NSW Issues with neighbour over boundary and location of fence

[Maree4]

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some help/guidance with an issue I am currently having with my neighbour. I moved into a new house that I had built in a new estate in NSW (under Blacktown council to be precise) just in January.


To get to the point I hired a fencer/landscaper who completed the fence the whole way around my property (neighbour on the other side had no issues whatsoever and there is no one yet built behind me so that was fine as well). The neighbour in question refused to meet me halfway payment wise so I had to pay the difference (which is frustrating but I didn’t want to push the issue and cause drama with someone I'm possibly going to live next door to for quite some time). There are a lot of other issues I have had with her/her family but I have eaten it for the sake of good neighbour relations.

Now the issue is that a good 4-6 weeks after the fence has been installed, my neighbour has started to say that the fence is taking up approximately 10cm of her land/that my fencer has put the fence further into her land and she wants it moved. She has had a revolving door of landscapers out to give her quotes and I believe one of them has pointed this out to her which has raised all this. I have spoken to my fencer regarding this and he claims that he is not wrong and even if it was more into her land there are tolerance levels for this (which I can’t find anywhere so not sure if true). He suggested to her that she get someone from the council to come out and identify the boundary and he insists to me that the council will not care. I have discovered through contacting the council that they do not actually offer this as a service and that she would most likely need to hire a surveyor to establish there is an issue. For clarification, I was at work while this fence was being installed and she was home the whole time pestering my fencer and asking questions so if she thought anything was incorrect that would have been the time to mention it.

To not go into too much detail I will state that if the fence needs to be moved then I am totally fine with that and my fencer has stated that if a surveyor/the council tells him it is wrong in writing then he will fix it free of charge. My issue is that my neighbour has been going back and forth with me over text and she seems to be refusing to pay anyone to establish if there is an issue. She is now threatening that if I do not have it fixed in the next 3 days she will hire a fencer to do so herself and have all costs on me. I have already paid a fencer (who I gave a copy of my plans/the boundary) and do not want to incur further costs/possible legal ramifications if she does actually go through with this. I know most of what she is saying is empty threats as she is super frugal and would not spend a cent more than necessary but it is still incredibly stressful and I am not sure how to get her to see sense.

I spoke to someone from a number I got from lawaccess.nsw and although they are not lawyers he was able to give me some facts from their internal documents. He stated that there is a fence and he couldn’t find anything about the boundary impacting this. He also indicated that she has the issue, not me so it would be on her to legally prove this (by getting an independent surveyor etc.). He also indicated that if she carried out fencing works/had the fence torn down without coming to an agreement with me, she would be liable for all costs and could be charged with trespassing/damage to my property as my clothes line is right up against the fence and would be destroyed if this fence is taken down.

I’m just trying to find out if I need to do anything with this? She is threating me via text so I have stopped responding and I don’t want to but I will go to the police if she threatens further or does anything with the fence/my property. Has anyone dealt with anything similar? The insane thing about this whole thing is that my fencer has literally said he will fix it if he gets it in writing from a surveyor that it is incorrect. All I am getting is that its absolutely correct from him and absolutley wrong from her. It has gotten to the point that I don’t go outside at all when I am home and I purchased cameras yesterday to have installed because I am not sure how far she will take it.

Any advice that anyone could provide me would greatly be appreciated.

Maree

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

Tell her your fencer has agreed to move the fence provided she can establish that it is over the boundary and on her land - and that to do so she needs to provide written confirmation of this from a licensed surveyor. That is the only way to conclusively prove the property boundaries, and therefore where the fence is actually placed. Otherwise, you don't give her permission to alter the existing fence - noting that she has refused to contribute towards its cost.

If that fails, you'll likely have to follow whatever fencing disputes mechanism you have in NSW. The police are likely to show little to zero interest in the matter unless you start throwing rocks at each other. Even then, they probably won't be happy about being dragged into anything.

 

[Maree4]

Tell her your fencer has agreed to move the fence provided she can establish that it is over the boundary and on her land - and that to do so she needs to provide written confirmation of this from a licensed surveyor. That is the only way to conclusively prove the property boundaries, and therefore where the fence is actually placed. Otherwise, you don't give her permission to alter the existing fence - noting that she has refused to contribute towards its cost.

If that fails, you'll likely have to follow whatever fencing disputes mechanism you have in NSW. The police are likely to show little to zero interest in the matter unless you start throwing rocks at each other. Even then, they probably won't be happy about being dragged into anything.

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. I have told her all of this information but she just keeps side stepping the information/ignoring it and insisting the fence be moved.

I'm sure I'll be hearing from her soon enough but I just wanted to make sure/confirm that she can't actually take any legal action (like she keeps threatening to for "mental harrassment", etc) until she has the discrepancy confirmed officially.

Thanks again for your reply.

Maree

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

Oh she can take legal action. How far it gets is another matter (some courts/tribunals will review an application before they allow it to be filed, others won't).

A significant part of writing to someone is to put them on notice that (a) you're going to contest whatever their claim is, and (b) indicate what your terms of claim are so you can distill what the fight is likely to be about.