Shared Fence Height

[smrdawg]

My question involves real estate located in the State of: California.

So I just moved into a new home. The day I moved in, my neighbor approaches me about tearing down our adjoining fence, because it's rotted out on their side. They wanted to replace it with a vinyl fence. I told them I wasn't going to pay for it, as I just moved in, and they said they would cover the cost. So I agreed to it.

They put the fence up, and it looks nice, but it is quite a bit shorter than the original 6 foot privacy fence that was there. The neighbor agreed, and their contractor said. "This is a vinyl 6 foot fence, they come a bit shorter than the wood fences, there is nothing I can do about it." I complained again to the neighbor and they said they'd talk to the contractor again.

When the contractor showed back up, I told him the fence is too short and I'd prefer to have the 6 foot fence back, that it's ruining the point of a privacy fence if I can see into their backyard and house and vice versa. He said it would cost extra to add the height. I asked why I would have to pay for his mistake. The neighbor would like me to pay to have the fence brought up to the correct height. If I want the fence at the right height. Do I have to pay for it? I'm feeling a bit taken advantage of as they approached me on my first day of moving in. I've since read the civil code, 841, and now could see that I'm probably pretty lucky in that I haven't paid for any of it yet, and am starting to think I've got no other recourse than to pay for it myself.

[Mr. Knowitall]

What is it that you believe your neighbor did incorrectly? You wanted a six foot fence, that's what you say he ordered, and the rest seems to fall on the contractor.

When you break out a tape measure and measure the height of the fence, how high is it?

[smrdawg]

No the neighbor didn't do anything incorrectly, it is indeed the contractor. There is one post that would measure 6 feet, but then the fence slopes down to be closer to 4 feet. At its highest the fence itself is 5 foot 9. I don't want my neighbor to have to pay for it either, but this is her contractor, and if she isn't getting it fixed because she doesn't want to make him fix it, as he is saying he'd have to charge her extra for it to be the correct height, and she doesn't want to pay that piece, what can I do?

[eapls2708]

Your neighbor's contract should state what she was paying for. Does it specify a height? Did either the contractor or your neighbor represent to you that the height of the new fence would be the same as the height of the old fence, or is that something you inferred? I'm not sure if you would have standing to go directly after the contractor because the contract was with the neighbor. I don't know how or if that would change if you ponied up half of the cost to her.

The varying fence height seems strange. Is that as measued from the ground at the fence to the top of the fence, or is it as measured from the ground a little ways onto your property to the top of the fence?

If the contractor made a representation to you about the fence height being at or near 6', or if the installation seems shoddy in some way (varying height measured AT the fence, of a fence not designed to vary in height maight be an indication of poor installation), you may be able to file a complaint with the State Contractors' Board. You don't need privity of contract to file such a complaint, you only need to have been adversely affected by the contractors work in some way and show some evidence that the contractor was incompetent or negligent in some way. The agency's investigators will take it from there. Contractors generally take these complaints quite seriously, and if there is any shortcomings in their work, they often become much more willing to rectify the matter when there is a complaint or threat of a complaint to the Board.