neighbor replaced fence without asking - now wants $$$

[Keith A.]

Anyone dealt with this? I had this fence replaced with the previous owner 6 years ago and there was nothing wrong with the fence as of this year. My tenants came home one day and all of a sudden there was a new fence where the old one had been (on the property line on one side). This neighbor replaced their entire fence on all sides without asking any of the neighboring owners and is now reaching out to property owners on each side asking for money. What are your thoughts on this? The previous fence didn't even need small repairs. This is not budgeted for this property and I am livid that they never reached out to the tenants to contact me. If they had asked ahead of time I would have said no... as there was nothing wrong with the original. Thoughts?  If they sue in small claims, I am willing to fight. I told them I would pay for repairs in the future on this fence, but I would not have agreed to a new fence. 

[Percy Matsunaga]

@ Keith A

I replaced my fence back in 2018. I have 3 neighbors and we all communicated on the time frame, materials, vendor and price. 

At the end only 2 of the neighbors want to go halves with me. 

I think in your case, if your neighbor did not communicate the project with you, I’d try and explain that to them and find out why all of a sudden they want $$. 

There got to be something deeper than this situation.