mercredi 23 janvier 2019

What Proper Steps Can I Take Before Building a Fence

My question involves real estate located in the State of: CA

I will be adding a chainlink fence to my backyard to establish more clearly my boundary line with a neighbor below me on the slope who likes to play dumb and pretend that is his property since it blends into his. I do have a survey report showing the measurements and a printout from Department of Building & Safety clearly showing that additional space to be within my boundary lines. Also, since the neighbor likes to argue and get violent, I will be calling a cop ahead of time to be there for civil standby to make sure things go smoothly. I have not told the neighbor in advance because, as far as I know, I don't need to, and feel safer with him not knowing so he won't try anything clever.

Before building the fence, I'd like to cover a few other bases first:

1) The true boundary line gets a little strange near one end (becomes a thin sliver of land, which I can't really make use of, anyway), so I'll be building the fence a few feet inwards of the true line (meaning a subset of my total land, which I'm okay with). Does that mean technically I will own the fence 100% and can't enforce via good neighbor laws for the neighbor to pay his share?
2) Along the path of where the fence will go, there are tons of small bushes and trees in that area. I know if a plant is entirely within my line, it's mine. What about if it's 50/50 or a small section (say a fourth of it) is on the neighbor's side? What is the best way to handle that to avoid issues with getting sued over who's tree it is? Can I just cut my side of it?
3) In the area I am about to fence around, there is currently a long narrow black gate on the side that leads to a public drainage easement that I have with the city which lies on my property. However, the neighbor sometimes goes in there for cleanup purposes (if tree branches fall there from the rain or wind). So now after putting the fence, that means the neighbor will no longer be able to access that gate leading to the drainage area. I believe that means I would assume all responsibility to making sure that drainage path doesn't get clogged, which I'm fine with. Does my neighbor even need access to that by law? Because I suspect he might say something like "you can't block me from that gate, that's for drainage!"? His house is below the drainage area anyway, while I am above it. Also, the drainage is long enough that that black gate continues on for about 20 more feet towards an area that is no longer my property, just the neighbor's, meaning from his side, if he really wanted to, he could easily install a gate to access the drainage without having to get through my property.
4) Anything I should worry about that the neighbor could do to obstruct the building of the fence (such as by spitefully putting an object on the way to block the fence path once the fence guy starts) or if he tries to complain or say something that the cop would be convinced and ask me to stop the construction? My attorney really recommended I get the fence up ASAP, so I would hate for it to get delayed based on any tricks he pulls.
5) The neighbor is hard to talk to and stuck in his own beliefs (completely ignoring my survey report as an example). As he starts complaining in front of the cop, do I need to say anything in defense or really owe him no more explanation? How about if the neighbor bombards my fence guy with questions? Is it wise if I advise my fence guy to not talk to the neighbor?

Any other general tips for being well-prepared are greatly appreciated.

Thank you!


What Proper Steps Can I Take Before Building a Fence

Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire