Last year we received a notice from the county via our neighbor. I'm hoping I can explain this well enough so everyone can understand.
Basically our neighbor went to the county so he could build a retaining wall, and a bigger fence. The retaining wall would be on property we don't share, but the fence would be. He wants it taller than code for the county. So we were sent this notice and asked if we approved. We did. I don't care if he wants an 8 foot fence.
Well, spring is here, and he wants to get started on this new fence as soon as things thaw enough to do so, so he's been shopping around for the best price. The other day he approached my husband with a quote, and asked when we'd be able to pay our half.
Um... I don't want a new fence. I agreed to let him build one because that's what he wants, but I'm perfectly happy with the fence we have now. The notice wasn't "are you willing to pay half for a new fence your neighbor wants", it was "are you okay with your neighbor building a new fence that's higher than standard in your county".
My husband didn't know what to say, and ended up saying "I can't afford that". Half of the cost of his fence would be over $1000. That's what we paid for the entire fence surrounding our yard, and we share that fence with three neighbors. His part is 1/3 of our actual fenced yard.
My question is this. Just because we agreed that he could build this fence, does that mean we're responsible to pay for half of it? We're perfectly happy with the fence we have now. We only agreed to his new fence because he wants it, and we wanted to be good neighbors. The fence doesn't need to be replaced, and we really can't afford to build the one he wants.
My husband seems to think we'd have to pay half. I say that we don't have to because we're fine with the fence we have now, and didn't agree to pay for the fence he wants.
If I'm right, how do we deal with this so that we don't go from being the agreeable neighbors that agreed to your fence wishes, to being the nasty neighbors that won't pay for what you want?