Fence falling down and uncooperative neighbor

[agmishra24]

I live in California, in the East Bay and we have had multiple problems with our neighbor and our shared fence. He has a well so he is able to water unlimited amounts during the drought which in itself is a problem as he causes floods into our yard and onto the street. But the main problem is that he runs the backyard sprinklers twice a day for 1 hour each time and it constantly hits the joint fence, leaking into our yard and further breaking down the fence. He refuses to fix the fence and we have called/asked in person/emailed on multiple occasions to request that he not "water" the fence as it is destroying it and causing damage to our yard with the leakage and runoff. He continues to soak the fence and at this point we are looking to seek legal action. Our neighbor is very aggressive, has been arrested on more than one occasion for a variety of reasons and can be verbally abusive. We don't know what to do anymore and tried to do this the nice way by asking him if he would be willing to fix the fence but he just says that he will put up a patch on his side, but it is continuously being drenched by his frequent sprinkling and causing irreparable damage that he will not acknowledge. He also has 2 dogs that have broken through the fence into our yard on more than one occasion. I have a lot of this on video and multiple photos as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[FarmerJ]

do your self a favor and learn what your city / county ordinances are regarding well failure or septic system failure when there is city water and sewer available , reason being is that if his well were to fail then of course you would want to see your city order up connection to city water and sewer for that property and then of course if there was watering bans they would apply to that home as well. Last has your city gone to the trouble to spell out when fencing must be replaced thru city ordinances ?

 

[agmishra24]

I have looked at the city's requirements and because this is a shared fence in the backyard, it is not city property. I have done extensive research around the water issue but because it is groundwater in a well, nothing in our county or city can do anything because it's private (so he can leave it on 24/7 and nothing can be done in terms of reprimanding him or requiring him to stop, unless the governor makes a new law around private well water). But my main concern is around the fence and at what point is it his responsibility to fix?

 

[CdwJava]

We have had a similar problem with a neighbor, a shared fence, it falling down, and the neighbor unwilling to share in any responsibility for repairs. The only recourse for you may be to pursue the matter in Small Claims Court for damages, or, at least, part of the value of the fence if you choose to replace/repair it yourself. If you go to court, be prepared to prevent evidence that the fence was damaged by the water and needed to be replaced. But, there is no law that you can point to that says he MUST share in the cost of any repairs or that he MUST be held liable because the water from his yard hits the fence.

 

[latigo]

. But, there is no law (?) ]that you can point to that says he MUST share in the cost of any repairs . . . . . .

Perhaps you might choose to withdraw that misleading statement upon reading Section 841 of the California Civil Code.

The essence of which is not unique to The State of California, but fairly common, if not universal.