Issues with neighbour over fence

[markstewie]

We have a neighbour who is causing us a lot of grief.

Firstly, he pulled the fence down (that was 30cm on his land) without notifying us. He is apparently entitled to do this as it was on his land. It has however taken away our privacy.

We then served him fencing notice to build a new fence equally on the boundary, sharing costs. He served us a cross notice saying he objected to all parts of our proposal with no further explanation given.

There has since been a mediator involved that he introduced. It's come down to us offering to pay for the whole new fence to be constructed equally along the boundary just to get rid of this guy from our lives and get our privacy back. His offer of contribution was the recycled fence that he pulled down which we declined.

The mediator has now all but given up on him as he won't sign the agreement for no valid reason other than to antagonise us.

One part of the agreement was the need to remove one post from the old fence on his land so we can put in an effective new corner post for the new fence. This morning we noticed he's set up a motion sensor connected to an alarm directed at this post so that we can't remove it without the alarm going off.

Previous to this he has harassed fencing contractors that we had over for stepping one foot on his land to quote for a new fence.

And previous to that he actually come into both our work (my wife & I work together), and our landscapers work (who we have doing major landscaping work at our place at the moment) and intimidated the receptionists in both places.

Also our neighbours behind us tell us that he used to harass the elderly owners of our house before we bought it, and the neighbours to the other side of him have had issues with him in the past too.

This guy is a nightmare. Surely he can't unreasonably restrict us from building a fence on the boundary especially when we are offering to pay for the whole thing?

There doesn't seem to be any help for people in our situation. We just apparently have to put up with harassment or pay mega bucks and wait forever for this to be resolved in court.

I know we could just build a fence on our property and be done with it but we have trees that are now very close to the boundary and we don't want to have to move them. And besides just on principal I refuse to have this guy think that he can have such power over us and interfere in our lives so drastically for no apparent reason other than he loves being on a power trip and has nothing better to do.

Any suggestions welcome.

[Anthonyacat]

Build the fence 1cm on your side of the boundary? Make it a high one.

This sounds like a terrible situation.

[Bob Kane]

Your neighbour sounds like he has well-being issues.
This is a nice way of saying he is a nutter.
He may also be dangerous - step on his land and he may get violent.
You can't change him. You can't reason with him.
People with well-being issues don't get better.
Build your fence on your land and make it high.
Perhaps consider selling.

[John the builder]

there is good info here

https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/fencing-law

I say use the law and make hime pay half. DT a good place for these types of issues

[artemis]

there is good info here

https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/fencing-law

I say use the law and make hime pay half. DT a good place for these types of issues

Agree. The process in the Fencing Act is clear and you have already started the process by issuing the notice. If you let a difficult neighbour get his way with this, who knows where it could end. And through the DT you will have a formal and enforceable decision one way or the other esp if you or the neighbour come to sell in the future.

[Wayne]

Build the fence 1cm on your side of the boundary? Make it a high one.

Can't make it higher than the council allows.
Hard to put it 1cm on your side as you would probably have to step onto his land to build.
You could possibly paint the other side of the fence a bright colour as you put it up.

Use the law - go to the DT - don't settle for anything other than half of a standard fence (as someone else suggested).

[Anthonyacat]

Eh, 1cm, 5cm, 20cm - either way you're not going to miss the land much. I love the idea of painting it brightly. Maybe with awful clashing colours or glow in the dark paint. And of course, it's on your land, so he can't repaint it!

I'd still go with the non-confrontational side. You'll probably get the 50% out of him, but it looks like it'll be a tough fight and an unpleasant situation, probably with more unpleasantness after the fact.

[Sandie]

You can read the fencing act online. It is not difficult. I am in a hurry right now and don't have time to check it, but I recall that he has to go 50/50 with you. You may have to get a quote, advise him in writing. If he doesn't respond within a certain time, you can go ahead with the fence and he has to contribute his share. If he is difficult, take it to the Disputes Tribunal. If he doesn't like your quote then I think he has to get his quote. But read the act.

Sandie

[Bob Kane]

I'm surprised MichaelNZ hasn't given us his advice on what to do in this situation.

[Wayne]

I'm surprised MichaelNZ hasn't given us his advice on what to do in this situation.

Useless and irrational response Bob - rise above it.

[Meehole]

If you issued him with a fencing notice then that notice should have had a costing for the new fence.
He has 21 days from the service of your notice in which he can serve a cross notice. That cross notice should detail his objection and any counter proposals.
We are just about to erect a new fence between us and the neighbours (only partial as the boundary is 50m long and a large concrete nib wall has to be removed along with foliage). We have issued a fencing to which she objected in an email but not by way of a cross notice in the standard format.
She didn't want the manky trees removed (half her side, half ours) and she reckons no money to pay for the fence. We asked her twice to come back with a counter proposal as the price for the work was at cost as we were doing the work ourselves with materials purchased at trade.
We sent her a photo the other day of the big gap where the trees were and to let her know that the fence will be constructed in the next 2 weeks. She hasn't responded and if she doesn't pay her share we will put a claim in the Disputes Tribunal.
We have done everything by the book, don't give in, just know your rights and follow the Fencing Act to the letter. If you have to go to the Disputes Tribunal at least you have dotted your i's and crossed your t's.
About the remaining post, lasso it, happy to provide the digger or winch!

[driftah]

We have a neighbour who is causing us a lot of grief.

Have a read of fencing act, Disputes Tribunal is a court under the act. Get a ruling from them before doing any work although under Section 16 you may be able to prove it required immediate work if you have children or pets etc..

Present your case well eg Photos, plan, well written report, neighbours unexplained notice and anything else useful from mediation.
Might be worth having a chat to the neighbour, just so you can write down that they've been difficult and obstructive.

[Monsterbishi]

This morning we noticed he's set up a motion sensor connected to an alarm directed at this post so that we can't remove it without the alarm going off.

Where in New Zealand are you?

Also, motion sensors are really fun - especially when you trip them every hour or so throughout the night for days on end.

And they can't see through solid objects either, like stickers...