Neighbours - Fencing drama
Sep 19th 2011, 9:42 am
#62
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
For a number of years now the fence and 1m retaining wall between our neighbours and us has gradually listed towards us. We've discussed it a number of times with the neighbour who is a single mum and clearly reluctant to spend any money.
Recently the lean has become worse (approaching 45 degrees at our back corner) and its clear that the timber retaining wall is rotten through, termite infested and quite simply not retaining.
Simple analysis of the land suggests to me that the retaining wall is shared - if it werent there, our house would be inundated with earth, and her house would subside and collapse.
Adding further to the complications there are troublesome goldencane palms on her side pushing the fence towards our house.
I've tried for the last 2 weeks to get our neighbours attention and discuss it - but she never answers her door, her landline (the only number I have) has been disconnected and she seems to be evasive.
I'm going to get a couple of quotes for the replacement of wall and fence, but its not going to be trivial. My guess is that we're looking at $4k ish for the job - and thats assuming we demolish the trees ourselves.
Today our neighbour disappeared again before I got a chance to talk to her - but her mother did show up (to look after the kids). I did manage to get her attention briefly and suggested that we really need to do something about the situation, but she poo-poo'd the whole idea and said, "Who needs a fence?" and "My daughter can barely afford to put food on the table - theres no point having a fence if you cant eat".
Now - I'm a compassionate guy, and can sympathise - but WTF? I have no idea what to do here. I simply dont have the expertise or time to do the job myself. She's clearly not going to fork up for her 50% of the job costs and I dont really want to be that guy that takes their neighbours to court - but if we do nothing then pretty soon I'm going to be able to stare straight from our bedroom sliding glass doors into her bathroom.
If she's really that hard up then realistically its probably about time she moved out of the area and relocated to somewhere cheaper.
Any ideas?
Recently the lean has become worse (approaching 45 degrees at our back corner) and its clear that the timber retaining wall is rotten through, termite infested and quite simply not retaining.
Simple analysis of the land suggests to me that the retaining wall is shared - if it werent there, our house would be inundated with earth, and her house would subside and collapse.
Adding further to the complications there are troublesome goldencane palms on her side pushing the fence towards our house.
I've tried for the last 2 weeks to get our neighbours attention and discuss it - but she never answers her door, her landline (the only number I have) has been disconnected and she seems to be evasive.
I'm going to get a couple of quotes for the replacement of wall and fence, but its not going to be trivial. My guess is that we're looking at $4k ish for the job - and thats assuming we demolish the trees ourselves.
Today our neighbour disappeared again before I got a chance to talk to her - but her mother did show up (to look after the kids). I did manage to get her attention briefly and suggested that we really need to do something about the situation, but she poo-poo'd the whole idea and said, "Who needs a fence?" and "My daughter can barely afford to put food on the table - theres no point having a fence if you cant eat".
Now - I'm a compassionate guy, and can sympathise - but WTF? I have no idea what to do here. I simply dont have the expertise or time to do the job myself. She's clearly not going to fork up for her 50% of the job costs and I dont really want to be that guy that takes their neighbours to court - but if we do nothing then pretty soon I'm going to be able to stare straight from our bedroom sliding glass doors into her bathroom.
If she's really that hard up then realistically its probably about time she moved out of the area and relocated to somewhere cheaper.
Any ideas?
Sep 19th 2011, 9:49 am
#63
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
Sep 19th 2011, 10:49 am
#64
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
Firstly, decide whether it is a retaining wall or a fence. Does it have concrete foundations, drainage system? The photo doesn't look like a retaining wall.
Secondly, what do you want to put in place? A similar fence will suffer similar results all too quickly.
If it's a retaining wall, there may be rules
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/plann...alls/index.htm
Lastly, does your house insurance cover any of this?
Secondly, what do you want to put in place? A similar fence will suffer similar results all too quickly.
If it's a retaining wall, there may be rules
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/plann...alls/index.htm
Lastly, does your house insurance cover any of this?
Sep 19th 2011, 11:57 am
#65
Auntie Fa
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Seattle
Posts: 7,344
Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
For the record I'm not questioning your morals, DadAgain and all those defending you. I don't think you're a terrible person for wanting her to pay her fair share and I hope she does have the money to pay it, and we're all getting our knickers in a twist over nothing.
(Also if you read my post properly you should know that my sister's ex has never really believed in responsibility, and skips the country every time he gets a sniff of it, so it's his own fault that his house is falling down.)
Sep 19th 2011, 12:05 pm
#66
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
I think by law (as others have stated) the lady needs to pay half of the cost of whatever "standard" fencing for your area is. Nothing above and beyond that. 4K seems an awful lot for a standard picket fence down one side of a house. Our neighbour tore down his house and rebuilt while we were away and replaced the fence down one side of our house and we didn't have to pay anything as the other fence was perfectly fine. We will one day have to get it rendered on our side though because it's a bit messy on our side, but hey ho, life's too short to worry too much about a fence I reckon.
Sep 19th 2011, 12:14 pm
#67
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
I hope your right and I'm overestimating - but I reckon about $2k of materials (have you seen how much timber sleepers cost?
- and that's the cheapest retaining option)
Sep 19th 2011, 12:19 pm
#68
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
Well I havent got any quotes yet - but what do suggest might be reasonable for 40m of 1m timber sleeper retaining wall + 1.8m timber fence?
I hope your right and I'm overestimating - but I reckon about $2k of materials (have you seen how much timber sleepers cost? - and that's the cheapest retaining option)
I hope your right and I'm overestimating - but I reckon about $2k of materials (have you seen how much timber sleepers cost?
- and that's the cheapest retaining option)There are a couple of sites online (like this one http://www.alldayfencing.com.au/adfestimate.php) that you can get an online quote and get a rough idea.
Sep 19th 2011, 12:38 pm
#69
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
Which again is making assumptions about MY financial position. Perhaps *I* cant afford $4k? To be honest $2k is a shit load more money than I'd want to spend on a fence and its gonna have some repurcussions in our household - but I recognise that it needs to be done.
I'm glad you're in a position to make generous donations to your neighbours - but not everybody is.
Let me put it another way - if your next door neighbour asked you to pay $2k to repair THEIR roof because they're a little bit short of cash right now what would you say? (I'm guessing you'd laugh and politely decline)
If someone doesnt pay their electricity bill for a year and runs up $2000 of debt they get cut off... if you dont pay your mortgage for a year the bank takes your house, if you dont pay rates for a year then I'm sure the council chase up the debt, if you dont pay car rego for a few years you cant drive....
Given that large corporate and government creditors can be ruthless in chasing up their debtors, why should a smaller creditor such as a neighbour have to wear losses simply because of their nieghbours inability to manage their finances succesfully?
I'm glad you're in a position to make generous donations to your neighbours - but not everybody is.
Let me put it another way - if your next door neighbour asked you to pay $2k to repair THEIR roof because they're a little bit short of cash right now what would you say? (I'm guessing you'd laugh and politely decline)
If someone doesnt pay their electricity bill for a year and runs up $2000 of debt they get cut off... if you dont pay your mortgage for a year the bank takes your house, if you dont pay rates for a year then I'm sure the council chase up the debt, if you dont pay car rego for a few years you cant drive....
Given that large corporate and government creditors can be ruthless in chasing up their debtors, why should a smaller creditor such as a neighbour have to wear losses simply because of their nieghbours inability to manage their finances succesfully?
I would say you should look at other legal options as well. If she can't pay see if you can go after her house. I don't know what it's called here but when I was building houses in Canada if the owner didn't want to pay I would go through the legal process and have a lean put on their house and then tell the bank that holds the mortgage. If they attempted to sell it or tried to utilise the equity they had to pay me first, with interest. Better late than never.
Sep 19th 2011, 12:45 pm
#70
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
I would say you should look at other legal options as well. If she can't pay see if you can go after her house. I don't know what it's called here but when I was building houses in Canada if the owner didn't want to pay I would go through the legal process and have a lean put on their house and then tell the bank that holds the mortgage. If they attempted to sell it or tried to utilise the equity they had to pay me first, with interest. Better late than never.
Sep 19th 2011, 12:57 pm
#71
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
Well I havent got any quotes yet - but what do you suggest might be reasonable for 40m of 1m timber sleeper retaining wall + 1.8m timber fence?
I hope your right and I'm overestimating - but I reckon about $2k of materials (have you seen how much timber sleepers cost? - and that's the cheapest retaining option)
I hope your right and I'm overestimating - but I reckon about $2k of materials (have you seen how much timber sleepers cost?
- and that's the cheapest retaining option)
Sep 19th 2011, 1:12 pm
#72
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
Well I havent got any quotes yet - but what do you suggest might be reasonable for 40m of 1m timber sleeper retaining wall + 1.8m timber fence?
I hope your right and I'm overestimating - but I reckon about $2k of materials (have you seen how much timber sleepers cost? - and that's the cheapest retaining option)
I hope your right and I'm overestimating - but I reckon about $2k of materials (have you seen how much timber sleepers cost?
- and that's the cheapest retaining option)
Sep 19th 2011, 1:15 pm
#73
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
]
I've had cause in the past to go after people that had no insurance on a truck, that crashed into the back of a car we had quite a while ago. Early 90's ...
Just one phone call to a solicitor is all it took and an exchange of paper work. Didnt cost us one cent. We did pay for our car to be fixed up front... we did get all the funds back over the next two years... but it cost the truck owner a lot more than the initial fee as the solicitor kept having to take him to court for breaching court orders. We were barely aware of any of the legal processes. We just waited for the cheques
Down here in Melbourne the solicitor that specialises in this kind of "Debt recovery" is Kenyons in Preston. There would be no fee for the first consultation and they will work out from there... via credit check if the funds are recoverable and legally viable or not.
So it can be done and cheaply.... How the neighbour pays the debt is up to the legal process and nothing to do with Dad Again.
Apparently they offer their services Australia wide.... they are the no 1 debt agency in Melbourne.
I think you will find they will work it so the Legal Costs come out of her funds.... once they decide to take the case on that is.
http://www.kenyons.com.au/
.
I've had cause in the past to go after people that had no insurance on a truck, that crashed into the back of a car we had quite a while ago. Early 90's ...
Just one phone call to a solicitor is all it took and an exchange of paper work. Didnt cost us one cent. We did pay for our car to be fixed up front... we did get all the funds back over the next two years... but it cost the truck owner a lot more than the initial fee as the solicitor kept having to take him to court for breaching court orders. We were barely aware of any of the legal processes. We just waited for the cheques
Down here in Melbourne the solicitor that specialises in this kind of "Debt recovery" is Kenyons in Preston. There would be no fee for the first consultation and they will work out from there... via credit check if the funds are recoverable and legally viable or not.
So it can be done and cheaply.... How the neighbour pays the debt is up to the legal process and nothing to do with Dad Again.
Apparently they offer their services Australia wide.... they are the no 1 debt agency in Melbourne.
I think you will find they will work it so the Legal Costs come out of her funds.... once they decide to take the case on that is.
http://www.kenyons.com.au/
.
Last edited by ozzieeagle; Sep 19th 2011 at 1:18 pm.
Sep 19th 2011, 10:06 pm
#74
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Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
As far as materials go - I could probably tolerate colourbond. Its not 'in keeping with eth neighbourhood standard', and empirical evidence from these parts suggests that the colourbond fences are the first to topple in a decent storm - but if it cheaper then that might be ok. Having said that if its $80 for a 1.8mx2m sheet then I'd need 20 of them = $1600 materials for the fence alone, thats probably more than for timber fencing isnt it?
Retaining wall options once again bricks would be fine - but I'd be surprised is you can get 40sq m was cheaper: (just looked on ebay a batch of 60 bricks L400mmxW200mmxD224mm bricks for $400 - I'd need 500 bricks = $3500)
I'll keep my options open though and dont expect much progress until I hear back form the council to see if they can identify who owns the damn retaining wall!
Retaining wall options once again bricks would be fine - but I'd be surprised is you can get 40sq m was cheaper: (just looked on ebay a batch of 60 bricks L400mmxW200mmxD224mm bricks for $400 - I'd need 500 bricks = $3500)
I'll keep my options open though and dont expect much progress until I hear back form the council to see if they can identify who owns the damn retaining wall!