I have a situation whereby a fence needs to be replaced urgently, its too old and in such a state that repair is not an option.
Having done my research the situation I find myself in is one in which I am entitled to replace the fence immediately without consultation with the neighbours and still recover costs from them. For example the simple fact of pets escaping is one that would be considered requiring an emergency replacement without requiring agreement from neighbours. My situation is worse than that as the neighbours dogs keep getting into my yard and attacking my own pet plus being a big nuisance to me. I have tried talking to the neighbours on many occasions about the fence replacement and have been very patient and understanding. They kept agreeing that the fence needed replacement and said they were going to organise quotes. Having got fed up with their promises I organised a fencer to quote myself who told me that he couldn’t split the bill with them as they had not paid for previous work he had done for them. Now here I get really p*^%@d off as when these problems with old/dodgy fences first started to occur various neighbours got together and they all (including my neighbour who won’t cough up) wanted colourbond fencing in place of timber. I agreed only to keep things friendly and simple and because I didn’t want inconsistent fencing. So now I have paid for a section of fencing in colourbond with another neighbour that I only did due to the various neighbours requests and now there is so much colourbond fencing around that it may be considered the norm. So the quote I have got that I am trying to recover from them is for colourbond fences the same as that which have recently been replaced in my yard, as well in the non-paying neighbours yard and in various other neighbours fences. I have given the dodgy neighbours a copy of a fencing quote which I have asked them to sign and return, they have ignored me.
I know that I can apply to ACAT to recover the cost but from what I understand the ACAT fee is $130 which I can’t recover from the neighbour, I also understand that I may have to take some time off work to attend ACAT (although neighbour is also employed so may not want to do the same as well). I feel very strongly that I would win given that my pets are being attacked in my own yard and the fence is beyond repair, however wonder how much that would mean if an order is made to pay which the neighbour simply ignores. I figure if there is no enforcement then there is no point. I also wonder if the neighbour would try to pull the “I’m only entitled to half of the cost of a basic timber fence”. I don’t agree that is the case given that we all discussed colourbond fencing and we and our neighbours have both had new colourbond fencing in our backyard installed recently (the bad neighbour just decided that they didn’t want to pay for it). In addition due to the aggressive behaviour of the neighbours dogs, there is a lot of fence barking going on that would probably be relieved by a colourbond fence (as our dogs wouldn’t be able to see each other). However the law may see different regarding the timber/colourbond fence situation. Any advice would be welcomed.
Please do not make any suggestions that would involve any form of potential harm to the neighbours pets. That is not something I would do. Their dogs are only being aggressive to my dog because the neighbour didn’t bother to desex them. They are actually very lovely dogs which makes the situation even harder as I would not want them put down when they only need to be desexed.
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