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Topic
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Our owners committee wants to replace a boundary fence on our property that adjoins the neighbouring lot (a freestanding house). We have twice sent quotes for the fence to the neighbouring owners, with no response. The fence is old, wooden and rotting, with palings falling down and many gaps.
What is the next step to get the neighbouring owners to pay for their half of the fence? The fence is clear on our side, but the neighbours have a large structure attached with bird houses and grape vine lattice (also in very poor condition). Even if we decided to pay for 100% of the replacement, I don’t believe we could do this without damage to the adjoining structure. Where do we go from here?
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This is covered by the Dividing Fences Act – you need to serve a notice and if nothing works you go to mediation and then NCAT.
Refer here.
https://www.legalanswers.sl.nsw.gov.au/guides/neighbours/fences.html
@scotlandx said:
This is covered by the Dividing Fences Act – you need to serve a notice and if nothing works you go to mediation and then NCAT.I totally agree with you but it introduces an anomly.
The boundary fence is denoted on the plans by a solid black line indicating it’s common property so according to the Strata act it should be totally strata reasponsibility.
Also on our plans the boundary of all lots is again denoted by a solid black line, but some of these are fences between the lots and common property and some between 2 lots.
I belive the Dividing Fences Act should take precidence over what a maybe inexperienced planner drew at the conception stage to give a level playing field.
PS sorry about the spelling but no spellchecker on this shared XP PC.
KP the identification of the boundary fence as common property is for the purposes of the Strata Schemes Management Act and means that no owner within the scheme is responsible for it.
The Dividing Fences Act is a separate matter and the strata legislation doesn’t determine responsibility for those purposes. It just means that it is the OC who has to serve the notice and take the action.
@kiwipaul said:
I believe the Dividing Fences Act should take precedence over what a maybe inexperienced planner drew at the conception stage to give a level playing field.
That is quite an assumption to make and would not stand up in a court or a tribunal.
This is what the “who is responsible?” document says about dividing fences:
If they are shown as a thick line on the strata plan, then they are deemed a common wall and the responsibility of the owners corporation. However, if they are shown as a thin, dotted or no line on the strata plan, then they are treated in accordance with the Dividing Fences Act and treated as follows: (a) Divides two lots = Each owner is responsible 50/50; (b) Divides one lot from common property = the owner and the corporation are responsible 50/50; (c) Divides one lot within the corporation from the adjoining property = owners corporation are responsible for 100% of its share.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
@JimmyT said:
That is quite an assumption to make and would not stand up in a court or a tribunal.
This is what the “who is responsible?” document says about dividing fences:
The drawing for our complex are a mess, all the boundaries are solid black line (even fences between lots) and so are Strata responsibility.
The walls, doors and windows facing the private gardens are thin lines so owner responsibility except for the upper floor of the townhouses which are all solid lines indicating Strata responsibility.
This is clearly contrary to the gov intention (especially as regards the fencing act) which is why I think they were drawn by a trainee after a liquid lunch. If we passed a bylaw accepting the fencing act as defining the responsibility for the fences would that override the plans or would we have to get the plans redrawn as well.We have a similar problem with our strata plan ,,, we have recently had a fence come down in wind , between two lots , the Insurance Claim has been rejected, due to as they say many faults in it’s construction , Engineer has said the same thing , it is denoted on plan as a thick black line , other lines a thin , have been in contact with Strata , they say it is Common Property , they should have at least been looking at it to see if it was serviceable , I have ask they say there needs to be an approach made before they do inspections , the lot owner involved is on the EC I believe , what is the Strata responsibility in this matter , they will try and Levy the other Lot owners I would say and try and wash their hands of the matter
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