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common backyard wall

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enilorac60

Guest
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?undefinedundefined[/FONT] California: We have a backyard blockwall that is 5'6" high by 5"deep, with a vine called "Creeping Fig" covering it. The vine is on many walls in our development, and it is impossible to know where it started. We like to keep it between 7 to 10 inches above the wall, neatly trimmed, and trimmed on the face of it to keep it from encroaching on our small yard. Trimming also discourages mice from nesting in the vine, which they do. Our neighbor, who has moved in in the past year or 2 wants to let it grow wild and untrimmed for privacy, and has threatened us with a lawsuit if we trim the top (on his half of the top) again. He put up bamboo fencing which brought the height to 9', but had to take it down, as it was against city code. Now he's really angry. We have lived in our home for over 31 years & this is the first problem we've had with a neighbor. Help!
 


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Shay-Pari'e

Senior Member
enilorac60 said:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?undefinedundefined[/FONT] California: We have a backyard blockwall that is 5'6" high by 5"deep, with a vine called "Creeping Fig" covering it. The vine is on many walls in our development, and it is impossible to know where it started. We like to keep it between 7 to 10 inches above the wall, neatly trimmed, and trimmed on the face of it to keep it from encroaching on our small yard. Trimming also discourages mice from nesting in the vine, which they do. Our neighbor, who has moved in in the past year or 2 wants to let it grow wild and untrimmed for privacy, and has threatened us with a lawsuit if we trim the top (on his half of the top) again. He put up bamboo fencing which brought the height to 9', but had to take it down, as it was against city code. Now he's really angry. We have lived in our home for over 31 years & this is the first problem we've had with a neighbor. Help!
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You have no legal right trimming anything on his property, your neighbor is correct and can sue you. This is his property, and you need to leave it alone.
 
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enilorac60

Guest
We have been told different stories by city employees regarding trimming the top of the wall. We are not sure about the exact location of the wall. It has been suggested to hire a surveyor to find out if the wall is too far onto our property, and not dead center. Is this expensive?
 
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Happy Trails

Senior Member
It varies from surveyor to surveyor.

We had one of our own done, it was a property line measuring 1400ft. It cost us $1350 that included everything (survey, setting property line pins, and certified copy showing where pins lie according to land descrip. and distances between pins.) and they filed a copy at the county court house.

Another survey company gave us an estimate of $10,000. (We went with the other company, of course.)

This year we hired the 1st company to do the other three lines of our property and sub-divide it to four pieces this cost $1,800.

So each surveyor company can vary greatly, do your homework, get several estimates, and choose what works best for you.
 
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BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
IF you have a survey completed and the wall rests on your property entirely, then trim to your heart's content.

IF you have a survey completed and the wall rests on the neighbor's property entirely, leave it alone.

IF you have a survey completed and the wall rests exactly on the property line, then tirm to the center of the wall and on your side to your heart's content.

End of story.
 
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enilorac60

Guest
California: We are currently at a stand-still. The wall is fairly neat and trim, as city code describes it should be, and there is no need for any work to be done. However, in 3 or 4 weeks, my son plans to get up there and trim to the center, occasionally going slightly past center, maybe an inch or so. Trimming is not an exact science, and if he wants to hall us into court over an inch, let him. It's his dollar. He can't sue for damages, so we will be no worse off than we are now. I might also add that when our tree trimmers originally evened out the wall so that it wasn't lopsided, our neighbor told us that he "felt like aiming a gun at them". He obviously needs to focus his attention on something of real importance...too much time to obsess over vegetation.
 
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