Not Painting The Fence

And FINALLY, I get around to explaining why I don't want the neighbor to paint my fence on hos side...

I have a personal image of my property.  Let's start by imagining I only lived inside my house.  I don't see the outside of it.  But my neighbors do.  They may or may not like the color of my house, but they agree it is mine and all the sides of my house match in color.  As it occurs, my house siding is dark green and fits into the landscape.  There is no Homeowner Association here to complain, but it is not like I painted it hot pink and added lime green shutters.

So the neighbor can't decide he thinks the side of my house that he sees should be painted beige and could just go ahead and do that while I was on vacation.  I care about my house looking rather consistent in color all the way around.  OK so far?

Now, I think of my fence in the same way.  The entire fence is on my property and and I want it to look the same all the way around.  It, in its own way, partly defining my choice of how my property is viewed by outsides just as my house is.

Having the neighbors view my fence in a consistent color makes a difference to me.  One side being one bold different color from the others just destroys my vision of my yard. 

I understand that my neighbor has a view of his internal yard.  But he should have thought to ask who owned the fences around him before he just had people paint them.  I am probably the only person who knows that all the fences around this new neighbor's property are owned by others.  The only fence he owns is those small parts from the sides of his house connecting to the sides.

And I may be the only person who cares.  But I do care.  I specifically like the look of greyish aged pressure-treated wood.  And I don't want people looking at my property from the outside seeing it of different colors.

I hope that all made sense...

More New Neighbor

I stepped out on the deck this morning, and noticed the contractors were spray-painting the inside surfaces of all the fences around the yard.  Fortunately, they started on the far side from me.

The new owner doesn't actually own any of those fences.  They were all built by neighbors.  The only fence the new owner owns is the small amount from the side of the house to the other fences.

I might be the only person who knows that.  AFAIK, I am the only person residing here who knows who built the fences.  All the neighbors are newer than me.  So maybe they don't care.  But I do.

I deliberately set my fence 1' inside the property line.   I did that partially because my Dad said it would give me the right to repair the outside of my fence if I had a difficult neighbor.  But it also occurred to me that the neighbors could mess with my fence claiming a shared ownership.

Which means they couldn't damage it with trellises, hooks for planting vines that would dig into it, huge hooks from the fence to a tree for hammocks (one tried), or paint it.  That 1' beyond the fence is still MINE, for access for repairs and not damaging the fence.

So I walked into the neighbor yard and asked the contractor if he intended to paint the MY fence.  He said that was his instructions.  I  asked for the telephone number of the owner. He claimed not to have it or be able to get it.  I advised him that the fence between the properties was ENTIRELY on my property and they were not allowed to paint, replace boards, or do anything connecting to my fence.

He repeated that he had instructions.  I declared I would have the police here promptly if they touched my fence in any way.  That stopped him.  I told him to have the owner visit or contact me to discuss the matter.

I have a few ideas and facts respecting property here and in general.

1.  There is no neighborhood association here.  That is a MAJOR reason I stay.  I want the freedom to do as I please.

2.  I have lived here 30 years and neighbors come and go every 5 years or so.  I pay little attention to them so long as they don't throw loud late-night parties or get into screaming domestic violence fights at 3 am.  Both have happened with some neighbors frequently.

3.  You can't touch my property.  Including the fence,

4.  My view of my property from the outside (street and from the neighbors' views) are mine to control.  I control what people view from the street about my house.  I equally control how they see the OUTSIDE of my fence (and mentioning again the fence is all set in 1' from the property line, so the fence is ALL MINE)!

That also means the neighbors have to see my fence (on my property) as I choose to present it. They don't get to paint it to suit them.

5.  I like natural wood and earthen tones.   I can enforce that on my OWN fence.

Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

I've tried to identify the new owner, to nor success.  The County tax assessment site show the owner as the the guy who abandoned the house a year ago.  A bank owned it after him and it sold the property to an individual.  I can't identify the actual owner at this point.  County records seem to be almost a year out of date.

I might be open to some negotiations.  There are some junk trees that shade my garden that could be removed if the roots are grinded out and not allowed to grow back.  There is a specific mulberry tree (that they pruned heavily but will grow out more branches in respose) that I would like to see removed entirely (roots ground out for thorough killing) that shades another part of my yard.. 

If the new owner agrees to do that, I might allow the painting of the outside of my fence.