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cjik
Welcome 2010!
Member since 2/06 8879 total posts
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Fence Issues
When we bought our house, it was pointed out that our neighbors fence is slightly on our property. Not the entire fence, but about 3 ft. of it sits just under a foot on our property. We signed an affidavit which states they own the fence and are responsible for it and we can ask them to move it at any time.
Fast forward a few years later, and we want to expand our house. We live in the town of No. Hempstead, and our buildings dept. is notoriously difficult. We received our omissions letter from them, and the lack of a permit for the fence was noted.
Our options according to the Building Dept. are to move the fence with neighbors permission (they don't want to),legalize the entire fence ourselves including the 90% that's on their property (we don't want to do this), or take our neighbors to court.
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation or know what sort of attorney would deal with this? Real estate?
Thanks! Such a nuisance. My cousin who lives upstate is appalled that we filed everything in April, only received the letter in September. Makes you not want to improve your home at all!
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Posted 10/7/12 10:25 AM  |
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MrsO
Big Brothers to Be
Member since 1/07 4521 total posts
Name:
Maureen
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Re: Fence Issues
First off good luck with the Town of NH - it took us almost a year to get the permits. We had to go for a variance which even made the process longer.
Have you told your neighbor the situation and that you will not be able to get your bldg permit unless the fence is moved?
In the meantime I would tell the town that the fence needs to be there for construction purposes and you will have it fixed by the time you need to get your c/o when the house is finished.
We had an issue with our gates on our fence they were to high so we said we would get shorter ones after construcition was complete. We just finished so we are waiting for final inspections.
Good Luck
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| Posted 10/8/12 3:44 PM |
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Lucky09
2017!
Member since 1/06 7539 total posts
Name:
DW
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Re: Fence Issues
My Mom had the same kind of fence issue when she sold her house in the Town of Oyster Bay.
She hired a company to remove the portion of her neighbors fence that was on her property.
Technically their fence is on your property, so can't you just hire someone to take it off/out?
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| Posted 10/9/12 11:09 AM |
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cjik
Welcome 2010!
Member since 2/06 8879 total posts
Name:
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Re: Fence Issues
Posted by Lucky09
My Mom had the same kind of fence issue when she sold her house in the Town of Oyster Bay.
She hired a company to remove the portion of her neighbors fence that was on her property.
Technically their fence is on your property, so can't you just hire someone to take it off/out?
According to the Building's Department, no we cannot remove the fence, even the part that is on our property. We can take our neighbor's to court over this (which will probably get pricey and may take far too long, invalidating the numerous permits we have already applied for to do our addition).
We have approached our neighbors, and they suggested we legalize the fence. We don't like that option for a number of reasons, mainly that we become responsible for that piece of fence and keeping it up to code. If it's not up to code (possibly it's not is my guess), then we have to bring it up to code, so it becomes complicated.
My neighbor had a similar issue and hired an expeditor, however the TONH no longer allows expeditors, so that's out.
So we'll see. I called the attorney who handled our closing for his recommendation. He agreed we should not legalize the fence, so I've sent him our affidavit and the surveys to look over.
This is crazy. Doesn't make living on LI any easier.
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| Posted 10/9/12 12:51 PM |
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ItsaJoya19
my cup runneth over
Member since 1/10 2949 total posts
Name:
E
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Re: Fence Issues
Your neighbors are being a-holes. They should just move the fence.
Posted by cjik
We signed an affidavit which states they own the fence and are responsible for it and we can ask them to move it at any time.
Our options according to the Building Dept. are to move the fence with neighbors permission (they don't want to),legalize the entire fence ourselves including the 90% that's on their property (we don't want to do this), or take our neighbors to court.
Do you have the affidavit that says you can ask them to move it at anytime? How is that enforced/ why isn't it being enforced now?
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| Posted 10/9/12 1:11 PM |
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Karen
Just chillin'!!
Member since 1/06 9690 total posts
Name:
Karen
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Re: Fence Issues
Honestly, it's probably cheaper to legalize those 3 feet then to bring them to court.
I am not really understanding though what legal issues are related to fencing, so maybe it's a bigger issue than I realize  .
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| Posted 10/9/12 1:55 PM |
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cjik
Welcome 2010!
Member since 2/06 8879 total posts
Name:
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Re: Fence Issues
Posted by Karen
Honestly, it's probably cheaper to legalize those 3 feet then to bring them to court.
I am not really understanding though what legal issues are related to fencing, so maybe it's a bigger issue than I realize .
That is the cheapest option In terms of the permits. Here are some issues. The fence may not be up to code, so we would be responsible for bringing it up to code and paying any penalties for not legalizing the fence previously. That's one thing. Frankly, it's an old fence that has fallen down in places at times. I'm not fond of maintaining part of a fence that really isn't ours.
The bigger issue is if we sell or they sell. If you were buying would you want to be responsible for part of a fence that you don't really own? And vice Versa if they sell. Our attorney said this happens, but it's a title company nightmare, and generally people wind up having to move it.
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| Posted 10/10/12 8:45 AM |
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cjik
Welcome 2010!
Member since 2/06 8879 total posts
Name:
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Re: Fence Issues
Posted by ItsaJoya19
Your neighbors are being a-holes. They should just move the fence.
Posted by cjik
We signed an affidavit which states they own the fence and are responsible for it and we can ask them to move it at any time.
Our options according to the Building Dept. are to move the fence with neighbors permission (they don't want to),legalize the entire fence ourselves including the 90% that's on their property (we don't want to do this), or take our neighbors to court.
Do you have the affidavit that says you can ask them to move it at anytime? How is that enforced/ why isn't it being enforced now?
We take them to court. The buildings dept. doesn't even want to look at the affidavit. We still have the affidavit, and we would probably win if we went to court. But that's a big expense.
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| Posted 10/10/12 8:49 AM |
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