Neighbor disputes are more common than most people probably think before they start living on their own. People are people, though, and sometimes they don’t get along.

OP was building a fence for a friend. They didn’t get a survey ahead of time because his friend was positive the existing fence actually ceded some of his property to the neighbors.

A few years ago, I was building a new fence for a friend of mine.

I had to remove the old sections that were falling apart, first, of course, and when I got to the intersection of his back fence, his side fence, and the next door neighbor’s back fence.

I carefully separated the neighbor’s fence from his, and proceeded to carry on removing the side sections that went between their two properties.

My friend had told me that the side section was 100% on his property, and that the previous owner (30+ years ago) had deliberately given the next door neighbor’s property an extra foot or so, to ensure that he was building on his own property (without calling for and paying for a survey).

Despite having talked to the neighbors ahead of time and not changing a thing about the existing fence line, OP was attacked by the neighbor wanting to fight about it.

The neighbor, Susan, whom I will refer to as Karen for the remainder of this story, came running outside screaming at me that I couldn’t remove the side fence and it was their property and just what do I think I’m doing?!

I responded back, very calmly, that my friend had told them well in advance that he was going to replace the fence, that he was just going to build it in the same place as the old one, and asked if they were willing to split the costs, to which they declined. No biggie.

Karen started screaming at me again, telling me I had no right to do that, and that my friend didn’t give them proper notice, and that she didn’t realize that there wouldn’t be anything between their two properties to contain their dog.

By now, I’m about ready to lose my mind, so I knocked on my friend’s back door to let him know what was going on, and that he needed to talk to Karen, and that I was leaving because I didn’t want to do or say anything I would regret, or cause problems with the neighbors for my friend.

OP left and his friend and the neighbor split the cost of a land survey.

The entire project got put on hold, pending a property survey that was going to cost $650, and that they demanded my friend pay half of, despite him telling them that the fence was definitely on his property, and nothing was going to change with the new fence, and that he was fine with them continuing to have a foot or so of his property, so that he didn’t have to rock the boat.

When it came back, OP’s friend’s yard expanded by 800 square feet and the neighbors had to remove their garden and a retaining wall.

Fast forward to the following Monday when the surveyor comes out…….

Turns out, the old side fence was not “a little” on my friend’s property, but ALMOST 10 FEET onto his property, and the neighbors had built up raised flower beds and done a nice brick retaining wall right up along the fence line, that they had spent a lot of money just in materials for – never mind the time they put in constructing it.

Needless to say, my friend came away with the biggest grin.

For the mere price of $325, he was entitled to expand his yard of more than 30 years, by about 800 square feet…and Karen and her husband (who happened to be the polar opposite of his wife in personality, and was super nice) spent the next week moving their garden, retaining wall, and all of the dirt that was on my friend’s property, so that I could build the fence on his side of the ACTUAL property line.

Not only that, but their slapdash fence is already blown over by the wind.

They then hired the cheapest contractors they could find to slap up a fence on their side of the property line.

They spent almost as much as my friend did on their new fence. (I gave my friend the friends and family discount)

3 years later, the last 20 feet or so of their fence is on the ground already, because it was such a crappy job that it fell over in a moderate wind storm this past spring.

My friend’s fence is still standing, rock solid, and his dogs are definitely making good use of the extra 800 sq ft.

Sometimes karma really does show up on time.

Fences and neighbors are a recipe for trouble, I guess.

We’d all love to be flies on the wall. Or the fence.

All of this is making me think about getting a land survey.

As this person proves, things can always get worse.

If you’ve got good neighbors, give them a hug.

They’re worth their weight in gold!

Want to read another story where somebody got satisfying revenge? Check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.