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Neighbor Pulling Down Adjoining Fence

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EBOR

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? California

The facts of my situation:

I live in a small house in the Mt. Washington area of Los Angeles. A next door neighbor and I have an adjoining wood fence that has wooden slats nailed on both sides of the supporting beams. My side of the fence is where my car port is located and there is also an avocado tree on my side, straddling the fence. On the other side of the fence, my neighbor has a small walkway on the side of his house.

My neighbor and I both purchased our houses a little over two years ago. Around that time, my neighbor made a brief comment to me about the shabbiness of the fence and also remarked that my tree seems to be “really growing”. At that time, I made the remark that, if he would be interested, perhaps some time we could share in the cost of a better fence. He simply shrugged and never replied.

Since that time, my neighbor and I have had no conversations, good or bad. But, I have noticed that his side of the fence has been falling down. Recently, I have noticed that he is pulling the fence slats out (and throwing them away with the weekly trash) on his side and essentially trying to, I think, pull the fence down prematurely.

Now, my side of the fence is beginning to sag and fall over. I fear that he is trying to pull the fence down and put the blame on me and force me to pay for the fence to be replaced.

This guy is a bit sneaky and I just think that he is trying to set the stage to threaten me or coerce me into replacing the fence. The whole point is that he does not want to pay anything and wants me to pay it all.

How can I protect myself? Is there any action that I should be taking? I don’t want to be taken advantage of and need to get a game plan going before I get screwed.
:(
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
start taking pictures of the damage and get a boundry survey done so it can show where the fence is in relation to the actual property line. If you learn the fence is with in your side of the lot line then you might consider speaking with a real estate atty and having the atty do a letter on ypur behalf telling the nbr to stop damaging your property before you end up filing a complaint with the police for property damage and a civil claim suing him for damage . If you learn that the fence is with in his side of the lot line then he can have at it and tear it down. ALSO check your citys permit desk to see if a permit was required for the fence and if so you should be able to learn wich one of your 2 propertys took it out. helping give a hint as to whose fence it might be , but again a boundry survey will help you in long run , by showing you exactly where your property ends.
 

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