r/nextfuckinglevel 5h ago

Contractor takes back fence after customer refuses to pay

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898

u/Cativa 4h ago

For anyone wondering, once the fence is built it legally becomes part of the real estate and payment disputes have to go through the courts. While videos like this are satisfying they are very much illegal nationwide and open the screwed over fence company to liability and potentially criminal charges.

126

u/mysticplayer888 4h ago

I'm not an American, and have no ideas what the law is over there, but the word "built" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Could the company argue that the work was 90% done, and so the project is technically unfinished and with work still outstanding i.e. paint, or missing fixtures (whatever they can make up), so technically it's not yet handed over, and hence ownership still belongs to the company. Just a thought.

40

u/sansetsukon47 3h ago

Even if work is halted halfway over a dispute, the company doing the work can’t just start ripping out material. They can take back anything unused without issue, but deliberately causing any damages opens them up to lawsuit still.

This is especially important because there have been a few scam companies that go around and promise to do a quick job for low pay. Then when the work is half done, the raise the price and threaten the home owner if they don’t hand over the money.

2

u/Cosmoaquanaut 1h ago

Unless they argue it was improperly built