Good fences may make good neighbors, but only when both sides understand what it takes to keep them standing.

After years of shouldering the cost and responsibility alone, one homeowner watched as a careless neighbor crossed a literal and legal line that would prove difficult to come back from.

Read on for the full scoop.

WIBTA if I take down my fence to force my neighbor to replace it

My fence needed to be replaced 8 years ago.

But the homeowner was forced to cover the cost alone.

I asked each of the neighbors if they wanted to chip in to replace the fence along their side of the property; all of the neighbors declined, so I replaced the fence on my own.

One neighbor has their swimming pool right up against the fence (code says that it must be 4 feet from the property line).

Soon, the fence was in a state of disrepair.

From all the splashing, the fence near the pool rotted out.

The neighbor asked me if I was going to fix it. I said no, it’s just going to rot out again.

Then the neighbor has the nerve to ask for even more money to fix the fence.

They then asked me if I would chip in to replace the fence along our shared property line.

I said no, I paid for the fence in full last time it needed to be replaced.

They continued to ask me 5 more times, and I said, “I’m sorry, it’s just not in my budget this year.”

So the neighbor decided to take shortcuts in solving the problem.

Yesterday, the neighbor had a contractor cut out a piece of my fence and replaced it by putting a bunch of scrap wood on my side of the fence and drilling screws into it.

Most of the screws are now sticking out of my side of the fence.

They also broke away a lot of the rotted wood and left rusty nails sticking out of my side of the fence.

On top of that, they threw all of the fence that they removed into my yard.

Now the homeowner questions what their next move should be.

WIBTA if I removed the fence to force them to put up their own fence since they have a pool and are legally required to have a fence?

It wasn’t about revenge — it was about responsibility.

What did Reddit have to say?

This user urges the homeowner to not let their neighbor get away with such carelessness.

Perhaps escalating the issue is the best course of action.

The situation could threaten to change their neighborly relationship for good.

This neighbor definitely isn’t acting neighborly.

The fence may have rotted, but so had their goodwill.

This homeowner may not have started the fence war, but they were prepared to finish it.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.