A B.C. couple has been awarded $2,928 after a neighbour built a fence on their property, B.C.’s Civil Resolution has decided.
In her Jan. 8 decision, tribunal member Megan Stewart said Lana Ruijuan Hu and Jason Yanjun Liu live next door to Zhao Gang Ding.
Ding built a fence on their property without their consent, they said.
So, they sought a tribunal order for removal of the fence and $2,467.50 for a land survey fee and $160 for landscaping expenses they say they incurred because of Ding’s actions.
They also sought $3,000 in general and punitive damages for the respondent’s alleged trespass, nuisance, and harassment in connection with the fence installation.
Stewart said Ding accepted the fence is on the pair's property, based on their land survey in evidence.
“He offered to move the fence onto his property, but says the applicants unreasonably refused because he would not agree to place it at least two feet back from the property line,” the ruling stated.
Ding said that, since Hu and Liu challenged the status quo by disputing the default boundary along which he built the fence, they are responsible for the land survey fee.
He denied they had a claim for trespass, nuisance and harassment damages.
The parties became neighbours when Hu and Liu purchased their property next to Ding in July 2021. He built the fence in September 2022 along the west edge of their driveway.
Hu and Liu wrote to Ding asking him to remove the fence as it was on their property. He declined to do so, saying the fence was on his property.
So, in November 2022, Hu and Liu had a land survey done.
“The survey undisputedly determined (Ding’s) fence was on the applicants’ property,” Stewart said.
“I find the respondent is liable for the survey fee, and I order him to pay the applicants $2,467.50,” she added.
She found Ding trespassed on Hu and Liu’s land and changed the landscaping. She awarded Hu and Liu $160 for that.
She found the fence also made it difficult for Hu and Liu to use their driveway and awarded them $300.
A nuisance claim was dismissed.
