Fencing
Who owns the fence between neighbours
Who is responsible for the fence between two properties?
It depends on where the fence actually sits relative to the surveyed property line, and on any agreement between the owners. A fence entirely on one side belongs to that owner; a fence on the line is usually a shared matter.
This is a survey question first
Almost every fence dispute is really a boundary dispute wearing a costume. The existing fence is not evidence of where the line is — fences get built in the wrong place all the time, and then everyone treats them as the boundary for twenty years.
If it matters, a current survey settles it. Nothing else does.
The common arrangements
A fence built entirely inside one property is that owner's fence, to maintain and to replace.
A fence sitting on the line is generally treated as shared, and how the cost gets split is a matter of agreement between the owners rather than something that happens automatically.
A fence built a foot inside the line to avoid ambiguity is common and sensible, and it means the neighbour has no obligation to it.
Get the agreement in writing
Where two owners are splitting a fence, write down who pays what, what's being built and where it sits, before anyone starts. Verbal splits fall apart when one party sells.
It doesn't need to be elaborate. It needs to exist.
What we can and can't do
We build to where you tell us the line is, and we'll flag it if something looks off — an existing fence that doesn't match the plat, or a neighbour's structure sitting where the line should be.
We're fence builders, not attorneys or surveyors. If ownership is genuinely contested, that gets resolved before we set posts, not after.
The old fence is not the property line. It's just where somebody put a fence.