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Justice is such a big word for this... except when it's not done.
Why, you ask? Well, boy, are you in for it. Pardon my venom; like I said, I'm mad as hell.
So our stupid neighbour ended up suing us over the fence. We had an HOA meeting that year in which she complained about "a fence," and since I was there I knew what fence she was talking about, but not the issue in question.
After the HOA meeting concluded, she spent a bit bending the ear of one of the people on the HOA's architectural board, a conversation I didn't listen to (it wouldn't have been polite). After she was done, I talked to the architectural board, since we hadn't yet received written confirmation of the permission to build the fence, and I received it there.
The clot thickens here. See, we filed a request to build the fence as per the HOA instructions, showing dimensions and fence type - all the things which the HOA told us we needed to provide, and showing compliance with the requirements they had about fence type, height, etc. A few days after we filed that request, we got a phone call from someone on the HOA, saying (paraphrased) "You're good to go, build the fence." This was left as a message on our answering machine. We then built the fence, maybe three days later.
Well, the permission paper we received said everything that the original guidelines did, except for one... small... difference. The written permission had a requirement about what side of the fence the posts were to be on: the inside. Since we had no room to build a privacy fence with the posts on the inside (as she put HER fence on the property line), we put the posts on the outside.
We talked to the HOA back and forth, and they said - verbally - that the fence was okay, it wasn't offensive, and we didn't do anything wrong. So they granted us an exception... verbally.
IANAL, but as far as I can tell, verbal statements like that ain't worth crap. She ended up suing us for not having permission to build the fence, which left us no choice, really, except to countersue for legal costs. In our countersuit, we included the HOA as defendants, because they were responsible for the violation and for not having defended the fact that we had permission (in writing!) Our countersuit included our defense to her complaint: "We do have permission, here's a copy... and here's the recording of the message in which they said it was okay, and here's a copy of the email thread in which they admitted the timeline and events."
She changed her complaint, of course, to say that we violated the architectural guidelines.
The HOA screwed us over in a ton of ways. For one thing, instead of humouring her, they could have said straight up that we had permission, which we did. For another, they could have told her we had an exception - which they told us we did. (They had the right to grant an exception from the covenants.) They could have stopped the whole thing dead in its tracks, but they refused.
Lots of legal crap happened, including the HOA offering an affadavit that entirely confirmed our timeline and recounting of events, along with a snarky opinion (and that's all it was) saying that they felt the fence should be changed.
The HOA offered to pay for the fence to be changed, which was actually something we had said would be okay with us fairly early, with one requirement: They'd have to be responsible for the maintenance of the fence on HER side (i.e., the very outside paneling, not the whole fence), because after she's tried to verbally abuse our kids and basically acted like the model God used for the anus, we don't want to have any contact with her (and maintenance of the fence on her side would require permission from her.)
They refused.
We finally went to a summary judgement hearing, because we requested one (i.e., we felt that the case was clear enough that a trial wasn't necessary, a judge should be able to see everything clearly in very short order). That came back today.
We didn't lose, but we didn't win either. Apparently the judge didn't want to offend anyone, so she said we were going to trial. Yay! More time, more expense, more stress, more everything - all because she's afraid to do her fsckin' JOB!
This is a minour case of property rights. IMO, obviously, we're quite in the right, having done nothing wrong and having been sued after the HOA grandfathered in a new requirement. I hate taking up court time for a trial on this crap... but here we are. And dammit, I'm not giving in. We've tried being nice. Nice is DONE.
It is just common courtesy to put the posts on your side of the fence. How
can you have "no room" to do this? Putting the posts on the neighbors side
is like giving them the finger every day.
I can understand the "common courtesy" bit. However:
Is discussing matters with neighbors prior to fencing such an abhorent
chore these days? Did you bother to speak to the lady next door about your
fence plans before you took it to HOA? Some people get really prickly when
they feel someone is going over their heads rather than just discussing
things with them. You know, like upping the ante to show they have some
sort of misplaced power on the block.
Gwen... I don't think you understand the lady in question. We have *tried*
to talk to her. When she ranted at our kids the second time, I went to her
house to try to straighten things out; she wouldn't answer the door. (And
yes, she was there.)
So write her a letter about ranting at your kids. At least you'll have
documentation.
My new neighbours miffed me a bit whe they put up a new fence along the
length of the gardens, without discussing it with me first. Without knowing
anything about 'fence etiquete' I felt upset that the posts were on my
side. I'd hoped for considerate neighbours and this was an inkling that
they might be tiresome. I let it go for the sake of peace and good grace,
and what the heck, it's a smart new fence. I shouldn't have been so naive,
they took ever greater liberties and showed increasing lack of
consideration, until now they are the neighbours from hell. In not
considering that putting the posts on her side would cause her concern, you
were being thoughtless and inconsiderate of her feelings. Perhaps you
already disliked her enough to want to upset her, or not to care for
feelings.
Janet... fair enough. However, I'd like to point out that you aren't seeing
the entire story.
GOOD LUCK I KNOW HOW CRAPPY NEIGHBORS CAN BE I HAVE SOME. SOME PEOPLE JUST
CANT GO ON LIVING UNLESS THEY ARE STARTING CRAP AS FOR BEING UGLY TO YOUR
CHILDREN I WOULDN'T PUT UP WITH THAT SHE SOUNDS LIKE A MISERABLE BITCH YOU
KNOW THE OLD SAYING "MISERY LOVES COMPANY" AGAIN GOOD LUCK
These sorts of disputes never really end well. That your neighbor was
willing to take you to court over something so trivial is a sign of her
craziness more than anything else.