Panic Button: My Neighbor Put His Fence Up Inside Out!
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?
This morning on Jonathan and Ayla on Country 1025, we tackled a topic that hit a nerve with many of our listeners: bad neighbor etiquette. Specifically, we delved into the story of Aidan, who recently found himself at odds with his next-door neighbor over a new fence installation.
Aidan’s neighbor decided to put up a fence between their properties, which in itself wasn’t a problem. However, the neighbor chose to install the fence with the nice-looking side facing his own yard, leaving Aidan with the unattractive side facing his property. This seemingly small act of fence positioning sparked a lively debate about neighborly courtesy and property aesthetics.
What do you think? Should the nice side of the fence always face outward? Is it acceptable to leave the less attractive side facing your neighbor? And what should you do if you find yourself in Aidan’s position?
Here’s the full transcript of our discussion:
Jonathan: Country 102-5. Jonathan and Ayla doing Panic Button with Danielle today. We have a very petty situation, but I think a lot of people are gonna get fired up about this.
Aidan: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan: We have Aidan on with us. Hey, Aidan. Morning. What’s going on with you and your neighbor?
Aidan: Hey. Morning, guys. How’s it going? Yeah. So my next-door neighbor has lived there for a couple of years. We’re not super close, but we get along fine, you know, neighbors. He recently installed a fence between our backyards. He told me it was happening, and I said that’s totally fine. When it was installed, I realized that he got the nice-looking side facing his yard, and the less attractive side is facing my property.
Danielle: That’s bad neighbor etiquette.
Aidan: Yeah, it just doesn’t look right. If you’re going to get a fence, I thought you’d get one that looks the same from both sides. I told him, “Hey, you got the nice side of the fence,” and he said, “Yeah, well, I installed it. I want to see the nice side.”
Danielle: Oh my God.
Aidan: But you left the other side looking bad.
Jonathan: So he installed the pretty side facing him and the ugly side facing you?
Aidan: Exactly. I asked him about it, and he said, “I want to see the nice side.”
Danielle: This is neighbor etiquette. The guideline is if it’s on the property line, the nice side should face your neighbor. If it’s within your property line, you can do what you want, but the standard is to face the nice side towards the other property.
Aidan: Yeah.
Danielle: It’s also a security issue. If the ugly side with the crossbars faces out, people can climb it more easily and get into your yard.
Jonathan: Oh, I didn’t think about that.
Danielle: There are a lot of reasons why this precedent exists. Having the bad side of the fence facing you when it’s not your fence is unacceptable.
Aidan: So part of me is thinking, do I just put up my own fence right up against his fence on my property?
Jonathan: So you’d have a fence right across?
Danielle: Then you’d have the space in the middle that you can never take care of.
Jonathan: If you put up a fence around his fence, you’d just be getting the same thing.
Danielle: No, you’d get the nice side toward you. So it would be two nice sides facing each other.
Jonathan: Oh my God.
Aidan: Exactly, and it’s like an inch between them.