Dave Karoly, post: 364658, member: 94 wrote: (HE'S NOT THE PROPERTY OWNER!!!).
Aren't you a community property state? If so, he is indeed the owner. That is why deeds state, single or married...
A few decades back I bought a 10 year old house in a subdivision in Santa Rosa, Ca. I noticed that one side line was platted with an angle point, but the fence was straight. Being a good surveyor I stepped it off, yup, I was occupying part of the neighbors yard... maybe 10 ft. by 5 ft. in a triangle. I mentioned it to the neighbor lady, she said "that is My Fence, don't you dare touch it". OK, she was an original owner, but no big deal for me. (actually all of the fences were built by the developer... I know because I staked the fences out when the Sub. was being built, before any of the homes were sold)
About 5 years went by and we had a wind storm, HER fence laid over onto HER yard. Next thing I know she wants me to share the cost of building a new fence to replace "Our Fence". Sure says me, "shall we put it on the lot line or put the new one back where the old one was?"...
dmyhill, post: 364824, member: 1137 wrote: Aren't you a community property state? If so, he is indeed the owner. That is why deeds state, single or married...
Maybe she owned the home before they were married, so it would remain her property unless she took some action to gift or sell it to him. Community property rule only applies to assets acquired during the union. (Been there, done that, divorce court agrees with me.)
Peter Ehlert, post: 364829, member: 60 wrote: Maybe she owned the home before they were married, so it would remain her property unless she took some action to gift or sell it to him. Community property rule only applies to assets acquired during the union. (Been there, done that, divorce court agrees with me.)
...but the contrary can be shown (divorce proceedings, thankfully not in court, demonstrated this to me).
Unfortunately I have been involved in numerous disputes like this recently. It has become as common as staking a new building in Palm Beach County. The most recent dispute dealt with an actual CBS wall and an old chain link fence that was removed for the wall. The saving grace in the whole thing for this particular case was that the client that called had a survey from our companies previous owner and the adjoiner that was up in arms had a survey two years in age from our current companies LB number. The two ladies watched as we dug up all of the corners in question, started in street, and made our way back. The line was about 125' long the wall was legal, and the fence taken down was legal, and a new fence is in order by the client that called. The two were yelling at each other while we staked the line. Johnny Cash didn't really know what walking the line really meant. I didn't step in either persons yard.
Peter Ehlert, post: 364825, member: 60 wrote: A few decades back I bought a 10 year old house in a subdivision in Santa Rosa, Ca. I noticed that one side line was platted with an angle point, but the fence was straight. Being a good surveyor I stepped it off, yup, I was occupying part of the neighbors yard... maybe 10 ft. by 5 ft. in a triangle. I mentioned it to the neighbor lady, she said "that is My Fence, don't you dare touch it". OK, she was an original owner, but no big deal for me. (actually all of the fences were built by the developer... I know because I staked the fences out when the Sub. was being built, before any of the homes were sold)
About 5 years went by and we had a wind storm, HER fence laid over onto HER yard. Next thing I know she wants me to share the cost of building a new fence to replace "Our Fence". Sure says me, "shall we put it on the lot line or put the new one back where the old one was?"...
The home I raised my boys at (owned it for 10 years) was a platted lot 60' in width. The back yard was 65' between fences at the rear of the house and 67' between fences at the rear lot line. And there was a detached garage at the rear that was so close to one of the fences I kept an old "skinny" gas mower around that would just fit between the garage and fence.
I never wanted to survey the lot...I was happy with it the way it was.
paden cash, post: 364852, member: 20 wrote: The home I raised my boys at (owned it for 10 years) was a platted lot 60' in width. The back yard was 65' between fences at the rear of the house and 67' between fences at the rear lot line. And there was a detached garage at the rear that was so close to one of the fences I kept an old "skinny" gas mower around that would just fit between the garage and fence.
I never wanted to survey the lot...I was happy with it the way it was.
I feel the same way. Cobbler's children have no shoes.
What we don't know won't hurt us. What the neighbors don't know is even better.
California has a statute in its Civil Code relating to the obligation of landowners to maintain boundaries and monuments between them, and specific provisions pertaining to fence construction, maintenance and sharing of costs.
Warren Smith, post: 364934, member: 9900 wrote: California has a statute in its Civil Code relating to the obligation of landowners to maintain boundaries and monuments between them, and specific provisions pertaining to fence construction, maintenance and sharing of costs.
Yes, but this statute essentially says "it depends" when it comes to what the extent of responsibility is, how much needs to be paid, and so on! It is, by far, better to just talk to your neighbor directly and work it out. If they want to pitch in to the cost, you say, "Thanks very much, you're very kind." and if they don't, you just say, "No problems. I'll make sure not to disrupt your yard as I rebuild the fence myself."
My neighbors and I just met over the back fence and he said he is ready to replace the fence, okay how much is my share? it's this much, okay here's a check.
We didn't do the certified letter thing.
Is the fence police going to come arrest us?
I assume that's more like a shield than a sword. If your neighbor says hey I just spent $20,000 fixing the fence so you owe me $10,000 you can use the statute to say, nope, you didn't properly notify me and we could've gotten it done for $2,000. I don't really need the watch towers and automatic machine gun emplacements.
But if you and your neighbor agree orally to fix the fence and share the cost there's nothing to stop you from doing that.
skwyd, post: 364938, member: 6874 wrote: Yes, but this statute essentially says "it depends" when it comes to what the extent of responsibility is, how much needs to be paid, and so on! It is, by far, better to just talk to your neighbor directly and work it out. If they want to pitch in to the cost, you say, "Thanks very much, you're very kind." and if they don't, you just say, "No problems. I'll make sure not to disrupt your yard as I rebuild the fence myself."
I should've just done it your way, I wanted to do it last year. The guy the neighbor hired did a really cheap job. Probably recommended by the Realator. Realators always seem to recommend the cheapest everything. My share was cheaper than it would've cost me to just purchase quality materials from a real lumberyard instead of Home Cheapo. At least he used pressure treated fence posts so I won't have to do that again. If the thing starts coming apart in a few years I'll talk to the new neighbor and we can rebuild the fence part, the posts should be okay. The other fence behind me that my other neighbor wants to replace has good posts; it's just the fence part that is showing it's age.
dmyhill, post: 364824, member: 1137 wrote: Aren't you a community property state? If so, he is indeed the owner. That is why deeds state, single or married...
Not if the house was bought before marriage, or inherited by the wife solely.
skwyd, post: 364801, member: 6874 wrote: As they say, good fences (and fence building) make for good neighbors.
Sounds like you already had good neighbors. I'd say in your case you could switch that phrase around "Good neighbors make for good fences (and fence building)."