'[They] decided to [...] remove the fence': Karen goes on the offensive over damaged fence, guy removes it entirely

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 5, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

This Karen went on the offensive over a damaged fence, forcing her neighbor to take more drastic measures.

A strong windstorm caused damage to a fence between two neighbors, this guy and his Karen neighbor. The insurance company wanted to wait until spring to repair it, but Karen didn't want to wait, so, she reported the damaged fence to the authorities to speed up the process. However, Karen had a hidden motive. She thought she could force the repairs to happen quickly, but she didn't know that there was another option that would mean she would have to pay for the fence replacement. 

This situation happened to a friend of this Reddit user, who shared their friend's story after the fence situation went sideways and turned into a dispute with Karen. Without any warning, Karen reported the fence damage to the city, and her reason was that she had a pool that needed a fenced area. This led to a situation where Karen had to comply with the rules she was trying to circumvent.

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  • 01
    Plant
    via Randy Fath
  • 02
    Font - r/r/MaliciousCompliance Neighbor wanted the fence fix, we just removed the fence TLDR at bottom This happen to my friend a couple months ago. Him and his wife just moved into their first house about 6 months ago. Then a strong wind storm came through and damaged their fence. And by damaged their fence I mean the fence was now leaning slightly, leaning about 70 degrees.
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 03
    Font - Because home insurance won't fix the fence plus it being winter. My friend and his wife were going to wait until spring to hire someone to fix/ replace their fence. Well their backyard neighbor did not like that. The backyard neighbor wanted the fence fix asap.
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 04
    Font - When the neighbor found out they were going to wait until spring, the neighbor called the city and complained that their fence was out of code. When the city inspector came out to inspect their fence, it was in fact out of code and needed to be corrected.
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 05
    Font - Now the reason the neighbor was so fixated on the fence being replaced is because the neighbor has a pool in their yard and need to have a fence around their pool for safety.
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 06
    Font - Well my friend and his wife now pod off at their neighbor decided to only remove the fence and not replace it. This allows them to be in city code and now when the spring hits, the neighbor is going to need to build a fence on their backside of their yard if they want to fill up their pool for the summer. If the neighbor would have just been nice and not called the city like a Karen my friend would of build the fence up in the spring now problem.
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 07
    Font - TLDR: wind damage friend's fence, friend was going to fix it in the spring. Backyard neighbor wanted it fix now and called the city. Friend just removed fence instead and neighbor has no fence on their backside of yard
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 08
    Font - teamanfisatoker This is great. Make sure your friend knows to request the neighbor pay for a survey of the property line before fence building starts. Edit to add: OP please update us on this when the new fence drama starts! Vote
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 09
    Font - just-dig-it-now This is GREAT advice. I used to own a fence company and oh the stories I could tell you about people not actually knowing where the property line is. I once built a fence where I was told, despite recommending the client get a property survey (which they didn't do). The neighbor was ticked and DID pay for one, then I had to be paid to come and move the entire fence 1.5 feet backwards. For a 6' vinyl fence it wasn't cheap. Vote
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 10
    Font - Imalawyerkid My neighbor pulled this with me. He got a permit to drop in a pool, but figured the property line was my fence, and built his fence right up against it. No permit for the fence or the rear of the work he did to the backyard around the pool. Turns out, my fence wasn't on the line and he effectively stole a part of my property with a super quick, non-permitted fence. 1 call to building inspection later I got my yard back and took down my fence in that side of the yard to enjoy
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 11
    Font - Also, he paved his entire backyard and when he finally applied for the permit he learned he paved too high a % of his property. He had to get us to sign off that we didn't care when he went in front of the town counsel for permission to keep it. I felt bad enough about the cost he ate on the fence, and I couldn't care less how many pavers he has in his back yard vs grass, I happily signed his form. Vote Reply Share
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 12
    Font - anotherkeebler I couldn't care less how many pavers he has in his back yard vs grass Depends on what the drainage plan looks like. Vote
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 13
    Font - PennyoftheNerds It's hard to live beside some people. I don't blame your friends at all. Somewhat similar story. We have our dogs in a fenced in yard. Our fence is several feet on our side of the property. He never watches his dog and his dog would come to the fence and irritate our dogs. They started jumping on the fence and now it's leaning. We wanted to get it fixed as soon as his dog passed, but then he started piling wood up against our fence before we had a chance. The fence that is
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 14
    Font - He wanted us to fix the leaning fence because it was making it hard to pile his wood up. The fencing company needs to get on his side of the fence in order to fix it, hence why we kept our fence over on our property line, in case of maintenance. We told him this and his response was, "I'll put my wood wherever I want." He has 8 acres of land and our fence is the furthest place from his house. Then he called the township about our fence. The township came out, saw the markers for the prope
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 15
    Font - shsc82 I'd have the biggest spite bonfire. Vote PennyoftheNerds Also very tempting. Vote
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 16
    Font - AstrixRK Neighbor- Surprised pikachu face Vote eatingpotatochips Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions. Vote
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 17
    Font - spidey3040 8 hr. ago As a former pool owner that fence rule applies in the winter as well. You could have your friends call the city today and he will have to fix it in a hurry in winter. It's a safety issue and kids can still get stuck in an empty pool. Vote Dubbiely 7 hr. ago . That's even better. Call the same city inspector and request a fence because there is a risk of a not secured pool. Or they have to remove the pool. Immediately!! Vote
    via u/NotG*yRyan
  • 18
    Font - larz_6446 After the fence is removed, you should call the inspectors yourself to report an easily accessible pool. I wouldn't wait till spring. It'll be more money to install a fence in frozen ground. Vote cjax920 Just getting fencing, depending on your location, is difficult right now. Inventory on everything is low. ↑ Vote ↓
    via u/NotG*yRyan

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karens neighbors neighborhood neighborhood-drama neighborhood-stories Bad Neighbor karen neighbor
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