to build his retaining wall, required by council, on my land. Better, and cheaper, to try and resolve it amicably.

My block is on a slope with an aluminium fence, the panels being more or less level, resulting in gaps of varying sizes (but up to around 200mm in some places) on the downward end of each panel. I've used strips of aluminium fencing buried about 150mm in the ground, the top of the strip level with the bottom frame of the fence. Along most of the length, my side is higher than his and, in some places, the garden has been built up further against these fill in strips. The strips have been in place for some years now and, so far, no problems.

[echnidna]

"My neighbour's (he is a surveyor!) property is slightly higher than mine and so he has rammed large bricks/blocks on his side to stop soil etc. from coming into my property. The end result is that the bricks have put pressure on the plinths with most of them flexing and some breaking. When questioned he says my property is higher so what am I supposed to do?"

He is supposed to fix it properly so he should fit a retaining wall.

[Tiger]

Thanks for the suggestions, a retaining wall, never thought of that. Wonder if that is required by law, check with Council tomorrow.

[doug the slug]

check with Council tomorrow.

circle complete right back where we were at reply one

[Bodgy]

Tigga, Tigga Burning Bright...

Don't **** off your neighbours mate. That will cause long lasting issues that will far supercede a dozen fences.

Strongly advise you stay as far away from the Council, and their agenda laden inspectors, as poss.

Regardless of who's right etc., resolve it amicably even if it costs a few $$.

Once you raise your head about the trenches, attract attention and try and discuss things in a logical manner, you become a target and hello Land and Environment, goodbye $20K.

All it takes is an anonymous complaint (neighbours) and you're in a world of pain. Any normal family home is in breach of thousands of Council regs, they are on your payroll (ex the rates), you're on your payroll. They have no legal costs, you do.

Smile and be nice

[Cliff Rogers]

We had a crappy neighbour like that about 8 years ago.
We had a retaining wall along a boundary, he was lower & he didn't like the water that leaked out of the wall during the wet season so he blocked all the weep holes.... the water pressure made the wall lean in his way til it cracked & was ugly. He kept filling up the crack 'cos the water leaked out of it.
Silly buga didn't realise the power of hydralics.

Karma got him, he died of cancer.

Nod & smile, you'll live longer.

[Stuart]

There are way to many *****wits in this world.

Bring in compulsory IQ tests for anyone wanting to continue beyond their 30th birthday.

[wombat47]

I don't think you are going to get much in the way of joy from your council re a retaining wall. I think that council regulations come in at around 60cm or so.

In my case, neighbour excavated the block level with the street frontage and the back of the excavation went down almost 1-1/2 metres - 900mm away from the side wall of our house. It was even more of a worry when heavy rain washed away a considerable amount of soil from the side of our house (an oldie on stone and rubble foundations).

It was a long and expensive affair, culminating in a court injunction to stop him from digging a trench on our land (which would have gone under the slab that our water heater sits on) and complicated by the fact that he was accountant to the council.

But you have to laugh - the block he was building on had been subdivided off our house block back in the 60's. He was convinced that the seepage at the rear of his excavation came, not from the natural slope of the land which was much higher at the back and on our side, but from an illegal storm water outlet from our place. The poor sod dug up most of his backyard looking for our phantom storm water pipe. We spent many a happy weekend watching him. He sold the place after a couple of years and now "all my troubles are so far away".

[JDub]

There are way to many *****wits in this world.

Bring in compulsory IQ tests for anyone wanting to continue beyond their 30th birthday.

LOL, unfortunately not going to work though.

I work with a lot of very intellegent (intellectually) people and some of them are amongst the biggest ****wits of them all.

Agree with the above sentiments though, play nice, spend a little extra $$ if you have to but try to keep the peace. It will make your life so much more relaxing

Joel

[Bulli]

Turning into a bit of a me too.. So here goes.

For years my parents' old house was sloping away to one side. I remember as a small child in the kitchen, I could let my matchbox cars go, and they'd go shooting to the other side of the floor.

My poor old father spent every weekend for about six weeks, digging down the side of his house between the house and the fence - in such a narrow space it would've been backbreaking work for a young man. Went about 4 or 5 feet down and found a noticeable run off at one particular point.

Turns out the neighbour (a university lecturer) had a small fish pond.

Apparently the Uni lecturer was always curious about why it would always drain, so he put the hose in on a slow drip, and left it going continuously! As in 24/7.

My old man had already dug the hole, and didn't want any bad feelings, so he just connected a big length of ag pipe to the storm water (sshh...) and covered it with aggregate. Jacked up the house, restumped and it's been right ever since.

So Stuart, I agree with your sentiments, but I reckon JDub's right - there's IQ and then there's CDF, if you know what I mean.

Bulli

[TEEJAY]

My house is surrounded by needs to retain small amounts of fill against the boundary. I knew it would be and issue so I got to it at earliest time possible and with the neighbours paying to support their fill and me doing the same (new estate/new fences etc) we put between the fence posts treated hardwood timber sleepers to retain the small amount of fill. On the side higher than mine I ensured the sleepers had a plastic liner behind and an agricultural drain at the base to stop seepage. I then put a garden bed on my side of the fence to the same height as their side and all is great. Sleepers post to post will retain small amounts of fill if your posts are half decent.

Cheers