My petty neighbour handed me a bill for our fence that he put up 17 years ago even though I’d only just moved in | The Sun
A FRUGAL Aussie held onto 17-year-old receipts so that one day he could land a new neighbour with a bill for their side of the fence.
Shannon Spencer had only recently moved into her home in Yanchep, Perth when she was confronted with a nasty bill of $506 for a boundary built back in 2005.
Instead of neighbourly pleasantness, the man popped over to deliver the aged invoice and demand she fork out the cash.
Ms Spencer told ABC Radio Perth that her neighbour had been “waiting for the perfect time to come and hand it over”.
After asking the man if he was joking, he replied: “all the other neighbours had paid him for the fence” and that she was “the last one”, she explained.
Alas, the law sides with the invoice-wielding neighbour as the Divided Fences Act in Australia states Ms Spencer is legally required to share the cost of the fence.
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Outraged, she said: “I know I'm legally required to pay for the fence, but I'm just disputing the fact that it's been 17 years since it was built, and I moved 17 years later and he's still asking for half of the cost of the fence.”
The state of the ageing fence is also in dispute as Ms Spencer claims it’s in poor condition, stating its “rusted” and “not even the same height” of the other fences.
The radio show also featured local lawyer Johnson Kitto who confirmed “the law is on his side as much as it pains me to say.”
“The best advice I can give her is to simply pay it. I wouldn’t try to negotiate with him. It’s a relatively small amount. Life is worth more than $500 and haggling over neighbourhood fences over that,” Mr Kitto added.
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