Quote:
Originally Posted by Frankster
To all those saying he should pony up for his "half" of the fence: there is nothing that says once he pays any money for the fence (regardless of what the sum is) that this neighbor will change his attitude at all. At that point, our OP is just out the money.
I'm not sure my attitude would change at all if I were the neighbor.
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It's not too late to do the right thing. Here are my thoughts on fences:
- They are mandatory. If you are moving into a house that has no fence or a house where the fence needs replacing, you need to factor in the price of the fence into your budget before purchasing the house.
- If one neighbour wants a fence and the other doesn't, you default to the neighbour that wants the fence.
- If you can't afford the fence, but your neighbour is adament that the fence needs to be replaced, work out a payment plan in writing or agree upon a reasonable future date that you will replace the fence (I think within 12 months is reasonable).
- While legally you can say you're "not interested" in building a fence, it does make you an A-1 a-h0le to play that card.
With the OP's specific situation, let's assume he's telling the truth that the neighbour never approached him about the fence before he started. Nobody is going to argue that the neighbour was right to just start the fence without consulting the OP...that would be stupid. That said, you don't get out of paying your fair share on a technicality. If the fence is built fine, is located properly, etc. you owe him some money and he has every right to treat you like a bum until you man up and pay him your debt.
Not knowing what the fence costs is also not an excuse to pay him. I think contractors charge ~$25/linear foot for a standard new fence with pressure treated wood. You could use that to estimate it, or if you want to be "that guy" you could just pay him for materials. It would take about 20 minutes of your time to stop in at Home Depot and get a price from them for the wood to make your fence. Divide that by two and it will tell you what your neighbour is out of pocket (not including his time that you are valuing at $0) and what you owe him.
I think the parking issue is secondary to the fence thing. Without this resolved, you are the problem neighbour, not him.