Fence Co Rec & General Advice (Plano, Bedford: real estate, HOA, insurance)

[taroberts]

We purchased our first home in Plano a few months ago. We are also new to TX and the culture is far different that in MD where we lived for 10 yrs before. I would like to put up a fence on our corner lot home. I have 2 questions.

Can someone recommend a good company to handle this fairly simple job?

How do I handle this situation with our neighbor? Appearently their shrubs are growing onto our property. We would need to remove it to put up our fence. Our neighbor has never spoken to us and constantly trespasses on our yard which is why we want a fence. We don't want to make a big dispute with the neighbor. How do I approach this situation to tell them we will be putting up a fence and we will be cutting the bushes that they planted on our property.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Ask them if they will go in on a survey to make sure where the property line is - unless you can see surveyor's stakes. If not, do it yourself and then tell them where the fence will be if they want to move the shrubs themselves. Of course, if the shrubs are on their side of the line but grow out over your side, you have the right to cut them up to the property line.

[FL70]

Howdy! Also ex-MD residents here.

If you just bought your home, it's likely you already have a survey (you probably paid for it in your closing). That will clearly tell everyone where the property line is.

As for the neighbor, I would simply inform them nicely that you plan on putting a fence in along the property line and that you'll give them some advance notice once the line is marked and if they want to move they shrubs they can do so.

[loves2read]

you need to consult your HOA docs to make sure you understand the type/requirements for a fence--
not all HOAs allow for the same features...
especially height...
if you are on a corner lot--it is very likely you can't build fence along the street side--depending on how your garage/driveway is configured--if you were considering doing that...
and likely that your fence height can't be higher than 6 ft...which often does not provide much privacy at all...it seems that lot of new developments are sticking with 6 ft fences

our lot backyard slopes because there was a run-off creek at the back of property line
the rear where our fence line runs is probably 2 ft lower than the side yard by the back corner of the garage--where one side of the fence starts...the other side is not that great a difference down its side

we got our fence guys to use that measurement where fence meets garage as the fixed point--we could have an 8 ft fence height...
then they used longer boards and kept a straight line to the back corner of the fence...so that part of the fence was taller than the front corner (higher than 8 ft)...but the LEVEL of the top rail was constant...
more like an isosceles triangle with one narrow angle that grows larger toward the right angle...

the fence looks better that way from the street and it definitely blocks people from seeing into the backyard from the street...

there are people in my former neighborhood who have built flower beds along their fence line either with brick or concrete blocks or landscaping timbers and then added fence to start above the top of the beds--meaning that it is probably taller than it should be--they were counting the flower bed tops as the ground level-

just depends on how much your HOA wants to mess with you--
in that neighborhood someone had a house on a corner lot right in front of subdivision burn down and they rebuilt it after long hassle with the insurance company--
when they built their fence along the sidewalk side--parallel to one of the neighborhood streets--they did have brick flower beds that were about two feet tall and added the fence on top of those--they had a HUGE board/batten fence --

totally against the HOA rules but everyone in the HOA liked them and was sorry that their house burned--so they let them get away with it--
once they did that--the HOA did not have much room to hassle anyone who did basically the same thing...

but if this house did not have a fence--you should make sure you know-- if there is an HOA --what the rules are
your city probably requires a permit and might also have requirements as to type/size/gates--
sometimes that is on the city's web page
our fence guys has to take our survey to the city planning office to get the permit--it was like $25 I think--
AND they had to have city license to build the fence--that was a gotcha for them--Bedford wants to get as many fees as it can...

*********** while you may feel that you are in the right about this--ensure that your survey is correct--it would surprise me if your neighbor takes this change without some uproar--and depending on how long your neighbors' shrubs have been there--there could be condition called adverse possession--

there is info about this on this real estate article about adverse possession from TAMU
http://recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1152.pdf
YOUR title policy is supposed to assure you that you own the land you paid for and there are no liens or issues with adverse possession--but I have heard of cases where title was not checked correctly...
a lot depends on how long the previous owner let the bushes stay on the wrong side of the property line--every state has different rules regarding adverse possession...