dealing with a neighbor...

Most folks would just wait until she is out of the house or sleeping or whatever and do what has to be done as quickly as possible.

The worse that will happen is that she will call the cops and/or charge you with tresspass. You can likely talk yourself out of a conviction.

IOW: It's easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.

finish, she

Best answer, without the bill though.

Cheri

Another factor to consider. Are you even absolutely sure where the property line is? For example, if it's not marked clearly with a fence or similar, then you may have some window of perhaps a few feet uncertainty. That might be enough to squeeze a ladder through to get the job done. I'd make sure the workers know they are not to put materials, tools, etc on her property. If you can squeak by in that fashion, then I'd try to do it when the neighbor isn't going to be around, if that's possible. If you actually have 0 side clearance and you have to go clearly onto her property, then I'd probably go with the gift certificate for dinner and ask her for permission.

She is not responsible for his gutters. Period.

Cheri

Irrelevant. The gutters are merely the mechanism to extract retaliation, vengeance, and retribution. Justice is blind.

People go to jail for what can be proved, not for what they did. Often, what they did cannot be proved and what is proved is not what they did. That's why there are so many "innocent" people in prison.

!!?!

How did retribution get into this?

Chris asked how to deal with the need to gain temporary access to a small part of the property of a neighbor with an uncooperative history with him. Period. He didn't ask how to get back at her, practical and sane guy he seems to be. He wants gutters. That's all.

Banty

What nonsense. A neighbor is only responsible for half the cost of a fence if:

Otherwise, if you put up a fence on your own property, you pay for it. And it has nothing to do with unjust enrichment, which typically applies to someone making an obvious math mistake on a bill or similar. And it surely doesn't apply to gutters on someone elses house either. Following that specious logic, I could do $50K worth of landscaping and then send part of the bill to a couple of neighbors, on the theory that it raised the value of their homes.

Nope. This is well settled in contract law.

"The doctrine of quasi-contract, also known as a contract implied in law, is based primarily on the principle of unjust enrichment. Unlike a contract implied in fact, a contract implied in law is imposed, or created, without regard to the promise of the party to be bound. The duty which engenders a quasi-contractual obligation is most often based upon the principle of unjust enrichment. Unjust enrichment occurs where a benefit is conferred upon a person in circumstances in which retention by him of that benefit without paying its reasonable value would be unjust. Thus, quantum meruit [reasonable value] is a remedy for the enforcement of a quasi-contractual obligation.

"Courts generally recognize that the essential elements of quasi-contract or contract implied in law are: (1) a benefit conferred upon the defendant by the plaintiff; (2) appreciation by the defendant of the fact of such benefit; and (3) acceptance and retention by the defendant of that benefit under circumstances in which retention without payment would be inequitable. The most significant requirement is that the enrichment to the defendant be unjust, and that retention of the benefit be inequitable."

There are, of course, exceptions. "Assent by silence" governs. The party NOT building the fence is obliged to voice an objection at the first notice of fence building, else he is assumed to agree to the fence and its cost. The construction must be reasonable. If the builder uses hand-hewn stone imported from Belgium and topped with brass spires and gargoyles, the non-builder may be responsible for only half of a barbed-wire fence, if barbed-wire is the usual fencing material in the neighborhood. And so on. There're a bunch of caveats when you get down in the weeds, but the essential element remains the same.

Oh. Okay. I was viewing the episode as an opportunity to visit wrath on the neighborhood witch.

My bad.

How odd that I've never gotten a bill from two neighbors who built fences along our property lines. I'm quite certain that no matter what you've posted above, our town justice would've kicked the neighbors' out of the courtroom if they tried to get me to share the cost of their fences.

The town was overjoyed that they were fencing you in, and probably paid your half out of gratitude.

Well, it kept one neighbor's canine trash beast out of my yard. So, the fence was cheaper for the town than sending the dog non-catcher over twice a week.

"HeyBub" wrote in news:cIOdnT2PsYgyYa_VnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

In a "normal" town and not some flea bitten place, the code will have the person erecting the fence to place the fence a few inches inside the property line, so the entire fence is owned by the fence builder.

Sure. Ownership is not the issue; benefit is. Paying for the benefit does not convey interest in the property.

I used to. It was common to hang the gutter from above, off the roof (without needing 'ground' access on that side)