Ivy. Repeat ivy.

We lived in a 1960's subdivision that was built with 30" high chain link fences separating all the properties (this was considered a luxury selling feature at the time)

All of our neighbors installed wood privacy fencing, leaving the chain link to get entangled with invasive vines and weeds. We removed all the chain link fencing, leaving the corner posts to demarcate the property lines with our neighbors permission.

Removing the chain link fence will increase your property size by an inch. Technically, this is "property encroachment". Might cause you problems. It is worth investigation on your part.

Thanks - I like this path.

If you are able get rid of the chain link, you may be successful finding someone to remove it for the scrap metal. Try Craigslist. (If posts are deep snd cemented you csn take the shortcut of cutting flush with the ground.)

Just a reminder that establishing exactly where the property line is may not be as simple as you think. Fence placement is really meaningless. In older developments or more rural locations it could very well require a survey. And those can be pricey!

Not necessarily. Typically properties are identified by their legal description. But it is hard to translate all those metes and bounds, compass points and fractional designations into acres, yards or feet unless you are a surveyor!!

Where i live, the fence becomes common property after 7yrs.

AND when they put up the wood fence, they "fenced out" the chainlink fence. by doing this they have reliquished their ownership of it and the land to you. maybe the word is "vacated"? if they had put the privacy fence on your side of the chainlink it would have shown that they wanted the chainlink fence.

All that said, it depends on where you live and the land laws there.

Actually if the chain link is inside their property it is theirs, Why not just build your own fence inside you property and bury the chainlink

I would check with your zoning office. In my township and the last township I lived in the good side of the fence must face outward. If that is the case in your area the neighbor will have to remove the panels and turn them around. I know chain link fences are sturdy, easy to install, cost effective and long lasting, but I dislike them myself. I think they are ugly. About the only thing you can do if they will not take it down is to hide it with bushes. But they sound like jerks so I doubt they will take it down.

If I were them, I wouldn’t want to get rid of the chainlink. If part of their new wood fence falls down, then they would still have a second fence behind it. That’s helpful if they have dogs, kids, pool, etc. You can ask them, but I would probably just put up my own fence and deal with it.

"Hopefully they will be reasonable, but my experience with people has shown me that most are not." Ha! ... that's my experience with neighbors, too ... whenever solving a problem requires action on their part.

There's a good chance that they left the chain link fence behind simply because it was easier, and do not really care about it. And once it became out of sight, it was also forgotten about. I would check with building department (not police) and see if multiple fences are allowed. If they aren't, let the city officials do their job. If the city doesn't have regulations against duplicate layers of fence, then ask the owner (in the nicest possible way) if they would remove the CL fence. If they are uninterested in doing it, ask if they mind if you remove it. It is not that hard to do. (Much easier than installing it.) As mentioned, it's very likely that someone on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace would be interested in removing the fence if they could have it for free.

@Sam Gorson - what I noticed was that in the "you get a mortgage! and YOU get a mortgage!" real estate bubble that led to the recession, banks stopped requiring a survey. Our loan officer thought we were nuts for insisting on a plat AND a stake out (Wells Fargo was all for shortcuts, go figure) but there was no way I'd close without that.

Around here you can get a small (<1/4 acre) lot surveyed and staked for around $700. If you didn't get a survey plat on purchase, there may be one on file at the courthouse, so that's at least a starting point and it saves the surveyor time - which saves you $$$.

I was a banker in my former life - long before the 'bubble' - and never did we require a survey as a condition of closing unless the legal description was suspect (rare) or it was a brand new development or platting without an established legal description!

I have both situations in my yard. The neighbor behind me added a wood fence and left the shorter chain link fence in place for whatever reason (happened before I bought the house). It's an eyesore but I'm growing lots of evergreen plants, including vines so it's slowly disappearing.

A few years ago I wanted to replace a short, badly damaged, rusting chainlink fence along one side of my yard with a six-foot wood fence. I contacted the owners (absentee landlords) and asked if they would make a small financial contribution to the project, and in return I would have the damaged fence and a diseased tree removed, the new fence installed with a design we both approved, add a gate so their tenants could access their side yard, and manage the entire project. They said no. So my arborist wrote a letter stating that the diseased tree was in danger of falling on our houses. The owners were then forced to pay for it's removal at a cost I'm sure was more than I would have accepted had they offered it to me. I installed the wood fence in front of the ugly chain link fence which devalues their property. Penny wise and pound foolish could explain your fence situation.

Almost all my clients who had recently purchased a home prior to 2004ish could, almost 100% of the time, produce a survey plat from their packet of closing docs that was stuck in a drawer or bankers box somewhere. Maybe it wasn't "required" but it was a typical step in the home buying process, at least in this area.

i'd put up my own fence, with the ugly side towards them, instead of the nice side as you'd do as a nice person and if they didnt have a fence. you'll be the big winner.

ninigret - many places require you to put the nice side facing outwards. That's what they require where I leave.

Thanks for all the replies - I appreciate all the thoughts / ideas. I've checked the city bylaws, and I can't find much about fences, maybe I need to take a closer look. My husband (who is better at this stuff than I am) estimates that the privacy fence is a good 10 years old, if not closer to 15. I'll check how long those owners have been there, but I guess it's possible they don't know about the chain link! Not sure how much budget we'd have left for a glorious, handsome fence of our own after we finish with the addition. But I am thinking about it for sure...

I recommend taking the time to review your entire file in the town and county offices for both you and your neighbors. Understand the history of ownerships, easements, boundaries, permits applied for snd approved, tax assessments and grievances. It’s a wealth of information, perhaps buried in various offices and buildings but worth the search. it was through historic aerial photos on google earth thst I learned that an old fence I’d assumed was a boundary was 30 feet inside our line! I have not been as diligent about researching easements that are on my survey.