On Tue, 25 Jun 2013 05:51:38 -0700 (PDT), in alt.home.repair trader
wrote:
On Monday, June 24, 2013 11:11:17 PM UTC-4, Don Wiss wrote:
On Mon, 24 Jun 2013 17:17:37 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
It defies reason that you're emailing the contractor, the architect
and not talking to the owner. If I was either of those guys, I wouldn't
talk to you.
Because they were the ones that did this. I can assume you the owner
doesn't know anything about this. The architect designed the fence. The
contractor built it. All the owner did was to pay for it. And the one
responsible to fix it would be the contractor. He is the one that knowingly
put the fence on my property.
Don. www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).
You're looking in the wrong end of the telescope. Your beef, your
claim, your disagreement is with the PROPERTY OWNER. Sure, if I saw
a fence contractor putting up a fence on my property, I would go over
and tell them that they can't. You apparently did that, talking to
some workers, though maybe not the contractor himself. That's good.
But then you should have immediately gone over and TALKED TO THE
PROPERTY OWNER. Even worse, when they actually started putting up
the fence, you did nothing. At that point, you should have gone over
to the workers, tell them that they are trespassing and that you
won't allow them to put up a fence on your property. Since you
hadn't done so, that would have been a good opportunity to go ring
the neighbor's door bell. And if they insisted they were going to
proceed, you should have called the police.
Now, months later, you still haven't talked to the owner. Instead
you persist in screwing around with their architect and fence
company. If I were either of those guys, I wouldn't waste my time
talking to you. This is a good example of how these nasty neighborhood
feuds start. The neighbor is wrong. But the way you're handling it
is just dumb too. What is so hard about talking to the neighbor?
Trader is right. You are wrong. Contractors do what they're told,
and even if he wasn't told to put it where he did, your recourse is
with the land owner. This is not like criminal law, where the killer
for hire is guilty of murder and so is the guy who hired him. If
you couldn't find the owner and neither of these guys would tell you
who it was, you might have a case against them, but do you think
either of them is going to go to that fence and tear it down because
you complain? Or give permission for you to cut off 1 1/2 inches? Of
course not. If they did, the owner would yell at you, you would say
the contractor said it was okay, and the owner would sue the
contractor or architect, whoever said it was okay. Neither of them
is going to help you.
YOU are foolish to keep concentrating on the contractor and architect.
If you actually have to sue, you might be advised to sue all three
parties, so whoever you do sue doesn't blame someone who's not in
court, but that's a topic for later.
If you don't believe us, ask on misc.legal.moderated . Which is very
slow now, but cheaper than hiring a lawyer. you may need to that
too.
You can't cut off parts of the fence. It IS destroying the fence,
even if the fence doesn't fall down.
If you are nice, maybe the owner will agree , but only do it if he
agrees in writing, to let you or someone skilled cut off half the
fence, but I doubt it. You'll have to leave the below ground parts
full size, or the posts will be loose and the fence will fall over.
Then you will have torn down the part even you think is on his land.
Cedar fences last a long time, the wood posts if they are not cedar
but treated probably 30 years or more, Anything that is cedar, posts,
pickets and rails 25 years or maybe less. The rails last longer if
they get sunlight. . Cedar is naturally resistant to rot, but not
forever.
If the fence stands, you do want to give him written permission, and
have him sign an acknowledgement of the permission (because he may
well lose what you gave him, or die, or sell the house) so that when
the fence finally does fall down, there is no doubt you own what you
own. (no adverse possession or prescriptive easement)
Unlikely. The back wall is fully integrated into the side fence. The fence
would still have two 4x4s that are behind my next door neighbor's property.
I can't follow this or the rest of your descriptions at all.