Another fencing dispute

[Wayne]

So back to the start.
The neighbour wants the fence on the boundary but doesn't know where the boundary is?
What makes them (or you) think that it is wrong?
Sometimes, if the boundary has been wrong for a long time it becomes the new boundary - I had a friend in this situation.
If you speak to a surveyor they should be knowledgable on what can be done - before the need for a survey, for little or no cost for 10min of their time.

I'd ask the neighbour to prove the boundary is wrong.

[Pinetreesam]

So back to the start.
The neighbour wants the fence on the boundary but doesn't know where the boundary is?
What makes them (or you) think that it is wrong?
Sometimes, if the boundary has been wrong for a long time it becomes the new boundary - I had a friend in this situation.
If you speak to a surveyor they should be knowledgable on what can be done - before the need for a survey, for little or no cost for 10min of their time.

I'd ask the neighbour to prove the boundary is wrong.

Development to this is they hired a surveyor who has done a basic check involving a couple of cans of paint. I know this is not legal in court or any more proof than a simple tape measure check. So accuracy is still highly questionable. I also found out from the surveyor there are plans from 1983 that once again very basic from when the fence was erected. There is no measurements on the plan but it does say fence not on boundary. We were never made aware of this plan before now or knew of its existence. As a result we could lose side access to the property as our house was placed back in the 1930s on the perceived boundary. We have a disagreeable neighbour who is making our life hell so much so this development and the fact that they have bushes that interfere with our power and telephone lines is not an nice neighbour we have. Even without this they are completely ignorant with regards to noise! Council hates them!

[Wayne]

Have a read of this thread

http://www.propertytalk.com/forum/showthread.php?16160-Boundary-Dispute

The squatters rights was an interesting bit.
Certainly looking at the GIS info (even google maps is pretty good) should give a good indication of the boundaries in relation to the house.

[Wayne]

another interesting snip. You need to read right down

http://www.justanswer.com/newzealand-law/4vj55-law-new-zealand-squatter-right.html

[Pinetreesam]

Since the surveyor painted some paint marks this neighbour has already gone into claim mode! Less than 24 hours after the paint marks put down! So screwed up is this neighbour they are clearing away the bushes along the fence line and in the process damaging our property on our side the fence. Not all the hedge just enough to get access to the fence! Why? I dont know given now they (singular) are cliaming the boundary is out. In the process destroying a mature 30 year azalea thats not exactly fast to regrow. The fence line now looks like a war zone, in fact all that we had enjoyed of this property for over 8 years really makes the place look a tip!

We had a big row over the fence when we saw a deliberate act of a tree branch coming down on a garden furniture frame work on our side with the neighbour yanking the branch over and destroying this frame and the neighbour deliberately pushing at the fence to make it collapse. If we had mot come home at that time who knows what other damage would have occurred, yes Police were called before someone got hurt.

Meanwhile we both have power and phone lines interfered with by their bushes! Funny enough the trees cleared are near their power lines but not ours! The only bit of hedge not cleared....tells you what a nice person we now have as a neighbour.

Thanks Wayne for that info, the stress has really got to us what bugs us is our little section of under 900 square metres! The disputed land really has no effect on their enjoyment of the 4000metres they have or the past residents/owners. In fact what I have learned it was done to give some space between neighbours.

[Wayne]

In fact what I have learned it was done to give some space between neighbours.

Where did you learn this?
Do you have a bit more history 'from the horses mouth' so speak?

[Pinetreesam]

Where did you learn this?
Do you have a bit more history 'from the horses mouth' so speak?

Probably not a good idea to place this all on and open visible forum on the internet. Word of mouth as you put it from previous occupants and aerial photographs dating back to the early 1970s. What we have is a neighbour who is flashing money and determined to aggravate as many people as they can with lies. Its not just about a fence there is a lot going on. Basically we are being forced out of our property by this person. Latest develop is a letter threatening us, before you assume a legal letter. Far from it the contents just highlight what a lovely person (sarcasm) we are dealing with. We have done our reasearch on our neighbour who has told lies not just about us but others and has a history of unhappy neighbours.

Hence a bigger problem than just a fence out of alignment.

[artemis]

Well, Pinetreesam, it may be time to take a stand and show this person you mean business. If, that is, you want to stay in your property. I see you have taken legal advice, the neighbour has been advised to have a survey done at their cost, but it has not had the desired effect.

Suggest you consider a formal fencing notice. If the neighbour sends a cross notice, take it to the Disputes Tribunal. You may not, however, agree with the DT decision but at least you will have one and it is binding. If the case ends up in the DT you can add in any other disputes where you have evidence, up to a total of $15,000 (unless an extension is agreed).

The final decision may cost you some, but if it is cheaper than selling / moving / buying AND if it shuts the neighbour up, then you could still come out on top financially and stress-wise.

It is possible that the neighbour has personal issues, in which case some supporting info from other impacted people may help your case. I wonder if there have been police complaints made in the past.

[Pinetreesam]

artemis, Why would I send a fencing notice? I am not the one complaining! Neither of us was the owners these properties when the fence was built and it has not caused any problems for previous owners.

If they had a more approachable manner instead of acting worse than our children I would have been happy to concede to replacing half the 50 metres of the fence at our cost to the same standard of build and materials and my labour leaving the other half for the neighbour to build themselves since they will no doubt want to use a paid contractor.

Instead the neighbour is insisting I comply with what they want by in effect throwing temper tantrums because we dare question what they are telling us! Nothing has been done legally even the survey they got done was nothing more than a paint marking exercise outside our section that has not even been pegged. Basically a cheap job and that is their intention with the fence of replacing a Wooden slated fence with sheets of old roofing iron. Current fence has been there over 30 years, if the survey is indeed correct we will have a fence less than a metre from our bedroom windows.

[Pinetreesam]

Thought I would do a update on this

The boundary was re surveyed however no data marks or pegs have been lodged with LINZ, from advice I have been given from another surveyor the boundary claim would not stand up in court. In the meantime we thought we succesfully got a dialogue going with this neighbour through a mediation meeting and a neutral party. Neighbour agreed to leaving the fence in place and repairing it!

After sending the estimate for materials to replace the entire fence to them excluding any labour charge as I offered to do the work myself, I heard nothing back! During the mediation they claimed they had no money to repair/replace the fence. With that in mind I was prepared to undertake limited repairs, cost problem a couple hundred dollars. However technically the fence may not be ours!

So nothing happened, no response and I was thinking well I better do this myself at my cost just for piece of mind and maybe mend the relation fence with the neighbour. Well at the weekend this person used some cheap labour german tourists to remove the fence down to half its 1.8 metres. I asked the neighbour what they was doing and sarcastically they said they were repairing the fence along with the line it is my fence and I can do what I like with it (this person owns Dogs as do we), they then went on to say if I wanted a fence I could build it on our side the boundary. A boundary line thats not be clearly defined and shows as being literally cms from our house and where drains/water pipe are present. Police were called discussion made and the Police passed on she was replacing the fence on the Monday! Well week on no activity!

We sort legal advice and frankly we are in a land of limbo! A fence cut down to less than a metre high now seperates us! And are properties security compromised especially after our daughter reported a man watching here while she played in the garden. This is my greatest concern! As for the council they have been useless and the problem stems from them and this fence erected way back in the mid seventies that has apparently been replaced in the 90s.

The neighbour clearly does not want to pay for a full survey to prove her case or pay for a new fence. They are just using it as a weapon against us! To top this off we have also gone back to hearing a stereo on loud at 7am for 15 minutes, not long enough for noise control to respond.

[inertia]

Hey,

Sorry to read about the compounded problems from your cray neighbours, they sound a lot like ours, we are currently working through a similar process and surprisingly have had some result. Unfortunately the only way to get results was by investing a sizeable sum to services that obviously do rather well out of neighbour disputes, for us it has been worth it in terms of peace of mind although obviously things are still ongoing.

Best of luck with sorting the issues around your properties!

[sidinz]

Hey,

Sorry to read about the compounded problems from your cray neighbours, they sound a lot like ours, we are currently working through a similar process and surprisingly have had some result. Unfortunately the only way to get results was by investing a sizeable sum to services that obviously do rather well out of neighbour disputes, for us it has been worth it in terms of peace of mind although obviously things are still ongoing.

Best of luck with sorting the issues around your properties!

Hey inertia,
Seeing as you're new and all, a word of advice.....you may want to check the date of the last post before you reply. Given that Pinetreesam has only 16 posts to his name and the last one on this thread was seven months ago, I would imagine that he's had a result one way or the other and is no longer posting about his issue.

Some regular posters get a bit tetchy when people resurrect old threads without a good reason.

[Pinetreesam]

Hey inertia,
Seeing as you're new and all, a word of advice.....you may want to check the date of the last post before you reply. Given that Pinetreesam has only 16 posts to his name and the last one on this thread was seven months ago, I would imagine that he's had a result one way or the other and is no longer posting about his issue.

Some regular posters get a bit tetchy when people resurrect old threads without a good reason.

Actually No we have not had this issue resolved!

Time is on our side

[Wayne]

Some regular posters get a bit tetchy when people resurrect old threads without a good reason.

They need to get over it then.