Q: Can I sue my neighbor's to pay for half of a privacy fence ?
For two years we have asked our neighbor to please control his growth and anytime we did he said that we can cut back anything on our side . They had friends in the township zoning office wrote a fraudulent letter for them which I had corrected by the township manager . They told us in a letter that they were not going to remove the overgrowth because code enforcement officer told them they did not have to at first. Once I contacted the manager they were told they had to. Unfortunately the entire summer went by and we were not able to plant our garden or enjoy our yard. Was forced to buy a privacy fence and want to sue them to pay for half the fence. I have plenty of this in writing including them admitting to poisoning along the fence on our side and saying they had no care for us enjoying our yard. Their fence was also leaning into our yard so we could put up our fence for
A: As always my responses are based upon the application of NJ law. The answer may not be in accordance with the laws of the other 49 States. My second of my always responses is that anyone can sue anyone, the real question is whether a party as plaintiff (the one who sues) will prevail. The question does not describe the type of vegetation involved. Also, not mentioned is whether you have a survey showing the property line in question. Is it an invasive specie? Before doing anything, identify the vegetation. The best way to do this may be to contact an ISA certified arborist. Before installing a fence, check with the town zoning offer to review what type of fence, permitted height without obtaining a permit, distance from property line, which way the fence must face, etc. Give notice to neighbor that a fence will be installed alerting the neighbor that any encroachment not corrected by him will be removed by you. Any vegetation or structure encroaching onto your property can then be removed. My opinion, based on the foregoing, is that doing the foregoing will be the most economical, quickest, least annoying to your problem. Should your neighbor try to sue you, my opinion is that the result of any such litigation will be in your favor. Finally, you'll have more time to enjoy your privacy and less time consumed in litigation.
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