Q & A Table of Contents
Is The Best Defence A Good Offence?
From: Marian, Topeka, Kansas
Question: We put in a underground pool and by Kansas law we had to put in a
6ft privacy fence. Two months after we did this our neighbor lady puts in a
fence and attaches to our fence without asking. We spent a lot of money on
our fence and were of course taken aback by her boldness.
We have neighborhood association we had to go through to have our pool and
fence approved by them so we contacted them to see if they approved this or
if there was something they could do, but they could not get involved.
We have talked with the neighbor lady who we had never met about the fence,
hoping we could reach a solution for both parties. And she was very rude and
basically told us to sue her. We are at a loss, we don't want to sue her,
and we told her we were not trying to be difficult but she was very hateful
about it all. We really just don't want to set this situation up for every
other neighbor to attach to our fence,
in this matter. Any ideas? HELP!
Response: Once you have a clear idea of your legal rights, you have a better
understanding of the balance of power in the situation and your BATNA (Best
Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) for approaching the problem.
If your fence is entirely within the boundaries of your property, normally
no one has the right to enter your property to erect any sort of structure.
Should your fence be on the property line, perhaps a smart move would be to
move it several inches inside your property so that someone on an adjoining
parcel of land cannot connect to it.
Even though your neighbor has taken something from you by attaching her
fence to yours, unless some of her fence is within your property, you would
be taking a serious risk destroying anything that might be judged as being
on her property. A lawyer can tell you about issues of trespass on your
property that may exist in this case.
While your neighbor misbehaved by attaching her fence to yours without
permission, you don't want to compound that nastiness by escalating the
situation. Think hard about her attitude and the potential sources of her
nastiness. She may feel she's at a disadvantage for one reason or another
and may have concluded that the best defense is a good offense. Put
yourself in her shoes and try to figure out what she has to gain by the
choices now available to her. If you can talk with her, try to find out
what makes her tick and try to learn whether she is more interested in a
good neighborly relationship or in isolating herself from you.
Good luck,
Steve
| 
