Neighbor story for Hammer.

It all began with me deciding to clear the back fence that was overgrown with ivy. The fence was so decrepit because the ivy had managed to weave its way through the wooden plants and pull them apart. In some sections, it was only the ivy that was holding up the fence and preventing it from falling down completely.
It was hot and hard work, it took a few weekends to accomplish. In the end I was proud of my handywork.

Having now revealed the fence in all it's dire state, I decided that it was time for a new fence. This required an agreement with the neighbour that shared the boundary fence. If you don't have an agreement then the costs of a new fence cannot be split 50/50.

So I ventured out and knocked on my neighbors door. He was all charm and cordial chatter until I mentioned the reason for my visit. I left it at that.
The next day I received a three page letter from him full of indignation and accusations of crimes I had committed. It was claimed that I had cut down his Wisteria. The wisteria wasn't visible amongst the ivy and in fact was growing from my side of the fence.
I was accused of disrupting the harmony of the fence and causing it to fall down because of my pruning of the growth of ivy on the fence.
I was told in the letter that If I wanted a new fence, it was all at my expense and he wouldn't have any part of it.

My only option was to issue him with a legal notice called a "fencing notice" be registered mail. This compels the other party to come to agreement that a fence in a bad condition must be repaired.

His response was to call the City council and complain that I had breached by-laws regarding the swimming pool fence, that I had not complied with government regulations that require a fence be constructed around an existing swimming pool.

The council inspectors sent me a threatening letter asking me to comply with regulations or demolish my pool and a $200 fine.

I disputed this issue with the council insisting that I had not breached regulations and was indeed within the law. The council responded by saying that this dispute can only be resolved in a court of law.

Meanwhile, the new fence construction proceeded with the first stage being the demolishing and removal of the old fence. This left an open space between myself and my neighbor.
During that day, the neighbor started hurling abuse and insults at my wife while I was away at work. She phoned me distressed and upset. I arrived home angry and agitated that someone would be harassing my wife whilst I was away.
That evening there was an altercation with the neighbor with threats and counter threats of violence, he threatened my wife and myself with a wheelbarrow held over his head. We called the police who didn't do anything.

Meanwhile, were having an ongoing dispute with the council regarding the other matter. There were multiple visits to our house by inspectors who voiced their opinions that whatever we said about the rationale for the laws regarding pool fences, they didn't care. In fact they didn't care about the safety of children, which was the reason behind the fencing laws.

Being a stubborn sort of guy, I decided to fight the council, despite my solicitor (lawyer) telling me that nobody succeeded in fighting the city council(local government). I wrote a letter to the member of parliament detailing my complaint.

All this stress was taking its toll on the wife. She was verging on a nervous breakdown.
Friends and relatives advised us to give up, it wasn't worth the effort of fighting the council.

The new fence was built. Soon afterwards the neighbor placed his house for sale.
It was all too much for him as well. Losing the battle of the fence was enough to make him pack up and leave.

I finally got my response to my letter to the politician. It was headed, The Department of Justice.
My complaints were found to be reasonable, the city council was asked to apologize and remove the fine. A fawning and apologetic employee of the council phoned to personally apologize.