We have a dividing fence issue. Our neighbour demolished and rebuilt their house. In their DA they were to cut and fill in order to build a concrete slab. Instead, they just filled their entire property from front yard to backyard. To hold their fill they built a Tashman Block retaining wall starting from 400mm to 900mm high and 5-7 cm from the boundary line according to a surveyor’s report. No DA was sought from the council but the council said it is just a minor non –compliance, no action required. They said that our privacy problem is a dividing fence issue.
The neighbour admits in writing that due to changes made in rebuilding their house, the fence is insufficient and has a privacy issue but cannot agree on how to resolve the problem. Our current fence is in fairly good condition hardwood paling but now it is only 900mm high on their side but still 1.8 m on our side.
The issue is we cannot build any fence centred on the boundary line as there is not enough space. The fencers require between 300 -400mm posthole to be able to build the concrete sleepers as support to elevate the height of the fence. This means that the fence will need to be completely built on our property and we feel it is unfair to lose part of our property. Also, there is a large gum tree on our side that will need to be cut if the fence will be moved onto our property.
We had been to NCAT twice to resolve this problem. At the first hearing, our fencing notice did not much the order sought. We reapplied and asked the fence to be built on top of the neighbour's retaining wall but they had a structural report that the retaining wall is not structurally strong enough to hold a fence. We asked that the retaining wall be moved to accommodate the building of the fence but the NCAT member said NCAT cannot rule on retaining walls that are not part on the dividing fence.
Can someone advise us, please? Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you very much.
The neighbour admits in writing that due to changes made in rebuilding their house, the fence is insufficient and has a privacy issue but cannot agree on how to resolve the problem. Our current fence is in fairly good condition hardwood paling but now it is only 900mm high on their side but still 1.8 m on our side.
The issue is we cannot build any fence centred on the boundary line as there is not enough space. The fencers require between 300 -400mm posthole to be able to build the concrete sleepers as support to elevate the height of the fence. This means that the fence will need to be completely built on our property and we feel it is unfair to lose part of our property. Also, there is a large gum tree on our side that will need to be cut if the fence will be moved onto our property.
We had been to NCAT twice to resolve this problem. At the first hearing, our fencing notice did not much the order sought. We reapplied and asked the fence to be built on top of the neighbour's retaining wall but they had a structural report that the retaining wall is not structurally strong enough to hold a fence. We asked that the retaining wall be moved to accommodate the building of the fence but the NCAT member said NCAT cannot rule on retaining walls that are not part on the dividing fence.
Can someone advise us, please? Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you very much.
