vandalism and getting my neighbor to pay for half of the privacy fence

[derwood95]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Mississippi

Two months ago, our neighbor's children spray painted large Xs and wrote "no tresspassing" on our trees. The father did not make his children apologize to us, and he accused my hubsband of overreacting. He didn't think it was big deal. The father tried to clean the spray paint off of the trees but most of it didn't come off. I took before and after picutures of our trees.

At the time, my husband didn't call the police. Could we still file an incidence report?

Also, we had our property surveyed and received an estimate for the cost of building a privacy fence that would separate our properties. Right now, we can only afford to pay for part of the privacy fence.

Big question--Can we take them to small claims court? What chance do we have that the judge would order them to pay 50% of the cost of putting up a privacy fence that would separate our backyards?

Thanks,

Deborah

 

[justalayman]

At the time, my husband didn't call the police. Could we still file an incidence report?

You can try but you will likely be rebuffed. If you did not believe a report needed to be filed at the time of discovering the incident, the police will likely figure it wasn't important enough to file a report then and as such, is a waste of their time now.

Big question--Can we take them to small claims court?

bigger question: for what?

What chance do we have that the judge would order them to pay 50% of the cost of putting up a privacy fence that would separate our backyards?

somewhere between 0 and 100% but realistically, most likely right there at the 0% area, like right at 0% and no real chance of it being any higher than 0%.

 

[csi7]

First, when the incident happened, that was the time to report the criminals to the police.
Second, you can purchase the fence supplies, rent an auger to do the holes, and put up the privacy fence yourself eliminating the labor costs.
Third, post a no trespassing sign on your property visible to the neighbors.
Fourth, know that the neighbors may vandalize your privacy fence and then you have to decide whether to report the criminals to the police when it happens.

 

[NC Aggie]

Deborah, unfortunately you likely have 0% chance of any court forcing them to pay half the costs for the installation of a privacy fence. You have a better chance of going to your neighbor directly and asking him to share in the cost to install a shared privacy fence. You may have a claim that the marking of the trees caused irreversible damage to the trees and causing the value of your property to be reduced, but even that is a stretch and may not result in any significant award in damages.

 

[HomeGuru]

A barbed wire fence would be cheaper and then you don't need to ask the neighbor to pay for half.

 

[Longsally1112]

if you are situated side by side, I would start by placing the holes and fence separating your yards. The very back doesn't need to be done and you can do the other side when you have the money. Take pictures and keep receipts. If there is any damage, call the police and the money you get would probably finish the fence