How to handle a neighbor who won't pay for a shared fence
Neighborly disagreements over cost can stall shared fence repairs, leaving homeowners stuck with rotten wood and security gaps like escaping pets. Sorting out replacement expenses requires comparing quotes together or offering flexibility so both parties can agree on a split.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since July 2026.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1DIYing repairs or splitting material costs with neighborsDid this help you?
- 2Paying out of pocket for the entire fence installationDid this help you?
- 3Negotiating cost-sharing or labor contributions with adjacent property ownersDid this help you?
- 4Using angle brackets to secure the panelsDid this help you?
- 5Sistering up pieces of wood where the post meets the panel using deck screwsDid this help you?
- 6Pulling the post, augering the hole out, adding new cement, and resetting the postDid this help you?
- 7Contacting the rental company or landlord through the renterDid this help you?
- 8Waiting for the landlord's handyman to assess the damageDid this help you?
- 9Looking up local regulations regarding shared fencesDid this help you?
- 10Getting independent quotes from reliable companiesDid this help you?
- 11Building a separate fence on one's own side of the property lineDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“A couple of years ago, I got a quote for $6,000 to replace it from the ground up. Went over to my neighbor and said let’s go halves. He said it’s a little out of his budget so I said get some quotes and I’ll split it.”source ↗
“When we bought our house 14 years ago, the wooden fence between our house and the neighbors was rotten and falling apart. Plus our dog could escape through some gaps in the deteriorated fence.”source ↗
“As you can see from the image, it's about 15 feet of shared section and both gates that have fallen over.”source ↗
“The renter told me, after the fence fell completely, they told the rental company/landlord that the fence had started to lean. They didn't do any sort of fix or even come and look at it as far as I'm aware.”source ↗
“I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt as it has been raining a bunch and it's the weekend (called Friday morning) but the fence has basically been rendered unusable at this point as it has been laying horizontal in 2 days of solid rain.”source ↗
“My main concerns are: is there anything that can be done about them leaving the fence in the state it was in PRIOR to falling over?”source ↗
“Also, should I get my own estimates done by a reliable company before the rental company does?”source ↗
“I noticed that one of the fence panels is almost about to fall (first two pictures).”source ↗
“Also, noticed that there multiple other panels that have started to undergo similar separation, would the same angle bracket approach work or should I look into something else?”source ↗
Where this came up
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