Fence issue with neighbor

[OhioD]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio

I have new neighbors that have become a big nuisance. The previous owners of the house installed a new driveway years ago,and almost right on the property line. I would like to install a fence along the property line, and I have checked with the city to make sure that i can put the fence right on the line. The issue is that the new neighbor will have trouble getting in and out of their vehicles if they park on that side of the driveway(it is a double wide driveway big enough for 4 cars). I asked the city about this, and they told me as long as i can show where the property line is and i get a permit, that is all they are concerned about. Does this mean that i shouldn't have any issue other than the neighbor being angry? These people encroach on my property all the time, walking and driving on my lawn, not to mention the noise issues. I just want to block them out as much as possible. Any thoughts on this?

 

[NC Aggie]

From my experiences, you can legally install a fence directly on the property line unless local law or HOA ordinances dictate otherwside. However, it's good practice to install the fence with at least 6"-12" clearance from the property line and you should verify that state law wouldn't consider a fence installed directly on the property line as a "shared fence" which means that your neighbor may have share in ownership of the fence, regardless if you paid for the cost of the fence. Additionally, this prevents any type of encroachment issues in the event that your surveyor is off by a few inches.

 

[csi7]

You can place the fence to the property line and deal with the "shared fence" issue.

I have seen a fence on top of a cement base which stopped effectively the neighbor parking, walking, and damaging the property the neighbors were encroaching on. Make certain you have an accurate property survey with a permanent property marker in place for evidence purposes, if needed.

 

[BigMouthWino]

OP, please take the first respondent's advice. Give yourself 6-12" into your property so that you will have control of the fence and do not install it directly on the property line. You are begging for trouble if you do.

Keep in mind as much as you hate your neighbor you may be living with them for YEARS. Do you really want to make it difficult to get in and out of their cars? Well, I'll bet the answer is: YES! But think about your quality of life and if you'd rather just block them out from your view and not start a court battle that will cost you tens of thousands proving that your determination of the property line is correct.

Get them out of your view and forget about them as much as you can. Try to savor the quiet enjoyment of your own home and forget they even exist... poking the bear is not going to make you happy in the long run.

 

[csi7]

The issue with the fence being 6-12" inside the property line is who takes care of the area between the fence and the property line?

There is a spite fence all the way to the permanent front property marker and most of the way back to the permanent back property marker. The driveway angles towards the fence at the front of the property which means that it is difficult to get into and out of vehicles that are parked there. The owner of the driveway is the one who put the fence up, and asked the next door neighbor to let them put the fence over at the front. The next door neighbor said no, and the area between the fence which is about six" narrowing down to 1/2 inch at the permanent property marker spot, is full of weeds.

The next door neighbor is not allowing the spite fence neighbor to enter their property after the spite fence neighbor damaged property using weed killer indiscriminately in the flower beds along the property line.

All of this trouble could have been effectively avoided with the placement of permanent concrete base and fence placed above the base. This option was mentioned to the spite fence owner by the fence company placing the fence.

This issue is on-going, has affected the sales of homes in the local area, and supposedly covered by covenants in place to prevent the spite fence placement.

Yes, the fence allows both homeowners to be outside in their property without having to acknowledge the other homeowner, however, attention to details such as managing the landscape in the area between will make a huge difference in years ahead.