Yes, I needed a permit. However, the permit basically required that the fence be located a least 2 inches inside my property line. There wasn't much more to it. There were some other requirements that did not pertain to me because they applied only if the fence had been built within a certain number of feet of the road. On the other hand, I also had a sunroom added to my house last year. In that case, there were very specific requirements, and the city inspector came to the house to "sign off" on the permit several times as the building progressed.
Where I am located, I needed a permit, which was free, to build my fence. I guess they wanted me to fill out the permit just to know if I knew where the property lines are. We have been having trouble with our neighbor for years over a property line dispute. I finally went and had a survey done and found out exactly where the line is and built the fence about an inch shy of the line. That pissed him off. He was pissed because I built the fence and he lost 4' of property that he thought was his. I even put the good side out, which was not even mentioned or discussed when I went to get the permit. The neighbors house was built in 1875 and ours in 1895. There was a survey done in 1940 or '41, but I couldn't find the markers so had to get a survey done to find them. They are clearly marked now, I can tell you that. We had some pretty flowers that came up every year on this contested 4' strip and last year (2005) late spring he poisoned everything in that area. After the fence was up, we reworked the soil and have a flower garden growing again. Not as nice, but someday... The fence is a white picket fence. We have an old, old, oak tree out back that is 95% ours, (well, 95% of the base is on our side of the line) and we found some granules poured on it earlier this summer. They were poured on his side. I went over there and brushed them all away from the base of the tree and washed them away from the base of the tree with plenty of water. The tree is still thriving, but where I scattered the granules all over his side, the grass and weeds died. The neighbors house that I am writing about here is, and always has been, an apartment building. He bought it 15 years ago as an investment but since then the city has shut him down from renting it out because of so many code violations. He finally moved out to leave the building empty last Thanksgiving day. We had a Thanksgiving celebration. He comes back about every 2-3 weeks to check on the place. He lives here in town someplace. Sorry for hijacking this thread.
I'd hammer the protruding nails down (bending them down) and proceed with the bushes. There are a lot of things in nature which stick out from stuff; I don't think after simple measures to bend them down they'd be particularly hazardous.
You might want to look into the concept of attractive nuisance. It's the basis on which homeowners are held responsible for injuries and deaths of kids who drown in their pools, even though they are trespassing at the time.
'Attractive nuisance' is something building codes don't address, at least in most cases. It's part of negligence law and in many states may reside only in the court system. If not attractive nuisance, then plain old nuisance, or plain old hazard. But I know the first one applies even when the kid is on the other party's property. There doesn't have to be a specific statute. It's just one more way of being negligent. I'm not a lawyer, but you make a good case in your paragraph about your kid that he or you should remedy this.
How long have the nails been sticking out? My projects tend to take a long time to get finished, and you're probably hoping he will make the fence look better before he nails it finally.
You have to compare the chance of your kid getting injured (perhaps you could put up some temporary barrier to keep him away from the fence, although other than snow fencing I can't think of one that might not just make him fall into the nails.) versus the benefit of his finishing the fence better.
Then maybe write him a letter saying that you are concerned about your son, and that if he doesn't remedy the danger in so many days or weeks, you will pound in the nails.
I wouldn't rely on some of the legal advice here. For example, there certainly are times when you can force someone to do something. They may retaliate in some other way, of course.
Yes, but it sounds to me that if one should personally start pounding nails flush, that would be tampering with this neighbor's property, regardless of which side.
I myself wouldn't take no crap from this neighbor. Apparently they have no respect for you anyway, and what will be the best course I feel is to show them that you are not going to take thier BS, or lack of respect-consideration.
Don't wimp out, call out a city inspector, or code enforcement personel, have them look at the fence.
They will take the appropriate measures needed, and work for you if they find they are in violation of code. Mark.
If the fence is on the neighbor's land, can you legally bend down the nails? For example, in some jurisdictions you could cut limbs from a tree that extended over your property but could not cut any portion that is on the "other" person's land. The OP talked about bad relationship, so I wonder how far his neighbor would be willing to go if the fence is tampered with (thinking about lawsuit here). Yes, I'm "stretching" a bit because this would be done for safety, but it sounds like there are already some pretty unpleasant reactions. Incidentally, if the OP *does* take steps simply to eliminate the sharp ends, would it work better to simply cut off the sharp ends?
It took my neighbor from hell five years, and several visits by relatively ineffective cops, to finally leave me alone. Turf wars can take an awful toll on people, even when they try not to "participate". Sometimes breathing is highly irritating to the crazies :o)
I have had some awful slobs for neighbors, who also were pretty decent people. I never thought of calling code enforcement on them .. it was more fun to crack jokes about them when company came than to create turmoil.
A fence with nails protruding is a safety issue, and one I wouldn't hesitate to bring to the city's attention if my kids were at risk. Also a good way for lawn care or utility folks to get a chunk of skin ripped out. A game of ball might end with a child impaled in some unpleasant way - I'm not into "tit for tat", but nobody has a right to create a hazard.
These are nailheads, not the tips. The fence is not finished but hasn't been worked on in months. It looks to me like he put up the privacy fence sectional pieces with the intention of possibly taking them down again or possibly adjusting them again. Each eight-foot sectional piece is being held up by only four nails that have not been driven in completely.
If some of you remember the bad blood began between us when I mowed over a dead bush on the edge of his property that prevented me from getting behind a bunch of other bushes. I made the mistake and tried to make up for it but he wouldn't accept any of my amends or the replacement bush I bought. It died from neglect. So since I created the problem by touching something on his land I don't think it would help if I started banging the nailheads in and starting the whole thing over. Leaving a note for him is useless since he hasn't responded to any other notes I left for him. Calling the inspector is a possibility but the building permit is still visible so it doesn't look like he's finished. I have considered taking pictures of the nailheads with blood dripping from them and mailing it to him with a hospital bill or something like that but that would be just completely wrong. My last option is to walk up to his door and tell him directly, but I can visualize his response if he ever answers the door.
Okay, thanks. I was picturing the nailheads on *his* side (not yours). You did say nailheads in your original message, but I didn't pick up on that. Oddly, doesn't this mean that he stood on your property while building the fence (unless I am still misunderstanding)?
I just looked at the link you posted in which you described the origin of your problem with the neighbor. He sounds frightening -- like an explosion waiting to happen. Something is seriously wrong for anyone to act like that, and I would want to take a *lot* of precautions to avoid confrontation with him. This is not a commentary on your rights; I am now thinking about your safety.
If I remember right, the guy told you he did not want contact with you, or for you to contact his kids? I may be thinking of another thread. At this point, I would avoid contact (including eye contact :o).
A building permit here is for a certain period of time, I believe. Our city just recently took action to force completion of a building started about 5 years ago and then halted.
So, if the nails and unfinished fence are an issue, call the city code enforcement dept and file a complaint. If not, plant some roses and enjoy them :o) Enjoy those who are good neighbors and have them over for a barbeque. I would not even think of going onto his property, and he has every right to be offended if you touch anything on his property, whether it is a dead bush or a pile of gold.
When the three year-old is outside playing, there is an adult in attendance? Hope so.
If I were in your shoes, I'd take pictures of the fence and the protruding nails. When you take the pictures, take them from an angle that make the nails look as threatening as possible (i.e. long and pointy). Then proceed to bend the nails, or (if there aren't too many), cut them off with a Dremel tool. Note that cutting them off will leave pointy nail heads all over the ground, so with young kids you might not want to do that, or at least have a tarp on the ground to "catch" them all. You'll probably want to do this when your neighbor isn't around. (i.e. taking the pictures and bending or cutting them off).
Should any issue arise, you have the pictures as proof of a potential hazard that your neighbor created. Should the neighbor come out and yell at you while you're addressing the nails, tell him that you have young kids and you don't want them getting injured on the nails, that you've taken pictures, and that if he prefers you can go get a city inspector to inspect the fence instead. Hopefully he'll realize that you are going out of your way to save him the hassle and that will shut him up.
Normally I'd talk to the neighbor before proceeding, but in this case it sounds as though that might create an even bigger issue.
Now that I think about it, although I'm not a lawyer, I think that for liability reasons (should there be any, although I doubt that there would with young kids and safety at hand), should your neighbor take you to court for "damaging his fence", you'd probably have to demonstrate that you made at least one genuine attempt at notifying the neighbor that there were 1/2" nail heads sticking out on your side of the fence, and that the neighbor was negligent in addressing this issue, before you went ahead and fixed the issue yourself.
So perhaps ring the doorbell, let him know, and tell him that you can save him the trouble and fix the issue yourself. If he doesn't answer the door, leave a note. If one month later the issue still hasn't been fixed, go ahead and fix it.
Check to see if there is an expiration period for the permit, meaning the job should be completed by a certain time frame inclusive of the final inspection.
Oren
"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."
hmmmmmmmm..................how about getting ready for halloween and buying about 10 dozen eggs............have a good laugh yourself.........probably think the neighborhood kids did it.........just a thought. :-)
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