neighbor's fence partially on my property

All very interesting. I had not thought of the retaining wall aspect of this. On all three sides he has done this. I have wondered why he used cedar. I'm putting up mahogany fences. It is not that much more expensive than cedar. And you get a 50 year life instead of 12 years. And that is not including the accelerated rot you will get from the constant moisture contact of the soil and cedar.

And to top if off there was no finish put on the cedar. Why the difference? He used a general architect and general contractor. I used a landscape architect that specializes in fences.

Here is a picture of the fence from right after it went in:

Don.

There is no ordinance in NYC about which way a fence faces. Etiquette is you face the good side out. For my side fences, that are being constructed now, one side neighbor insisted I face the good side to them. I was planning to anyway. I learned fence facing etiquette when I was six years old. It happens that my side fences have two good sides. And while they have the front, my side is actually more interesting.

One difference is I have to live with my side neighbor. I would say that practically no one on my block has any idea who their back side neighbor is. All properties are fenced in.

I can't imagine my back side neighbor staying there for long. Despite their three year couple million gut renovation. She is Japanese. She is into privacy. I bet they are the only ones in the neighborhood with electric blackout shades on every window. At night every window is black. It looks like they are not at home. With the doggy chalet stuck on the back of the house she doesn't have to walk the two little yappy dogs. I have no idea if she ever even leaves the house.

Don.

True enough, but... When you apply for the permit, they require a description of the work to be done and, in turn, tell you the applicable rules and regs - or should. Regardless, if he was required to obtain a permit and didn't he is screwed. If he did obtain the permit but failed to build the fence in the proper manner and location, he is screwed. IF there are laws/rules/regulations in the city (and now that we know where he lives, you can bet your sweet ass there are a ton of them) the building & zoning department will take the lead and make the fence building neighbor put it right.

Well, that's within the limits of small claims court.

They have a survey. I also have a survey from the same surveyor. I showed t hem where the line was. But they went ahead and did this in order to have t he entire top fit behind a phone pole that is on their property. Had they n ot faced the good side towards themselves, it would not have been an issue. All that is on my property are the 4x4 posts and the top. Do I have the ri ght to slice the posts and top right at the line? The fence back is attache d to the fence sides, which would give it stability. The reason for doing t his is the properties are staggered. I'm adding a fence to the back where t his fence isn't, and it won't line up. I know I have the right to cut off t ree limbs that hang over. But do I also have the right to cut back a fence that is hanging over? Don.

It is a weekday, call your local building/zoning office and tell then what you have posted here and then tell us what they zoning/building dept says t o do.

We had a neighbor once who complained about the "unsightliness" of the children's toys she saw in our backyard when she looked over the fence.

When we ignored her, she trimmed our evergreen precisely on the property line. The funny thing is, the result was a big ugly hole in the tree that could only be seen from her property. Didn't bother us one bit. :-)

Not to mention how much sooner will "two feet of soil on his side ... dump onto [your] yard."

I grew up in a row house in Philadelphia. I'm also glad to be out of there. Neighborhood had deteriorated quite a bit over the past 30+ years.

Property across the street from me was subdivided and sold. When the new house was built, they found the property line went through the garage of the original house. They reached a simple settlement, redrew the lines, and a few $$$ changed hands.

OK, now I'm c "When your entire property is 20' x 100' one doesn't think of it as land"

Now you say:

"That comes to $1250 of land taken."

Is it "land" or isn't it?

You're looking in the wrong end of the telescope. Your beef, your claim, your disagreement is with the PROPERTY OWNER. Sure, if I saw a fence contractor putting up a fence on my property, I would go over and tell them that they can't. You apparently did that, talking to some workers, though maybe not the contractor himself. That's good. But then you should have immediately gone over and TALKED TO THE PROPERTY OWNER. Even worse, when they actually started putting up the fence, you did nothing. At that point, you should have gone over to the workers, tell them that they are trespassing and that you won't allow them to put up a fence on your property. Since you hadn't done so, that would have been a good opportunity to go ring the neighbor's door bell. And if they insisted they were going to proceed, you should have called the police.

Now, months later, you still haven't talked to the owner. Instead you persist in screwing around with their architect and fence company. If I were either of those guys, I wouldn't waste my time talking to you. This is a good example of how these nasty neighborhood feuds start. The neighbor is wrong. But the way you're handling it is just dumb too. What is so hard about talking to the neighbor?

And while they were putting up a fence on your property, you never did that. Nor have you in the two months since.

But as I have noted elsewhere, it is the

Again, with the architect and contractor. How do you even know who exactly did what? How do you know the architect was aware they were putting a fence on your property? Did you see plans from the architect that show the fence on your property? Somehow I doubt that. If I was the architect, I wouldn't respond to you. Maybe the architect even told his client he couldn't put the fence where he wanted. You think the architect then wants to get mixed up in taking sides by talking to you? Good grief! You need to talk to the PROPERTY OWNER.

hey park closer so they cant get out of their driveway. So the driveway get s widened, the dirt hauled down to a nearby woods. the city comes calling w hy did you dump stuff there? it was only dirt. come take a look, see the tr ash you have 5 days to clean it up, the 50 buck fine is effective today, 10

by the way dumping grass clippings is illegal too, but we will overlook it just this once, now everyone looses their yard waste dump....

you can go see the magistrate to get the 50 buck fine removed, while were t here lets file a noise complaint against the neighbor....

got back home who turned on the outside garden hose and put it in the windo w well? flooding the basement.....

oh well i will turn off the valve in the basement so that cant happen again , oh the valve broke got to call a plumber.....

no one ever wins neighborhood wars:(

nonsense. the owner has to sign off on anything built. contractors just don't do things like this on their own, if they want to stay in business. he must have been informed, at least indirectly, of what and where it was built, making it his responsibility.

the supporting staves will go pretty quickly, increasing the chances that the extra dirt will collapse. whoever designed this needs to go back to school, or at least read the code for retaining walls.

Might there be some kind of easement for the electric utility, limiting how close the fence can come to the pole?

Cindy Hamilton

I know the contractor. I know the architect. He is also my architect. And the contractor is supposed to be my contractor, but doubtful after this. I know all about the project going on behind me.

He may not. But he is supervising the contractor and he designed the fence.

Don.

There has to be some sort of easement. But how would one find the details? It is his easement, not mine.

Don.

They have a survey. I also have a survey from the same surveyor. I showed t hem where the line was. But they went ahead and did this in order to have t he entire top fit behind a phone pole that is on their property. Had they n ot faced the good side towards themselves, it would not have been an issue. All that is on my property are the 4x4 posts and the top. Do I have the ri ght to slice the posts and top right at the line? The fence back is attache d to the fence sides, which would give it stability. The reason for doing t his is the properties are staggered. I'm adding a fence to the back where t his fence isn't, and it won't line up. I know I have the right to cut off t ree limbs that hang over. But do I also have the right to cut back a fence that is hanging over? Don.

Why in tarnation are you refusing to talk to the owner????????? Enough peo ple have said to do that that you are beginning to look like a fool for not taking the advice given to you by a majoity of those responding to your po sts!!!