Sam asks: do good fences make good neighbors?
It's time to get out in the yard, maybe put up a fence. It's not always as easy as it ought to be. Sam Schneiderman, Broker-owner of Greater Boston Home Team tells you why.
There’s an old saying that “good fences make good neighbors”. Is that true?At a recent seminar, the attorney/lecturer told stories about calls that he’s received from clients whose neighbors have put up fences and the disputes or bad will that followed. I found that interesting because when I’m brokering a transaction and there’s a fence on the property, buyers are normally happy about it. If it was there before the sellers bought the house, they usually don’t even know whether they or their neighbors own it. That also means that they don’t know the exact boundaries of their property, nor has it been a problem for them over the term of their ownership.
Something special seems to happen when a neighbor decides to erect a fence. Over the years I’ve also received calls from clients whose neighbors want to erect a fence. The big question is always “what if it’s on my land?” If the fence is already up and they think that it’s on their land, the question becomes “what do I do if I think that the fence is on my land?”
To me, the real question is; why does it really matter? Isn’t a fence usually a benefit to both parties? Certainly the reactions of my buyers have been positive.Unless someone has reason to suspect that a fence encroaches significantly on their property, most of the time it really doesn’t matter to them in the end. In the rare case that it does matter or the neighbors just dislike each other and give each other a hard time, the only solution is a survey. Then the issue becomes who pays for it.
As I understand it, while Tom can ask his neighbor (Jane) to pay for a survey prior to putting up a fence, Jane is not obligated to do that unless Tom can prove that the fence will be on his land. Unless Tom is absolutely certain about where his lot line is and/or has had a survey to delineate the lot line, the only way Tom can prove where his lot line is would be to pay for the survey himself. Since surveys can easily cost well over a thousand dollars, the discussion usually ends after a call to the surveyor.
The only exception to this occurs when a town has their own specific regulations regarding fence installations. Those regulations may or may not require a survey. Of course anyone considering installing a fence should get a permit from the building department and check the town’s regulations first.
Have you had an unfriendly or good experience with a neighbor regarding a fence?
What do our buyer-readers think? Would you rather see a fence or no fence?
Do you think that fences really make good neighbors?
