I live in a townhouse community where there exists a 12 foot long fence in the rear yard dividing the individual townhouses. I received a letter from the association stating that i need to repair the fence since it was rotted. I replaced the fence along the property line 2 months ago. My neighbor approached me this morning with a $2300 bill in his hand asking me to pay for damages to his propoerty - here is what happened.
Apparently his water main connection to the house began leaking in the past couple of weeks (this takes place in the rear yard for some odd reason). He paid a plumber to come out and fix it and according to the plumber, the main line (which was a flexible pipe) crossed our property line and then went back into his yard. Our frost level is 30" below the surface and i would think this line would be at least 6" below this per code. The holes i dug for the fence were only about 30" deep at the most and directly along the property line. As i was digging, i did not notice a plumbing problem at all. I would think that if i did hit his water line, there would be some obvious outcome at the time. Nothing - the fence building went very smooth. My neighbor told me the plumber said it appeared the line had a gash in it caused by something sharp.
The thing i am most upset about is why the heck his plumbing is going anywhere near our property line? i should have the right to build a fence there and not have to worry about the neighbor's plumbing being in my way ESPECIALLY if the fence was already there and i simply repaired it.
In my opinion, his plumbing was not built to meet code and it should not be my responsiblility to pay for it when i had the right to rebuild that fence (in fact i was ordered to rebuild the fence per the association) in the exact same location. Am i being asked to pay for something i shouldnt have to, or am i just unfortunate and have to fork out the dough. Please advise...
Apparently his water main connection to the house began leaking in the past couple of weeks (this takes place in the rear yard for some odd reason). He paid a plumber to come out and fix it and according to the plumber, the main line (which was a flexible pipe) crossed our property line and then went back into his yard. Our frost level is 30" below the surface and i would think this line would be at least 6" below this per code. The holes i dug for the fence were only about 30" deep at the most and directly along the property line. As i was digging, i did not notice a plumbing problem at all. I would think that if i did hit his water line, there would be some obvious outcome at the time. Nothing - the fence building went very smooth. My neighbor told me the plumber said it appeared the line had a gash in it caused by something sharp.
The thing i am most upset about is why the heck his plumbing is going anywhere near our property line? i should have the right to build a fence there and not have to worry about the neighbor's plumbing being in my way ESPECIALLY if the fence was already there and i simply repaired it.
In my opinion, his plumbing was not built to meet code and it should not be my responsiblility to pay for it when i had the right to rebuild that fence (in fact i was ordered to rebuild the fence per the association) in the exact same location. Am i being asked to pay for something i shouldnt have to, or am i just unfortunate and have to fork out the dough. Please advise...
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