# Forum Home Renovation Fences & Screens  Fence Falling - Liability

## Cinny

Hello,  
Hoping to gather some opinions on a matter that I am anticipating.  
When we bought our house 12 months ago, there was a plumbago hedge along the back of our fence about 13m in length that would have been there 10+ years and it had spread over to the neighbours yard (roots and all) and along the back of their fence. This is not a mutual/adjoining fence, their fence neighbour is the shire.  
Now from what I have read, they have the right to trim it back and throw the cuttings back into our yard (if they wish) but they haven't attempted to maintain it at all so it is as out of control on their side as it is on ours.  
Cut to the point, we're pulling the whole bush out this weekend as a new fence is being installed on Monday.  
Their fence is on a lean, along with ours and I am concerned that once our old fence is out and the bush is out, their back fence is going to fall over into the laneway our houses back on to as it won't have the support of our fence or the rest of the bush.  
If this happens, are we responsible for paying for the repair/replacement of their fence because the bush originated in our yard, or is it their issue?  
We're friendly to them, wave, say hello when we see them, etc, however it is never reciprocated...they pretty much just ignore us. So a friendly chat about the situation is not really an option.

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## OBBob

My view (and it's debatable and probably will be ... ) is that fencing disputes aren't worth it, if you have to deal with it then you may just have to accept that. Having said that ... is there anything you can do whilst working to stabalise or support their fence? Could the fencing contractor throw a couple of additional support posts against their fence whilst he's there?  
Good luck.

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## Cinny

The fences are asbestos, so not too sure what the fencer could safely do without putting holes in the asbestos :/  
Hmmm. Might just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best haha.

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## joynz

> The fences are asbestos, so not too sure what the fencer could safely do without putting holes in the asbestos :/  
> Hmmm. Might just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best haha.

  
Could use a star picket hammered into the ground in front of the fence or hammered into the ground behind a post and used to anchor a restraining wire.   
But really, best to leave alone as if anything goes wrong they might blame you.  And their fence must be pretty old and in need of replacement anyway quite apart from the plumbago. 
Are you removing the plumbago from their part of the fence or just yours?

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## Cinny

Yep, their fence has seen better days.   
I don't think they ever even go round to the laneway... our gardener slashed their back fence line when doing ours because theirs was so long and a snake/fire hazard. Their front yard isn't much better... I don't think they care.  
We're only removing the plumbago up to the fence line but the plumbago on their side will have pretty deep roots. It just won't have the support of the rest of the bush, or our fence.

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## ringtail

Nope. Their fence, their problem. It's not your responsibility to maintain their fence.

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