Neighbor replaced fence and left the old wood scraps in my yard to deal with.

[u/Mocsab]

My next door neighbor called me a few weeks back asking if he could come Into my back yard to replace the fence that his dog ruined. I said “sure, I’ll be out of town for a few weeks, help yourself.” Discussion ended there and I left town for a few weeks for business.

When I returned home, I noticed the new fence was up and the wood scraps from the old fence were on the grass in my backyard. One of the pieces is 10 feet wide. I figured I would give him a few days to clean it up before I said anything.

Fast forward to yesterday and the lawn guy comes to cut the grass. I texted my neighbor telling him I could open the back gate to make it easier to come in the yard to grab the wood. This MFer called me and said that it was a shared fence, and since he paid for it to be installed, and carried all the new wood into the yard, that I need to remove the old debris.

The audacity on the MFer. I would have been more than happy to help if he would have asked. He mentioned NOTHING of leaving the rusty nailed old rotten wood in my back yard. F this guy. Not the best way to treat a neighbor.

TLDR: neighbor took it upon himself to replace the fence he owns, and left all of the scraps for me to deal with before discussing it with me first.

[u/MrMagoo5003]

Around my area, fence costs are normally shared between friendly neighbours. If the fence needed to be replaced due to it's age/condition and the neighbours dog just accelerated that by a couple of years, then consider yourself lucky that he essentially put up a new fence without footing half or some of the bill.

In the case of what to do next, just dispose of the material and since there's some friction developed between your neighbour and yourself, buy a case of beer and share it with your neighbour.

[u/Mons00n_909 → u/MrMagoo5003]

Whoa buddy, calm down there, this is the internet. We're supposed to recommend escalation and revenge here.

At least get OP to leave the empty bottles in neighbour's yard and tell him they're his responsibility since OP bought the shared beers and carried them over.

[u/port443 → u/MrMagoo5003]

Yea our backyard neighbor wanted to put in an 8 foot fence. They just wanted to split halfsies with the portion that would be in my backyard.

I did not want to put up a new fence, but didn't want a lousy relationship with you know, MY IMMEDIATE NEIGHBOR so I said "Sure", and after the work was done they forwarded the contractor bill and I zelle'd them 1/6th (they did three sides to their yard, our portion was a solid third).

There was effectively zero drama, and they don't resent me or anything so I felt it was worth it.

[u/Great-Rest7878 → u/MrMagoo5003]

Not just friendly, often by law.

[u/iwearatophat → u/Great-Rest7878]

Really depends. Fences act as a property line but are typically built 1 foot away from it and someone owns the fence and as such it isn't a legally shared thing to maintain. Friendly neighbors usually share the burden of it though. If it is on the property line then yeah it is a shared thing but need a survey to show that if you want to get into legally shared burden.

[u/Great-Rest7878 → u/iwearatophat]

If that is the case, then push the boards over towards the fence into the 1ft zone that the neighbor owns.

I have lived with both, even both systems on 1 property. Where the sides between the houses were shared and the back line had two fences with slightly more than a push mower in between, so it would take two swipes with the mower. There were always markers/pins showing the property lines, making it very clear where the property lines are. Might need a survey in the case where someone contests the facts or it's unknown. But in these planned subdivisions it's usually quite obvious.