HELP Neighbor tore down my fence

ROTFL

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

I've seen folks recommending building the fence 6" or 1' or 5' inside the surveyed line. I definitely would NOT do that. I'd build it exactly touching the line or as close to it as I could get. If you build a foot your side of the surveyed line, the neighbors will encroach on that one foot and eventually it will be theirs. Fence all of what is yours.

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

Before putting up your fence, check with your local code enforcement officer. Here fences have to go 6" inside the line.

They have paid for a survey. If the neighbors dispute it they will have to pay something to prove their argument or stop arguing.

They owe you something for the fence they dismantled.

I would be very careful about putting a fence NOT on the line (as in putting it in a few feet or two to your side. This may establish the line in the future in some states.

It is none of my business where my neighbor puts their fence as long as it's on the property line.

We share expenses and fencing with our neighbor. Walk the fences together.

Go out and buy yourself a Soldiers of Fortune magazine. Look in the back for the classified ads and you will find people in there that can take care of this problem for you.

I have had the understanding that if the fence is on the line, then it is considered to be jointly owned by the connecting property owners. If that is the case, then wouldn't the neighbors be able to do what they wanted with part of the fence, such as take it down, even if they don't pay part?

Right? or wrong?

If Its Your Fence You Have To Mantain It In Order To Do That You Must Leave Enough Room For You To Walk Along The Outside In Order To Paint It And Do Repairs Ussally 1 Foot Inside The Line Is Enough For That Or Else You Know They Are Going To Call The Cops And Say Your Tresspassing..........good Luck Dealing With Idiots

No..they can't take it down.

The issue of "control of the fence when it's on the property line" is why I suggested putting a GOOD fence a couple of feet inside the line, and then putting up a line of barb wire on the line.

On due reflection, since these people are likely to remain hostile long term, making the space between the fences wide enough to walk between easily is probably a good idea. The line of barb wire on the property line clearly delineates your property line for YOU so you don't accidently stray across the line. It also prevents adverse possession claims down the road, particularly if you weedwhack the space between the two "fences" on occasion and do other maintenance (If you're using an electric fence to keep their dog out, you'll need to do weed control regularly anyway.)

a few years ago, i fenced a line between myself and a neighbor. she had an exaggerated idea of just where the property line was. the line had grown up into a brushy hedgrow extending maybe thirty feet onto my side, which was an open field. there was no way to run a string on the line even though there was a concrete survey marker at each end. as a solution, a ran a "traverse." the line runs north and south, so i measured back fifty feet west from each survey marker so that i had a clear line of sight , and drove a "t" post at each end of a line fifty feet west of the real line, and stretched a nylon twine as tight as i could between them. then, i set a line of "t" posts forty nine feet ten inches east of the string line, and fifteen feet apart in the line. then i cleared a path on my side of the posts.

when i hung the fence on those posts, my neighbor called the sheriff on me. when the deputy came out, i showed him the survey markers at each end of the line, and explained what i had done. he agreed that the fence seemed to be two inches onto my property, and that i had a right to put it there. this didn't satisfy the neighbor, so she hired a surveyor and had the line re-surveyed at her expense. the county building inspector at the time was an old friend of my neighbor on the other side, and i heard through him that her (second) surveyor had agreed with the accuracy of my line, and she had taken the new survey report to the building inspector to ask if there were any codes about fences or set-back requirements. (there aren't).

it seems there are some people who just won't give up on the idea that "i want it to be so. that makes it so."

pax
t.f.

Depends upun state law. Legally, a farm fence in MN on a property line belongs to both neighbors. A property owner can erect a fence on the line, and bill the neighbor for half of the cost and maintainence expenses. In reality most people work it out. If only one person needs or wants the fence that person usually takes responsibility for it.

You need to give us other Mainers your address so we can come down and visit those loosers. No connection to you. I got a rooster I can "lend" them. He is a mean sucker, jumps all over you.

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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

I said go 6' back on your property for a few reasons stated... you can drive a brushhog or a wide mower along the outside and MAINTAIN a clean fenceline, and make sure anything in or on your mowed line gets an immediate criminal trespass complaint. No they wont "eventually take over" that 6 feet if you dont let them.

and yes here in my area a fence dead on the line is the property and responsibility of both landowners, so if its 6' back on your side and you mow the strip outside weekly, its your fence, all they can claim is an inch or so wide strip abutting their property as "in common".

also if they decide to one up you and put up a fence too, you can still maintain your fence line well in your own property.

any surveyors Ive seen local here building new home sites use GPS along with a transit whatchamacallit. they used a GPS to peg out the sewer lines here and to tell me where my property line was... it was right where me and the neighbor said it was...
just follow the 50 yr old locust posts, they are still there if you look.
not much left but still proper posts...

if its 6' in on your side, no one can whine about it.... even if you choose to put the stockade fence up with the "nice side" facing YOU.

if they started it, I'd be the worst arsehole they ever lived beside.

i am really starting to hate "neighbors".....

If I may, I would like to expand on this. Surveyors do make mistakes but much of what you describe stems from gaps and overlaps in the actual legal descriptions. As you pointed out, often descriptions started from multiple places or assumed that sections were perfectly square. Also a line measured to the best of the abilities of a surveyor in the 1900's may have been measured 1320 feet, but now with the modern equipment will turn out to be 1321.59 feet. This means an overlap just because we can measure more accurately.
Surveyors are fact finders and will survey the legal description provided by their client, hopefully they will look at the description of the adjoiners to see if there are any type of encroachments. See the post on septic sytems about paying top dollar for an excellent product.

It isn't unheard of monuments being pulled from the ground by a hostile neighbor. If you suspect this might happen most surveyors will be willing to take measures to "tie out" the monuments, making them easily replaced without conducting a lengthy survey. This will save time and hassel for all parties.

edit-spelling

on two corners of my property there is a 2" iron pipe sticking out of the ground filled with concrete... it sticks up about 3'.

I remember as a kid they wre painted bright orange. they must be in deep as they dont move at all when you kick em. they never would.

my guess is someone wanted to make a close to permenent marker on those 2 corners (the only 2 that meet someone elses property, the other 2 corners are on the street).

now, the other corners, where property and street meet up, are a point of light contention. the one corner the neighbor uses to get into his hayfield, its only like the last 15 feet of angle, not much at all. at one point, his kid claimed the "driveway" was his... so I had to flag down his dad and talk it over, we both knew it was mine but where? so we found a few of those old fenceposts and one giant tree with a strand of barbed wire almost in the center of it [used as a fencepost when the tree was as big as one, now, its way way bigger] since we can see that old pipe across the way, and the few posts and the tree lined up strieght, it jogged the old mans memory of the line, the corner and the conversation he had many yrs ago with the previous owner [my grandaddy]. he was kinda put off that indeed... it was my corner.
then he pointed out that I had some "stuff" piled in the hedgerow on his side.

"you leave your stuff there if we can keep on using the driveway?"

done deal....
you can get along with your neighbors, sometimes.

the event that made us even ask whos was whos was when I dumped a pile of pallets there, and a truckload of wood chips. and they dissapeared.

he told me he didnt want that stuff in "his driveway" to his field.

diplomacy sometimes keeps the peace.... sometimes!

once they survey your land and comfirm it, you might wanna sink a big orange concrete filled pipe on the corners!

Please put "Maine" in your location on your profile.
Thank You.

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Please Put Your Location In Your Profile ... TY

Every state is different. One carefully needs to look over the full wording of the state laws on this to apply any of it to each individual situation.

Many states have a version of law where a shared fence is maintained by both parties. New challenges to these old-time laws have modified them, in some cases, to where only those using the fence maintain it. As always, laws change...

In any case, shared fences need to be maintained to a certain standard. If you do not maintain _your_ part of the fence to that standard, & livestock escape, it is _your_ fault. My state lists in the code what is considered livestock fence - couple different types, but needs to be that good.

So, to law, no the neighbors can't remove or tear up their side of the fence. One is required to _maintain_ a good fence. However, they will of course being as they are bad people, & then another set of hassles & legal problems......

The key to losing property on the 'squatters rights' type of thing is to not use the land. If you build a fence 6 feet off the property line & never set foot on that 6' for 7 or more years, you could legally lose that property - the neighbor can claim you abandoned it, & they are using & maintaining it as theirs, so it is now theirs.... However some few states have very strange laws about property lines moving to where the fence is built, & one could get caught in one of those rare cases. Strange things can come from the mix of old & new law that affects us.....

Again, each state is slightly different; these are the common basics that many start from, but not all.

--->Paul

One thing I am loving about this ongoing saga is how pyrnad is able to keep slapping them down because she is in the right.

I really want to see these nasty "neighbors" defeated. They have some colossol nerve, IMO.

pyrnad, please keep posting and letting us know all the latest developments.

In Maine, the cost of the fence is to be shared by both parties. If your neighbor doesn't pay for half, you can take civil action against them. I wouldn't advise this, because it will only exacerbate bad feelings, but it is your right. They are not required to do any maintenance of the fence if their land is unimproved.

The law doesn't say whether the fence should be on the property line. It does say the fence can deviate from the line if it's impossible or unreasonably expensive to build the fence directly on the line; in this case papers describing the deviation and the maintenance responsibility etc. has to be signed by both parties.

Link

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

Thank you Qwispea and Rambler. We have one neighbor, the one I call VIN, borders 2 1/2 sides of our land. He has fenced 2 sides. We will be fencing in the north side this summer and it will be just inside the line. When we can we will put our own fence up on the two sides that he has fenced. Then it will be double fenced.