Would you contribute?

[isabel]

Our neighbor just approached us about replacing the fence between our yards. He would like for us to pay half.

The fence is technically his. It's in decent shape, wearing down, but generally pretty solid. There are a couple of pieces that I guess could stand to be replaced, but it is in no way a priority for us.

The quote he got is $2,000 for just the middle fence and about one fence panel at the front of our house, plus his front fence. We need to replace our back fence at some point and I expect that to be ridiculously expensive, as it's an 8 ft. fence and a decent length.

I basically told him we weren't super inclined to contribute since the fence is still fully functional, but to keep us updated and we could talk about it more once he got additional quotes. He asked me to send him my email so we can keep in touch about it.


I don't want to be a bad neighbor, but $1,000 isn't anything to sneeze at. If we were talking $500, I could probably swallow that, but I'm not liking that 4-digit number to replace a fence that I would consider to be in decent shape. WWYD?

[noodleoo]

It is his fence and he wants to replace it. Therefore I would not contribute. I think he's just asking to see if he can get some help paying for it. If you don't, will he replace it anyway?

I don't like fences and I definitely wouldn't pay for my neighbors fence just because they asked. If you pay now, when he wants to paint it or it needs maintenance, he might ask you for more money. If it is on his property, I would not set a precedent of splitting costs on it.

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 17:07:54 GMT -5 mp said:

It's a shared fence but technically his? I'm not sure I understand. I am used to suburban fences that are shared and paying half would be an expectation if it needed to be replaced. Not sure what condition it's in or how your property is laid out.

It's on his property. It is shared in the sense that our front and back fences attach to his, but only the front and back fences are on our property. If the fence had originally been built on our property, it would be our responsibility, but that is not the case here.

It's not that I disagree with paying for half of it. We need a fence between our yards and I view it as a shared responsibility. I think it's that I am not convinced it *needs* to be replaced, especially to the tune of $2k.

[lucky513]

We bought the materials and the neighbor provided the labor

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 17:13:43 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

It is his fence and he wants to replace it. Therefore I would not contribute. I think he's just asking to see if he can get some help paying for it. If you don't, will he replace it anyway?

I don't like fences and I definitely wouldn't pay for my neighbors fence just because they asked. If you pay now, when he wants to paint it or it needs maintenance, he might ask you for more money. If it is on his property, I would not set a precedent of splitting costs on it.

I'm not sure, but I think, yes. They are in the middle of a large home renovation (converting their garage into a master suite and attaching it to the main house) and are having a ton of work done anyway. The fence is something that has been on his list for a while now and he wants to replace all sides. My biggest concern is creating an awkward relationship. We're not like hanging out with each other, but we're friendly and chit chat when we see each other.

[tripleshot]

I would just tell him it's not in the budget and you have a lot of other expenses now that take priority.

[dizzydee]

So he is just wanting a matching fence? Does the current fencing match the rest of yours? Is he putting up a new "design" or just a newer version of the old fence?

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 17:28:52 GMT -5 dizzydee said:

So he is just wanting a matching fence? Does the current fencing match the rest of yours? Is he putting up a new "design" or just a newer version of the old fence?

The fencing currently matches on all sides (both his and ours) for the most part. It's just a basic wooden privacy fence. He did mention wanting to do a slightly different design or type of fencing for the front since it is visible from the street. We did agree to replace our portion of the front fence when he has this done, as we essentially only have a single panel of fencing on our property.

As for the middle fence, I'm not entirely certain what he wants to do, but I think keep it the same. When I said it seemed functional to me and I wasn't sure about contributing, he said maybe we could just replace the portions that need it (there are maybe two spots where the fence is leaning and could use reinforcement or new posts).

[sapphireblue]

My first instinct is that I would not contribute. When I moved into my house, I fenced in my entire yard for my two dogs, and did not ask neighbors to pitch in.

It sounds like you have your own fence, though, in the front and back? And those fence parts attach to his side fence that he wants to replace? In a way, then, it does seem like maybe you are benefiting from his fence to have a fully fenced yard so maybe I'd consider pitching in in that circumstance.

I'm on the fence here! Haha! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 18:07:57 GMT -5 sapphireblue said:

My first instinct is that I would not contribute. When I moved into my house, I fenced in my entire yard for my two dogs, and did not ask neighbors to pitch in.

It sounds like you have your own fence, though, in the front and back? And those fence parts attach to his side fence that he wants to replace? In a way, then, it does seem like maybe you are benefiting from his fence to have a fully fenced yard so maybe I'd consider pitching in in that circumstance.

I'm on the fence here! Haha! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

So, under the law, I think we fall into the category of shared responsibility because we "use" his fence in that our front and back fences attach to the dividing fence. We do benefit from the dividing fence and would have built one on our own if it hadn't been there when we bought the house. But, that's the thing. If there hadn't been a fence, we would have built one on our own, let the neighbor know we were doing so, but would not have asked for them to contribute.

I think this is why I'm having a hard time with this. We benefit from the fence and want an in tact dividing fence. But it is functional and not falling apart, so I don't know that I feel like being neighborly to the tune of $1k to replace something that is working just fine for us.

[MixedBerryJam]

I don't understand the fence cost splitting thing. It's his fence, he pays for it. If it's your fence, you pay for it. What happens when you both own it, and one of you thinks it needs to be replaced/painted pink/removed/whatever and the other disagrees. I just see this as easily avoidable trouble if the person who actually owns the thing pays full freight.

Trying to get others to split the cost seems kind of NuggetSistery to me. I realize I may be in the minority.

[marylennox]

Nov 15, 2014 17:24:50 GMT -5 tripleshot said:

I would just tell him it's not in the budget and you have a lot of other expenses now that take priority.

I would probably say this as well.

[fuckyourcouch]

Nov 15, 2014 18:18:47 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

I don't understand the fence cost splitting thing. It's his fence, he pays for it. If it's your fence, you pay for it. What happens when you both own it, and one of you thinks it needs to be replaced/painted pink/removed/whatever and the other disagrees. I just see this as easily avoidable trouble if the person who actually owns the thing pays full freight.

Trying to get others to split the cost seems kind of NuggetSistery to me. I realize I may be in the minority.

It's hard when your property involves the fence belonging to both people. There is not my fence and my neighbors' fence on our properties. There is one strip of wood dividing our yards, so it's hard to say it's somebody's responsibility over someone else. 

OP, I would ask for more quotes. We just had a fence done a couple months ago when we closed and we had quotes anywhere from 2500-6500. For the exact same materials. 

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 18:58:30 GMT -5 @applesauce said:

So if he just removed the fence completely, then you would pay to put one up?

Also, what happens to your front panel if he goes ahead with replacing his fence without your contribution?

Because I am assuming your answer to my first question is yes and that you would prefer not to do that, I would consider going in on it. I wouldn't contribute more than 30%, and likely not even that much, of the shared middle fence part (plus the whole cost for your own front panel but no part of his front panel). I would want to know more about why he wants to upgrade it right now before I decided if/how much. I agree that contributing will lead to potential disaster down the road, so I'd try to find an amount I'd be comfortable contributing with the understanding that this does not constitute any agreement to pay for future costs to this shared fence nor would I expect any future say on what happens to said fence.

The answer to your first question is yes. It's one of the reasons why I'm torn on this. I feel some responsibility because we want there to be a dividing fence.

If he replaces his front panel, it doesn't affect us. There is a post in between our front sections, so if he replaced his, they just wouldn't match. We agreed to replace that anyway though.

Your main paragraph is also what kind of gets me. I don't want there to be an expectation of future liability for the fence. It's on his property. If it were on my property, we would let them know what we were doing, replace it, and take full ownership of said fence. I would never ask them to pay for part of it. Unfortunately, that isn't the situation. I kind of wish it were.

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 18:41:08 GMT -5 fuckyourcouch said:

Nov 15, 2014 18:18:47 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

I don't understand the fence cost splitting thing. It's his fence, he pays for it. If it's your fence, you pay for it. What happens when you both own it, and one of you thinks it needs to be replaced/painted pink/removed/whatever and the other disagrees. I just see this as easily avoidable trouble if the person who actually owns the thing pays full freight.

Trying to get others to split the cost seems kind of NuggetSistery to me. I realize I may be in the minority.

It's hard when your property involves the fence belonging to both people. There is not my fence and my neighbors' fence on our properties. There is one strip of wood dividing our yards, so it's hard to say it's somebody's responsibility over someone else. 

OP, I would ask for more quotes. We just had a fence done a couple months ago when we closed and we had quotes anywhere from 2500-6500. For the exact same materials. 

We never had a survey done, so I can't say 100% that this fence isn't on our property, that it is on his property, or that it's on a dividing line. I just don't know. That said, the way he has approached this, it would seem that the fence is on his property and I can make an educated guess looking at the parcels of land in our neighborhood.

He said he had two quotes and would look into getting more. I gave him my email address, so I guess we'll see what happens when he sends something over. How much linear footage was your fence for? This dividing fence is probably right around 80 ft.

[fuckyourcouch]

Nov 15, 2014 19:25:20 GMT -5 isabel said:

Nov 15, 2014 18:41:08 GMT -5 fuckyourcouch said:

It's hard when your property involves the fence belonging to both people. There is not my fence and my neighbors' fence on our properties. There is one strip of wood dividing our yards, so it's hard to say it's somebody's responsibility over someone else. 

OP, I would ask for more quotes. We just had a fence done a couple months ago when we closed and we had quotes anywhere from 2500-6500. For the exact same materials. 

We never had a survey done, so I can't say 100% that this fence isn't on our property, that it is on his property, or that it's on a dividing line. I just don't know. That said, the way he has approached this, it would seem that the fence is on his property and I can make an educated guess looking at the parcels of land in our neighborhood.

He said he had two quotes and would look into getting more. I gave him my email address, so I guess we'll see what happens when he sends something over. How much linear footage was your fence for? This dividing fence is probably right around 80 ft.

We paid 2600 for 145 ft of cedar privacy fence plus a gate. I can send you the guy's info if you want, he was by far the best quote we got and was quick and thorough. And he could start that weekend, whereas the other people wanted 4-6 weeks.

[WOT?*]

Nov 15, 2014 17:19:24 GMT -5 isabel said:

Nov 15, 2014 17:13:43 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

It is his fence and he wants to replace it. Therefore I would not contribute. I think he's just asking to see if he can get some help paying for it. If you don't, will he replace it anyway?

I don't like fences and I definitely wouldn't pay for my neighbors fence just because they asked. If you pay now, when he wants to paint it or it needs maintenance, he might ask you for more money. If it is on his property, I would not set a precedent of splitting costs on it.

I'm not sure, but I think, yes. They are in the middle of a large home renovation (converting their garage into a master suite and attaching it to the main house) and are having a ton of work done anyway. The fence is something that has been on his list for a while now and he wants to replace all sides. My biggest concern is creating an awkward relationship. We're not like hanging out with each other, but we're friendly and chit chat when we see each other.

Is the quote for only the section between your houses?

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 19:33:22 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

Nov 15, 2014 17:19:24 GMT -5 isabel said:

I'm not sure, but I think, yes. They are in the middle of a large home renovation (converting their garage into a master suite and attaching it to the main house) and are having a ton of work done anyway. The fence is something that has been on his list for a while now and he wants to replace all sides. My biggest concern is creating an awkward relationship. We're not like hanging out with each other, but we're friendly and chit chat when we see each other.

Is the quote for only the section between your houses?

That's what he made it sound like, yes. I imagine doing his entire yard would be quite a bit more, so it doesn't seem out of line. 

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 19:32:32 GMT -5 fuckyourcouch said:

Nov 15, 2014 19:25:20 GMT -5 isabel said:

We never had a survey done, so I can't say 100% that this fence isn't on our property, that it is on his property, or that it's on a dividing line. I just don't know. That said, the way he has approached this, it would seem that the fence is on his property and I can make an educated guess looking at the parcels of land in our neighborhood.

He said he had two quotes and would look into getting more. I gave him my email address, so I guess we'll see what happens when he sends something over. How much linear footage was your fence for? This dividing fence is probably right around 80 ft.

We paid 2600 for 145 ft of cedar privacy fence plus a gate. I can send you the guy's info if you want, he was by far the best quote we got and was quick and thorough. And he could start that weekend, whereas the other people wanted 4-6 weeks.

That would be awesome. Thank you!

[maggiemoo]

We split the cost, or at least 40/60. It never occured to me not to. It was falling down and had to be replaced. She is also very frugal and trustworthy. There were some shenanigans that resulted in it being moved a few inches onto our property. Long story but for our benefit.

[gottadobe]

The fences we have in my neighborhood are designed to be shared by both houses, and, therefore, both houses should be responsible for maintenance. I can tell you that the fence is on my property by 2 inches (my house was built first). Per the HOA, it is not intended to be MY fence and 100% my responsibility. However, I've had to replace the entire backyard fence on all three sides 100% because there is no way to force a neighbor to take care of their share. For that reason, my opinion is that you split it. You are benefiting from the fence, and want a dividing fence. At least he's being proactive about repairing a fence before it becomes an eyesore. Without having a survey, how are you assuming the fence is his? Because he lived there first?

[isabel]

Nov 15, 2014 20:11:00 GMT -5 gottadobe said:

The fences we have in my neighborhood are designed to be shared by both houses, and, therefore, both houses should be responsible for maintenance. I can tell you that the fence is on my property by 2 inches (my house was built first). Per the HOA, it is not intended to be MY fence and 100% my responsibility. However, I've had to replace the entire backyard fence on all three sides 100% because there is no way to force a neighbor to take care of their share. For that reason, my opinion is that you split it. You are benefiting from the fence, and want a dividing fence. At least he's being proactive about repairing a fence before it becomes an eyesore. Without having a survey, how are you assuming the fence is his? Because he lived there first?

First, I'm not 100% sure it's on his property vs. mine, but in my county, I've had exactly zero experiences where the fence falls on the dividing line. It's either on one property or the other. The way he has approached the situation with us (and with the people who owned the house before us), leads me to assume it is on his property. I did put in a request from the county for permit records for fences for both properties. If there's a permit (and there should be), that should tell me whose property it is on. In the meantime, I think it's safe to make this assumption based on how he's acting.

We have no HOA, so there is nothing governing how the fence should be maintained. 

The fence is not an eyesore. In fact, it's still in good shape and looks nice. There are two spots where it is leaning slightly and could stand to be repaired, but it is otherwise in good condition. This is my major sticking point. I do not agree that the fence needs to be replaced. It kind of creates a problem when one party wants to split the cost and thinks the fence needs replacing and the other party disagrees. I'm also concerned about this being a problem in the future with regard to maintenance. What if we disagree on when the fence needs to be restained or what color to paint it? I'm not sure I want that kind of liability going forward.

[gottadobe]

Yeah, I'm thinking it's impossible for builders to put a fence exactly on the property line, although I have no idea why. However, back to my point, even if the fence is on his property line, it doesn't mean the fence is his. I can see where problems would arise if there are differing opinions about the state of the fence. In my situation, there was no question. Winds had blown down 2 sides, and, on the 3rd, that neighbors dogs had already come through once and were constantly pushing the boards in trying to get to my dogs.

Are you in a subdivision where houses and fences were built at the same time by the builder? I do know of subdivisions where fences were NOT put in at the same time the houses were built and it really was the property owner's responsibility to add a fence if they wanted one. In those situations, the fence really is theirs and ALL costs would be their responsibility. But, I can't see how future maintenance of this fence wouldn't also be your responsibility.

All that being said, you might live in a place where fences really do belong to one property. I have no idea.

[hisno1girl]

Um, no.

If he wants a fence, he can pay for it.

[livinitup]

It's insane to pay and install a fence without a property survey. And no, you don't install a fence on YOUR property and expect a neighbor to pay a portion. 

[ladystardust]

We had a large storm this summer and fences on two sides of our yard were damaged. One side was not ours, the other was (fencing wasn't set by builders; home owners decide what to put up). One neighbor wanted to replace with vinyl because that's what the rest of their yard used. It came out to 2400 and they asked if we would split with them. If we hadn't gotten an insurance payment that covered that half I probably only would have offered to pay half of what a new wood fence would cost. We are (slowly) fixing the fence on the other side of the yard ourselves. We never discussed it with that neighbor.

I knew we didn't have to contribute, but we decided to anyway. I feel like a new fence just for cosmetic purposes puts it more on that neighbor though. Don't feel pressured into it.

[LoveTrains]

If the fence is on his property - and your fence attaches to it in the front - doesn't it mean part of that panel is on his property?

I live in an older city - founded in the 1600s but my house was built in 1940 - and all the fences are on the line and shared. I would split the cost as it sounds like your house is similar.

If the fence is on his property 100% you are actually getting use of part of his kand with how you have described the yard being fenced.

[azurely]

Maybe it's different where you live, but the fences in our neighborhood belong to the neighbor who put it up, because it's on their property. I would not be inclined to contribute financially to something that I won't even own part of.

We have a fully fenced backyard, but one side belongs to our next door neighbors, while the rest belongs to us. When their one side sustained storm damage this summer, it was their responsibility to fix it. I never would have thought to offer to help them pay for it.

[donnamartingraduat]

No. If it is on his property, it's his expense. I would never have asked a neighbor to pay for part of our fence.

[RoxMonster]

If it is truly on his property, I would not feel inclined to pay for it. I mean, when most fences go up, both neighbors benefit from the privacy of it, but I have never heard of splitting the cost until some people on ML mentioned it. When we put up our new privacy fence, we paid for it. Neighbors on both sides benefited because they got a nice wooden privacy fence now instead of the chain link that had been there (both fences are/were on our property), but because it was our fence, we didn't even think to approach them for money.

So I would just tell him it isn't in the budget right now, as you have other house projects that are priorities to you. If he wants to update the fence and it's his fence, that should fall on him.

I do think it'd be a good idea to get a survey done, though, if you are not sure whose fence it is. That was around $300 when we had it done.