Here is the letter I’ve written to hand to my neighbor:

22 May, 2011

Dear Miss,

I spoke with your father on Saturday afternoon concerning his plans to build a privacy fence along your property line. My wife and I had a chance to talk about our preferences concerning the matter, and we have decided to make sure you had them in writing so that we could be clear about it up front, in order to avoid any trouble. We would like to communicate the following to you and your father:

• That although we really want to be good neighbors, we don’t feel that it’s in our best interests at the time to contribute funds toward the materials required to build your fence and therefore we do not intend to do so;
• That despite the verbal permission we gave to your father during the aforementioned discussion, we have changed our decision and respectfully request that the fence on our property be left in its current state as of the date of this letter, as it is ours and we wish to extend it to the house in order to fence in our back yard, and we believe that it is our right to do so;
• That you and your father should understand that we have no problem with your building of a fence on your own property or on the property line, but that nothing should be built on our property without our express, written approval;
• That you and your father should understand that you may be held financially liable for any and all damage that should occur to our property, including but not limited to: landscape elements, the lawn, plants, trees, and physical structures contained therein; and
• That all attempts be made to construct the fence from your side of the property line as much as possible in order to avoid possible damage to our property and anything contained therein.

Finally, we want you to understand that we would like to maintain a pleasant and neighborly relationship with all of our neighbors and their guests, yourselves included. We are pleased with and support your decision to fill in the privacy fence along the back of your lot. We wish you success in that endeavor and hope that the results are both sturdy and aesthetically appealing to all who look upon it. We hope that this letter clears up any questions you may have regarding the anticipated construction of the fence, and urge you (or your father) to come to our front door with any questions you may have. Thank you for your anticipated courtesy and cooperation with our wishes.

Sincerely,

___________________________________________________   Robert W. Ross

___________________________________________________   Karisa J. Ross

Residents of:
(address follows)