Q: When we bought our home 33 years ago, we installed a privacy fence on the property line of our backyard. About 10 years later, our neighbor attached boards and building materials to our fence posts to create a fence facing his property, and it's now causing my fence to give way and sag. I have talked to our city code compliance officer and nothing has changed. My other neighbor says I should install a new fence 6 inches inside the property line. What do you think?

A: You didn't mention whether you have tried talking to the neighbor who attached his fence to yours. If you haven't, maybe you should. A reasonable neighbor would be willing to share the cost of repairing or replacing the fence, especially since his fence depends on the health of your fence.

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