Question: We have a summer home in the Flagstaff area. Unfortunately, our next-door neighbors live there all year. Even more unfortunately, their two sons have motorcycles. Every time we come up to Flagstaff there is new damage to the steel fence between the two homes from these motorcycles.
We now have a bill from our neighbors for $3,700, which is 1/2 of the cost to fix the damage to the steel fence. We know that we are responsible for 1/2 of the cost to maintain the steel fence, but why are we responsible to pay anything for the damage to the steel fence caused by their motorcycles?
Answer: Your obligation to repair the steel fence on the boundary line is generally limited to maintenance, i.e., normal wear and tear. If there is no agreement
now with the neighbor on your share of the repair cost for the steel fence, you will probably have an angry neighbor. An angry neighbor is always bad, but especially an angry neighbor when you apparently are in Flagstaff only in the summers. Thus, you might want to agree to pay $1,000 or even $2,000 just to try to have a good relationship with your neighbor.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: A neighbor's teenage sons damaged a fence. Who should pay for it?
