Fence Issue With Tenants Next Door

[decembergirl]

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

The renters in the house next to us have dogs that constantly bark at us whenever we are in our yard and tear up trash that blows onto our property. My husband went over a few weeks ago to mention that we would be putting up a privacy fence (it is currently a chain link fence) because of the dogs barking and mentioned that some training might help as well. They got upset at that but when he called the landlord about it Mr. Landlord agreed that it was a problem and apparently was not happy that they had two dogs as they had only mentioned getting one to him. He and my husband went on discussing how they were going to put up this fence. I pretty much stayed out of it until the other evening when I was out in my yard the dogs were barking at something and Mr. Renter came out and asked me what I was doing. He then said I must be scaring them.

So I called the landlords again and this time Mrs. Landlord answered and I started to try to explain that maybe they had gotten a little too bent out of joint over this as I am not intentionally scaring their dogs, their dogs get scared when I do anything (like garden--which is apparently horribly frightening to them). She told me what do you expect since your husband threatened them and now you are making us put up this fence. We are not making them put up anything, Mr. Landlord volunteered because he wanted all these considerations with the new fence (move it here, this material, 7 ft high--which is actually against the covenants here) and my dad works in law enforcement and I very well know the legal difference between making threats and telling people something they didn't like hearing. A few days after that Mrs. Renter told me they were going to put up a fence.

Neither Mr. or Mrs. Landlord, Mr. or Mrs. Renter or my husband have bothered to check into who actually owns fence or where the property boundary lies. I like to know what I am doing however and looked up the info. The existing fence is entirely on our property.

I would have liked to have done this fence as a cooperative agreement between us and the actual landowners but since they have decided to act the way they have I can't see it working out very well. I am sure that either way now we are going to make them mad. Either we A) put up fence on our property the way we want without all their considerations or B) put up fence on property line with their considerations but we are big meanies for "making" them do it. Anyone else experience this type of thing?

[eapls2708]

Get a survey done so that you know well where the property boundary is, put the fence on the boundary if it is to be a shared fence with shared maintenance responsibility, or put it a few inches onto your own property, be a big meanie, and build it how you like.

It's always best to act in cooperation with the neighbors (owner and renter) if at all possible, but if that isn't possible, exercise due diligence in protecting your own rights and interests. If you just build the fence at a place that looks about right, without benefit of a survey, and it is late found that the fence is not on the property line, it would be difficult to claim that you exercised proper diligence in ensuring the fence was built in the proper location.

Good luck with this.

[decembergirl]

I have the survey on the current fence. I talked to the title company and the fence is on our property (by 2 to 1 foot encroachment).We plan on using the same fence poles and just putting hardware on them to attach the planks. So I am pretty sure the diligence has been exercised, on my part anyways.

[PandorasBox]

Wait a second.

You own your lot, right? Then you should be able to build a fence - within your townships rules (and will need to get the permit).

If the fence is to be maintained by both you and the other couple - you need that in a legal agreement. Or you need to have the fence where you can access it (built over the property line so you are not trespassing when you go clean/ refresh paint, etc).

Pay the few bucks for a lawyer.

[eapls2708]

As to the shared maintenance question, check MT laws on the matter. In CA, a formal agreement with your neighbor is not needed. Shared responsibility is presumed under the law if the landowners on each side use the fence as part of an enclosure on their property. Many states have similar laws.

[decembergirl]

We have a contract and encroachment agreement from the previous owners from both houses. It pretty much says the fence is ours/no mainteance or repair can be done without our written consent and the encroachment does not give them any right to our property whatsoever. I have talked to my dad (who works in law enforcement here) and it sounds like if the fence is on our property that is the end of any obligations we have to them on the matter.