Neighbour paints boundary fence without permission and now it's rotten

theoretica

wishiwasinliverpool said:

Grenage said:

Jesus Christ, if the paint isn't showing on your side - who cares?

Any fence panel that rots so quickly is obviously so cheap that its replacement would be less hassle than getting into a tiff over something so trivial.

The drips show on our side. It looks bloody awful, but as long as it looks nice on his side so what, eh?

What would you do if someone painted your fence without asking you?

And it doesn't matter how much the fence cost, it's OUR FENCE and he has no right to put his paws on it without our say-so

I said 'thank you'.  Though it was railings, and they painted both sides not just theirs.

Doozergirl

wishiwasinliverpool said:

KeithP said:

wishiwasinliverpool said:

theoretica said:

It does raise the question how often, over the last several years, did you maintain or paint the side of the fence that faced him?  No, he 'shouldn't' be painting it, but you will have a hard time enforcing anything.  Maybe a maintenance-free plastic fence would suit the situation better?

Plastic fencing...hmm. Wouldn't put it past him to paint that as well, though!

But with a plastic fence, that doesn't matter, does it?

Remember... your complaint was him painting the fence which caused the fence to rot.

Or are you now saying you don't like the colour paint he is using?

It does matter because it's the principle of him touching it without permission, more about the condition of the fence itself to be honest. You have no idea how irritating it is to see him blatantly doing what he likes, but when you challenge him about it he gets annoyed and calls you the R word, which isn't true. We're not the only ones in the street who won't have anything to do with him because he's hacked off a lot of people and has called neighbours of his own culture the R word, too.

I don't care about the colour, he has no right to touch it

There we have it.  It's 'the principle'. 

'The principle' of things constantly gets people into trouble, yet it's not even a tangible thing.  

Dale Carnegie - of 'how to win friends and influence people' said "There is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument - and that is to avoid it." 

Nobody wins an argument.  You either lose, in which case you lose, or you win, in which case you've made someone feel inferior and resent you.   You still lose.  

By paying a solicitor to fight a pointless battle, you lose.  Spend your money on a second fence next to this one, or a fabulous wall, or just going on holiday or even moving house if it's that bad, not funding petty arguments based on 'a principle'. 

Really, what will it take for you to be satisfied? Because it isn't him not painting the other side of a fence.   You hate the guy and you think he's got one up on you because he's touched a side of your property that you can't see, but whatever reason he painted it for had nothing to do with you.  Yet he's living in your head rent free and you're now SHOUTING at people on the internet and making threats of violence against your neighbour.  

Honestly, the best thing you can do is to stop thinking about him, because even if you're the nicest person in the world, you really don't sound it right now, so it's clearly not doing your wellbeing any good.   

Over some paint on a fence (that definitely did not cause it to rot). 

Mistral001

The OP mentioned that her husband wrote the neighbour a note.  To me that is something you should never do in a dispute with a neighbour.  It almost always escalates the situation drastically.

Silver_Shark

Mistral001 said:

The OP mentioned that her husband wrote the neighbour a note.  To me that is something you should never do in a dispute with a neighbour.  It almost always escalates the situation drastically.

I tried to speak to my neighbour in a reasonable manner about an identical problem and all I got was a mouthful of abuse.

Believe me there is a lot more I could complain about than his painting his side of the fence that I paid for.

Bendy_House

I do agree with Doozer, whilst not underestimating the amount of grief and annoyance some neighbours can cause.

I think IWIWIL's use of the word 'principle' was unfortunate, but I also think we need to accept what she tells us about how unreasonable their neighbour has been, and how unpleasant it has been; it is quite natural to not wish to let a bludy-minded person 'get away' with doing unfair things.

But, the best thing for IWIWIL is surely to sort this in a way that causes her as little grief as possible, and that will likely involve a bit of drawing back.

IWIWIL, would it help if you chose a replacement fence that was either close-boarded or had overlaps that meant the neighb's paint couldn't come through to your side (although, gallingly, that would mean giving them the nicer side!)?

Then, as before, thoroughly spray the panels in wood preserver for longevity, fit and forget and ignore. For your own sake.

Grenage

wishiwasinliverpool said:

And it doesn't matter how much the fence cost, it's OUR FENCE and he has no right to put his paws on it without our say-so

My neighbour did so and I wasn't bothered.  It's just a fence and they've got to look at it as much as we do.

The rules/laws/principles/whatever are one thing; living in the real world and getting on with people is quite another.

Bigphil1474

OP, if you put a new fence up and he paints it again, and it ends up going rotten (if that's what caused it) then you'll be back in the same boat a few years down the line. I'd put a wall up - have you costed a wall build yet? The wall won't go rotten, and it won't really matter if he paints his side. 

Spinybif

Paint it with creosote or Ducksback which is wax based.  No paint will stick to either.  If he tries it will make a right mess on hiss side.  If it comes through power wash and recoat both sides.

mandy47

We had a lot of problems with our neighbours  a few years ago. They sent us a number of unpleasant letters concerning the issues they had with us. They threatened to damage our property, they threatened us with "their" solicitor they verbally abused us, constantly harassed us and finally threatened to kill me. This all came about because we landscaped our garden and they didn't approve. Obviously the police were called. They were wonderful. Neighbours received a cease and desist order and were told that any damage to our property they would be charged with criminal damage. The police said they were obsessed with us and our home improvements and how much money they believed it was costing us. 

Our lives were hell for 2 years. We seriously considered moving from what was our forever home. It was an awful time. We allowed them to make us unhappy, we let it all get to us and suffered for it. I was recovering from cancer at the time.
3 years on, we don't talk to them. We are quite happy here and intend to stay. They scowl at us if we see them out but we ignore it. They obviously aren't happy.
What I'm getting at is life is too short to argue and berate.
We no longer allow them into our heads.
We are happy and will never again allow petty minded, jealous nosy neighbours to spoil our lives. 
P.S
I'm now cancer free.

Section62

Spinybif said:

Paint it with creosote...

DIY/Amateur use of creosote was banned nearly 20 years ago....

...following that advice could give the OP's neighbour an exellent opportunity to get them into potentially serious trouble.  I.e. Not the smartest thing to do when you are in dispute with your neighbour.