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

canaldumidi

Remove te rotten fence and replace it with something long-lasting. Will cost more but will avoid unpleasant ness and having to interact with neighbour.

Metal railings? Plastic fence? Low level brick wall?

plumb1_2

wishiwasinliverpool said:

Anti-graffiti paint sounds a good idea. A wall is the best solution and we can afford it, but it's persuading him indoors.

How would you feel about him painting his side of the wall?

WeAreGhosts

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 agree with this, but sometimes speaking to unreasonable people causes unimaginable stress. Like my neighbour who would think nothing of lying to my face and then denying everything. I ended up putting everything in writing (nicely) so his replies are also in writing which I'm now using in a civil case for a boundary dispute of his own making - I'm using his own letters to back up my case and showing just what a grade A pillock he is. I take a massive amount of satisfaction in it. Some people deserve all they get because they go around making people's lives a misery.

kdotdotdotdot

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

And here's your problem: you. 

Why on earth do you give a monkey's about something you can't even see.  Your neighbour's paint isn't doing any damage to your fence and I think you know it. You're just being difficult. It's a fence.  It's not like he's popping over the fence to sit on your furniture.

If the fence has rotted and that bothers you, then you'll need to get a new fence.  And accept the fact that he'll paint it. It's his garden - perhaps he just doesn't like the colour of the fence you chose and all the other fences in his garden match with the same paint?  Do you really think you're so important that you can force someone to live with an ugly garden (ie: mis-matching fences)?  

Life is truly too short to stress about fences or try to force people into doing things that make no difference whatsoever in your life.  And be honest with yourself: the painted fence that you can't even see has absolutely zero impact on you, apart from the way you've wound yourself up about it.

drsquirrel

If they want matching fences they should erect their own within their borders.

The other note here was the painting of one side is dripping through (i.e. through the gaps) which I would presume looks like runs on the other side. Thus can see?

Fences are often erected "within" your property, so it wont be in the neighbours garden at all.

outtatune

drsquirrel said:

The other note here was the painting of one side is dripping through (i.e. through the gaps) which I would presume looks like runs on the other side. Thus can see?

Then the OP can repaint their side of the fence - properly so nothing drips down the other side.

Doozergirl

drsquirrel said:

Fences are often erected "within" your property, so it wont be in the neighbours garden at all.

And they often aren't...