In May my landlord agreed to my neighbour’s request to replace the fence between our homes. My garden lines this fence. Yesterday he texted me to tell me a construction crew would be coming today to dig out the old fence and replace it.
This is what my fence line looks like right now:
I’ve sunk a ton of money — and, more importantly, a ton of time and effort — into my garden this year.
But instead of informing me back in May — when I could have chosen not to cover this area with plants — my landlord waited until the day before, giving me the minimum 24hrs notice.
When I spoke to my neighbour about it yesterday, his wife berated me for 20min on her front porch, saying I was “just a tenant,” and calling me a pain in the ass. Her husband was slightly more reasonable, attempting to show me text messages from my landlord. After all it was my landlord’s fault for not telling me sooner.
But when I asked my neighbour why he didn’t come over himself and talk to me about the fence, his rationale was that I “kept to myself.” He basically claimed that me being an introvert was good reason for him not to be a decent human being. His wife also tried to tell me about “their financial situation.” I cut her off saying “You have a pool in your backyard and own your home. I’m not concerned about your financial situation.”
When I spoke to my landlord he pretended he was on my side and lied about “just finding out” yesterday. Of course my neighbour put all the blame back on my landlord. So neither will take any accountability, but in the end I’m getting fucked. I have the most to lose and the least to gain in this situation.
The thing is I worked in permits for 4yrs before I became a nurse. I know bylaws. My neighbour has a pool. You need a permit to touch any fence enclosing a pool for safety reasons.
As it stands, the fence does not meet code for a pool enclosure because it’s broken. I haven’t reported it because I don’t give a fuck; it doesn’t impact me. But the decision to replace the fence in the middle of the growing season does impact me, significantly-so. I’m going to lose at least half my crop if they tear down that fence.
So I took the only option I was given and called the city yesterday. They will have an inspector on-site today to issue a stop-work order. Since the fence currently doesn’t meet code, my neighbour will likely be forced to drain his pool until the fence can be replaced. And that won’t happen until a permit is approved. With Covid closures still lingering, my hope is the fence gets delayed until September so I can at least harvest my corn.
The problem with shitting on the people whose backs you use to build your wealth is there’s no incentive for us to play fairly. We get fucked whether landlords play by the rules or not. So when the little we do own is threatened, you better believe we’ll fight tooth and nail to protect it.
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