When you share a fence with a neighbour, you and your neighbour share the cost to fix the fence, right?
When you have a fence next to a footpath though, can the council pay for half the fence?
Fence along Footpath, Can Council Pay for Half?
BadGiraffe on 23/10/2022 - 22:31
Comments
Yes in Victoria. Council paid for half of mine, so long as it was a basic fence with no additional parts (i.e., rear gate).
Disclaimer: council must own the land immediately next to your plot (i.e., footpath/walking trail) and not just the gap between you and the road.
Great info
Only if they're nice. If your Council says no you have very little recourse to make them pay anything.
Worth noting that council don’t own all adjoining areas either. There’s crown land, main roads and other groups that own public land too.
Yes in Victoria.
Definitely not for a front fence.
Thanks, Duckie2hh. That gives me a bit of confidence to give them a ring and find out.
no
Do you mean along the front of your property? No. If your property abutted council land (say a park) then yes, but good luck getting anything from them.
An example in SA
https://www.mitchamcouncil.sa.gov.au/build-and-develop/works…
Depending on the council, fences adjoining council land are explicitly excluded, even if that’s a park or just land council will later sell to someone to build a house. Even some neighbors are exempt from sharing costs of fences based on certain subdivision covenants (usually where a large rural/forested property abuts a standard residential block).
Not in Blackown or Parra councils in Sydney
how about just ring up your council to find out ? lol
But wouldn't a random bunch of unaccountable strangers with no specific knowledge of this matter or even where OP lives be best to consult with first? ;-)
True. I thought I'd ask and see what some of us here think. I'll give them a ring and find out.
heh. All the councils have specific rules to make sure you pay 100%
1/3 of the country have some sort of front fence (even small picket ones) No way councils will pay for that…
If your a corner block then the RTA pays half..
I actually do live on a corner block. Thanks for the info.
Was a joke sorry 🤷♂️
Council giving money back to residents!?
Are you mad! that would require them to be useful….
Opposed to woke virtue signalling lunatics
So you’d rather increase your rates to pay half for all the fences adjoining council land?
What do "woke virtue signalling lunatics" have to do with OP's question? I swear people just throw out the word "woke" without having a clue what it means.
woke is used by right wing night bags more nowadays
Id rather they use the money they collect better
Half pay for the fence and charge less…
No. But I would like them to dramatically decrease the amount they spend on crap that adds no value to ratepayers and that only serves to placate (typically woke) minority ginger groups.
Having worked out a Council, there's a lot of good they do but there's a lot of waste too including the typical bludgers. Too much money is wasted on Councillor's vanity projects and appeasing single voters. Lots of money wasted due to vandalism like graffiti, stolen property, burnouts on fields.
@Caped Baldy: It’s true they often aren’t efficient, but people who call for things like mowing nature strips or half a fence cost would have no idea how much that stuff actually costs or how much of it would be required to be done.
@Euphemistic: Friends are still there tell me war stories. People have been complaining about wet grass…
@Caped Baldy: You get some real doozies in complaints. There’s no pleasing some people and they all take time and resources to resolve, even if the resolution is ‘so nothing’.
We even had one woman regularly in contact with council with a list of issues, most of them fairly legit. She even referred to herself as ‘the bucket lady’ (no, it’s boo-quay).
Our local council makes you pay half for the footpath, they aren’t gonna stump up for the fence.
Most areas have no requirement for a front fence, so the choice by you to have one means you pay for it.
Lol.
can the council pay for half the fence?
Can, if you are related to them?
or a councillor
Most Council budgets haven't accounted for this situation. For a Council to accommodate it and EVERY OTHER fence of that type, then they'd likely increase rates or include some special charge, such that you OP would be indirectly paying for the half cost you're seeking, and doing so for all other front fences too. PLUS that increased rate / special charge will sit on your rate notice forever, not just at the time you want the fence cost.
Thats a very good question, my place has a fence beside a footpath and always been graffiti. The government always claimed that it is not public property and wouldn't do shit so my guess is NO way hosay.
Thanks everyone. Didn't think I'd get this many responses. Yes, I'm on a corner block. And no, it's not at the front of the house. It's on the side.
I'll give the council and RTA a call and see what they say. I'll report back if I hear anything.
Not in Victoria