My Neighbor Attached An Electric Fence To My Fence, Code Enforcement Told Him To Remove It, But It Caught On Fire Before He Did.

Location: South Carolina

I have a continuous fence around my back yard that is made of chain link. It is an older fence that was here already when I bought the home a few years ago and needs to be replaced, my neighbor and I both have dogs and my dog likes to dig. He leaves his dog outside all day and night (it’s legal here, I’ve checked). We asked if he would like to go half on that stretch of fence and he declined, so we decided that we would replace it ourselves and in the meantime I bought Halo collars so my dog stays put, they work well. We are waiting to be scheduled for fence now.

A few weeks ago I heard my neighbor working in his yard and later that evening discovered that he had attached an electric fence to my fence, solar panel and all. I was leaving for a trip for a week so I left a message with code enforcement and waited to hear back. After I returned, I followed up and I was told that he could not have an unpermitted electric fence, especially on my fence. Code enforcement called him, was told that he was out of the country and he agreed to remove the fence. He told the officer that he “didn’t know it wasn’t his fence” and that he was trying to prevent rodents from entering his yard”. The fence is clearly, very clearly even, mine. I said okay and took for granted that this idiot knew what he was doing and at least it was safe until he returned.

The night before last, I had forgotten an item in our camper outside and went to retrieve it. As soon as I opened my back door I smelled burning and then heard a clicking sound and saw the fence sparking. I ran over to the solar panel box, which I was totally unfamiliar with and it was installed above my head. I wasn’t sure what I was going to find, but thankfully there was an off switch that I could flip. I extinguished the burning leaves with an extinguisher. The fire department said that the fence was arcing and that my entire fence was likely electrified. You also apparently can’t just turn off a solar panel, so they had to dismantle it somewhat and remove the wiring. They also said I could have been shocked when I even turned it off since it’s improperly wired.

I am so mad. I told the fireman that I took for granted that the guy at least knew what he was doing and he the fireman told me that he certainly did know and he just cut corners. There is only one grounding rod for the entire 100ft fence and it was zip tied in places. Code enforcement came here and saw that it was a hazard and not up to code and said it was okay for it to remain there until he returned from his vacation. Thankfully, there was not any damage, I got extremely lucky that I went back outside, but I am still so mad. I want this guy to be accountable. He’s the neighbor from hell already, but we always just ignore him and try to be neighborly enough.

What are my options here? This man could have burnt down my house, we both have garages within feet of where the fire started. He already told code enforcement that he planned to reinstall it on his property and by code that is one foot from my fence line. He ran the line right through the foliage and the foliage is even thicker one foot in. So scared he’s going to burn the neighborhood down. We live in the city by the way, it’s pretty unusual to even have an electric fence.