How we work

From the first conversation onwards

What happens once you make contact, in the order it happens: what to bring, how costs are set out in writing before work starts, and what we will and will not do.

General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.

Last updated: 23 September 2026

Most people who get in touch have already tried. There has been a conversation over the fence, or a note that was ignored, or a quote that caused an argument. This page sets out what an engagement involves, so that you know what you are agreeing to before you agree to it.

Neighbour Dispute Lawyers is an informational website about neighbour and boundary disputes in New South Wales. Much of what follows is set by the Legal Profession Uniform Law and the conduct rules for solicitors in this State, and about sets out who provides legal services through this website.

The first conversation

We start with what is actually happening next door and what has already been done about it. What the dispute is over, how long it has been going on, what has passed between you, and whether anything has a date on it.

Say at the outset if a notice has been served on you, or if there is a hearing or a council deadline. Some steps in these matters run to fixed periods, and a period that has started does not pause because you have spoken to a lawyer.

You do not need your papers organised. Bring what you have.

Photographs of the fence, tree, wall or structure in dispute, with dates if you have them
Your title documents and the registered plan for the land, if you can find them
Any notice, letter, email or text message that has passed between you and your neighbour
Any quote you have obtained, and what it covers
For a strata matter, the registered by-laws for your own scheme
Anything a council, a tribunal or a court has already sent you, and the date on it

If you feel unsafe, or there has been threatening behaviour, say so first. That is a different problem from a fence and it is dealt with differently.

The conflict check

Before a law practice can act for you it has to check whether it is able to. It cannot act where its duty to you would conflict with a duty owed to another client or with its own interests. In neighbour matters that comes up more often than you would expect, because both households are usually local and sometimes both have made enquiries.

So expect to be asked who the neighbour is, and asked early. Usually nothing turns on it. Where a conflict does exist you should be told, and told what the options are. What you say during that check is confidential whether or not you go on to engage the firm.

This is the reason for asking you to keep a first message short and to hold back documents until you are told where to send them.

Costs, in writing, before work starts

Under the Legal Profession Uniform Law a law practice must tell you in writing, at the outset, how its legal costs will be calculated and what it estimates the total will be. The disclosure has to set out your rights as well. A costs agreement is a separate document, and you do not have to sign one the day it is put in front of you.

We do not publish fees on this website. What a neighbour dispute costs depends on what it is about, how much of it is already in writing and whether it can be settled early, so a number published here would tell you nothing reliable about your own matter. Ask, and it comes to you in writing.

Proportion comes first

Neighbour disputes have a particular danger, which is that the cost of arguing overtakes the thing being argued about. It happens quietly. A disagreement about a share of a fence becomes a file, then a hearing, then a year.

So the first substantive advice you get from us is usually about proportion: what the dispute is actually worth to you, what a tribunal could realistically order, and what it would cost to get there. Sometimes those three numbers do not work, and we will tell you when they do not.

There is a second cost that does not appear on any bill. You still have to live next door to this person, possibly for years. That is not sentimentality, it is a practical factor, and it shapes what we advise and how we write.

Settling it before a tribunal

Most neighbour disputes in New South Wales are resolved without a decision by anybody. The forums themselves are built on that assumption. NCAT states that dividing fences matters are first listed for conciliation and hearing. The Land and Environment Court states that it must be satisfied the parties have attempted to resolve the dispute before a tree matter is listed for final hearing. For strata, NCAT states that mediation is compulsory for most strata and community schemes disputes.

So the work is usually front-loaded into correspondence and preparation rather than into hearings. A letter that states your position clearly, encloses the document that supports it and proposes something workable resolves a great many of these matters.

One route that used to be central has closed. The NSW Department of Communities and Justice states that from 1 July 2025, mediation through a Community Justice Centre is no longer available for disputes other than those referred by NSW Courts or involving incorporated associations. Our guide to mediation sets out what is still open.

Who does the work, and how you are kept informed

Your matter is handled by a solicitor. Ask who has carriage of your file and who to contact about it. You are entitled to know, and you can check any solicitor’s practising certificate yourself on the Law Society of New South Wales register of solicitors.

A solicitor’s duty is to keep you informed about the progress of your matter, in writing where that is practical. So expect to be told what has been sent, when, what the next step is and what the other side has said. If you have not heard for a while, ask. A progress report needs no reason.

Ask where to send documents and in what form before you send anything. Your material is held under Australian privacy law and the solicitor’s duty of confidentiality, and our privacy policy explains what is collected and how it is handled.

What we will not do

Three things, whatever you ask.

Guarantee an outcome. The decision belongs to a tribunal or a court. Anyone who promises you a result is telling you something they cannot know.
Keep a poor prospect to ourselves. A solicitor's duty is to advise you on your options and on the best course open to you. That includes saying when a claim has little prospect, or when winning would cost more than it is worth, and giving the reasons. You may still decide to proceed. What matters is that the decision is yours and informed.
Write to inflame it. We will not send a letter designed to frighten your neighbour into submission. It is not in your interest with a person you live beside, and it tends to be read back to you later.

If what you want is someone to punish the neighbour, we are probably not the right people. If what you want is the problem to stop, we can usually help with that.

If you are not happy

Tell us first. Most problems are about what was expected rather than what was done, and they are easier to fix early. Our complaints page sets out how to raise one. A complaint about a solicitor, or a dispute about a bill, can also go to the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner, which is independent of the firm.