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-   -   Neighbours - Fencing drama (https://britishexpats.com/forum/barbie-92/neighbours-fencing-drama-732663/)

spartacus Sep 19th 2011 11:00 pm

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by DadAgain (Post 9631021)
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!

I would have thought that the fence line marks the boundary of your two properties, the fence being a shared asset. If the retaining wall sits to one side of that boundary then it's the responsibility of that person.

Treated timber retainers are the cheapest, as are hardwood posts with treated palings for fencing.

I've just googled and come up with this . . . might be useful.

http://www.justanswer.com/australian...ning-wall.html

DadAgain Sep 19th 2011 11:46 pm

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by spartacus (Post 9631086)
I would have thought that the fence line marks the boundary of your two properties, the fence being a shared asset. If the retaining wall sits to one side of that boundary then it's the responsibility of that person.

yeah - well years ago when the fence was upright it woudl have been plumb vertical above the retaining wall i.e. run straight edge against a fence paling and it'd be also against the timber sleepers.

That said - NOW if you drop a plumb line from the top of the fence the retaining wall is between 6" and 3ft to her side of wherethe plumb line would drop.

Obviously the retaining wall is ON the boundary and therefore theres no precendent in terms of location to determine ownership.

As far as I can tell there are 2 other factors that determine ownership of a retaining wall:

1) Who built first?: If one property were built first and built the retaining wall, then that property is responsible for its ongoing maintenance.

I know when our house was built - 8 years before we moved in. I'm sure hers was built at roughly the same time (i.e. a decade or so before she moved in) - but as to whos builder actually constructed the wall and whos property was the first to be developed, there may be no way of telling....


2) Who benefits?: If the wall is clearly benefitting the 'lower' property (i.e. maintaining a 'cut') then it could be deemed to be theirs. If the wall is benefitting the 'upper' property (i.e. maintaining a 'fill') then it could be deemed to be theirs. In our case its both: If the wall werent there our yard would be inundated by earth from her side - and a pile of rubble from her collapsed house that woudl have suffered from terrible subsidence. So once again its tough to make a clear call.

This is why my 'layman' estimate is that the wall might be shared - but as I've stated many times, I'm trying to get clarification on that issue from Brisbane City Council.

fish.01 Sep 20th 2011 12:00 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 
Now that we are all so involved will you be running tours this week so we can come and see the evidence for ourselves ? :)

spartacus Sep 20th 2011 12:03 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by DadAgain (Post 9631136)
yeah - well years ago when the fence was upright it woudl have been plumb vertical above the retaining wall i.e. run straight edge against a fence paling and it'd be also against the timber sleepers.

That said - NOW if you drop a plumb line from the top of the fence the retaining wall is between 6" and 3ft to her side of wherethe plumb line would drop.

Obviously the retaining wall is ON the boundary and therefore theres no precendent in terms of location to determine ownership.

As far as I can tell there are 2 other factors that determine ownership of a retaining wall:

1) Who built first?: If one property were built first and built the retaining wall, then that property is responsible for its ongoing maintenance.

I know when our house was built - 8 years before we moved in. I'm sure hers was built at roughly the same time (i.e. a decade or so before she moved in) - but as to whos builder actually constructed the wall and whos property was the first to be developed, there may be no way of telling....


2) Who benefits?: If the wall is clearly benefitting the 'lower' property (i.e. maintaining a 'cut') then it could be deemed to be theirs. If the wall is benefitting the 'upper' property (i.e. maintaining a 'fill') then it could be deemed to be theirs. In our case its both: If the wall werent there our yard would be inundated by earth from her side - and a pile of rubble from her collapsed house that woudl have suffered from terrible subsidence. So once again its tough to make a clear call.

This is why my 'layman' estimate is that the wall might be shared - but as I've stated many times, I'm trying to get clarification on that issue from Brisbane City Council.

You have my sympathy, as I know what an absolute ****on fences can cause between neighbours. We live in new house on a new estate and still managed to fall out with ours on the basis that they felt they should've been consulted more over the 'design' I chose when I built it, more than a year before they took ownership of their site and started their build.

HelenTD Sep 20th 2011 12:55 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by spartacus (Post 9631081)
40 metres long and 1 metre high . . . that's a ****ing big box of Lego!

These are the sort of building blocks I was thinking about http://www.boral.com.au/brochures/or...pany=Retaining Walls&product=RetainingWalls&subsite=&br_code=IBQL D1&scr=4 (includes a handy calculator).

moneypenny20 Sep 20th 2011 12:59 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by HelenTD (Post 9631214)
These are the sort of building blocks I was thinking about http://www.boral.com.au/brochures/or...pany=Retaining Walls&product=RetainingWalls&subsite=&br_code=IBQL D1&scr=4 (includes a handy calculator).

Shame they can't spell.

LouiseR Sep 20th 2011 1:17 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by spartacus (Post 9631153)
that they felt they should've been consulted more over the 'design' I chose when I built it, more than a year before they took ownership of their site and started their build.

:eek: You have some strange neighbours there!

spartacus Sep 20th 2011 1:25 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by LouiseR (Post 9631241)
:eek: You have some strange neighbours there!

One kiwi one saffa . . . queer ****ers both.

moneypenny20 Sep 20th 2011 1:33 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 
We don't have any fences, none of us have ever seen the need. However we have a new neighbour so who knows if he'll want to put something up. I'm damned if we're going to go halves though. Fencing just under two acres doesn't sound my idea of a good plan.

LouiseR Sep 20th 2011 1:37 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by spartacus (Post 9631251)
One kiwi one saffa . . .

Ah I see! ;):lol:

DadAgain Sep 20th 2011 5:03 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by fish.01 (Post 9631151)
Now that we are all so involved will you be running tours this week so we can come and see the evidence for ourselves ? :)

Not sure about tours - but I might be persuaded to post a bunch of photos (I need to take a few for 'documentation' purposes anyway!)



BTW: It seems the wife has been enquiring about this too: http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/foru...ic=924977&st=0. Interesting that on a forum dominated by mothers there seems to be none of this "You heartless bastard - why dont you just buy the poor woman a new fence out of the goodness of your heart instead of hunting her down and trying to run her out of town?" attitude

spartacus Sep 20th 2011 5:20 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by DadAgain (Post 9631439)
Not sure about tours - but I might be persuaded to post a bunch of photos (I need to take a few for 'documentation' purposes anyway!)



BTW: It seems the wife has been enquiring about this too: http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/foru...ic=924977&st=0. Interesting that on a forum dominated by mothers there seems to be none of this "You heartless bastard - why dont you just buy the poor woman a new fence out of the goodness of your heart instead of hunting her down and trying to run her out of town?" attitude

Not to worry, I've just registered on 'essentailbaby.com.au', tell your wife she can expect a 'you heartless bastard' post any minute now.

Dreamy Sep 20th 2011 5:36 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by DadAgain (Post 9631439)
BTW: It seems the wife has been enquiring about this too: http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/foru...ic=924977&st=0. Interesting that on a forum dominated by mothers there seems to be none of this "You heartless bastard - why dont you just buy the poor woman a new fence out of the goodness of your heart instead of hunting her down and trying to run her out of town?" attitude

I don't know - I've just read through the thread and there pretty much seemed to be a representative echo of the posts on here.

Perhaps, deep down, you feel like you're being a heartless bastard so there's a bit of projection going on? :)

spartacus Sep 20th 2011 5:39 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by Dreamy (Post 9631472)
I don't know - I've just read through the thread and there pretty much seemed to be a representative echo of the posts on here.

Perhaps, deep down, you feel like you're being a heartless bastard so there's a bit of projection going on? :)

You've been watching way too much 'Dr Phil' . . .

moneypenny20 Sep 20th 2011 5:42 am

Re: Neighbours - Fencing drama
 

Originally Posted by spartacus (Post 9631476)
You've been watching way too much 'Dr Phil' . . .

Aggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh:eek:


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