Fencing Quickguide
PLEASE NOTE: The Committee is not able to provide advice about fences. If you are unable to find an answer to your question in the Fencing QuickGuide, please do not contact the Committee as we will be unable to assist you. We suggest that you contact a community legal centre (http://www.communitylaw.org.au/find_a_clc.php) or a solicitor instead.
Consider mediation to resolve your differences
The Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria offers a free mediation service. The Centre is part of the Victorian Department of Justice and is located on the 3rd floor, 235 Queen Street, Melbourne (telephone 9603 8370; Freecall 1800 658 528). In 1996/7 it provided telephone advice on 3,105 fencing matters, 75 of which resulted in formal mediations. Of those, 71 disputes settled at mediation (a 95% success rate).
At your request the Centre will write to the other party, free of charge, to seek their consent to attending to mediate the dispute. The Centre does not take sides, but seeks to bring people together and to facilitate an agreement which minimises the damage to the relationship between neighbours.
If the other party declines the invitation, the Centre cannot compel them to attend. Likewise, no-one can compel a party to adhere to an agreement reached at mediation. In both cases your only redress is through the Magistrates' Court. But it is worth trying the Centre, not only because it is a free alternative to a potentially costly Court process, but because when parties do attend there is a high success rate, and parties are on the whole inclined to honour agreements when they have had a role in negotiating them.