Building fence on property line

We bought our small ranch property three years ago and part of county requirements imposed on the Sellers was that the parcel be surveyed.(From my point of view, I would have required a survey even if the county didn't require it because absolutely no one on God's green earth can look at a parcel of ground and tell you its projected area.)As I suspected, none of the broken down fences was on the property lines . Some expanded the purchased area enclosed by the fences and some decreased it, but overall, the area increased. Prior to closing, I called all of the neighbors affected and told them that I intended to refence to the surveyed boundaries and would like there help in doing so. Only one person questioned the survey but nobody was ornery about it so I went ahead with the purchase. Now there are laws regarding adverse possession in every state and the neighbors could have claimed the land by that principal since the land was in that configuration since Hector was a pup. If that happened (or happens), my recourse is to go back to the Seller for relief. To date, my neighbors have been supportive of my position and I don't believe that I will have any problems. I gather you haven't bought the place yet so there are several things you can do BEFORE you sign the contract. I guess the best advice I can give is to talk to the neighbor who owns the land and tell him/her what your plans are. Invite them to help you with the fence . They may not be in a financial situation where they can help you put in the new fence (that's been my case for the most part) but if he/she is a fair minded person they will not fight you over it. If they're not fair minded and want a fight, maybe you should look at another piece of propery, or tell the seller about the issue and let them deal with it. The seller might have to reduce the selling acreage and thus the selling price, but you won't have a fight on your hands.
Good Luck.

I'd talk to the neighbor & say what I was doing, get the ok. Then go for it.

If you do not get along with your neigbor, then you have a whole mess of issues, and it will also depend on your state's laws, so no one can say exactly what is legal without knowing your state.

You could be openning a can of worms as to where the boundry is/ should be and all that, if you don't get along.

If your neighbor is a govt body, then there are different rules, and 'they' often require a setback from their property. I don't support that, just tellin you how it is 'here'.

--->Paul

NO MORE MR. NICE GUY

How do you ever keep it straight when two land owners are forced to pay for 50% of a fence?? I can see why they do it as one owner pays for the whole fence but the other gets a free fence.
But how do you do it when one owner says I want barbed wire and the other says NO I need field wire?? No I got a big dog so I need 6' fence not 4'or I want wood not chain link.

Around here you put up your fence on your property. Yes land owners do get together to make a common fence but not all ways. I have seen two fences 1' apart on lots of land. When I moved on the property I am on now. My neighbor had barded wire 6" on his property. I asked him if I could put field fence on his post. He said sure. He got a better fence because his wire was old and I got free post. But my fence is 6" on his property.

Guess I better stay in my little back woods state cause if I was ever told I had to pay for 50% of a fence I did not want I would ..... .. (well I will not go there) Lets just say you will get a fence but I do not think it will hold cows in.

I went through a very similar situation a few years ago. Absentee owners of the neighbouring property had not spent a nickle on maintaining fence in 50 years. We needed to put up new electric to power our lower pastures, and this was a mess of old page wire, raspberries and rose bushes. I did the same thing you want to do. Dozed it and put a new fence ON the line. In Nova Scotia, the fence is the line, if it has been an established boundary for 20 years. In my case, the fence had been off a bit. I guess it was since it was put there 150 years ago. To make a long story short, the neighbours were ready to sell, did a survey, and the pins were set on the fence line. We actually gained a few feet, but, as I said, it was a long established line. Your area may be different, so it wouldn't hurt to check. Beyond that, it would not hurt to talk to the guy. If he doesn't want to help with the expenses, then he should keep his mouth shut when your dozer clears a few feet of weeds off his side of the line. BTW, I'm no lawyer, but the advice is worth every cent..... Good luck.

Rod

Just curious how those 2 laws work together - stay back 1 foot, but you have to maintain your property as yours - how to protect that one foot?

--->Paul

A few years ago I witnessed a car accident where a girl got killed (2 fools drag racing). About a week after the trial, 4 of us got that saw it all found poison in our pasture fields. Like I said, I try not to rock anybody's boat, just do my own thing and not bother a potential nutcase.

Hope this helps.

It makes a BIG difference what state you are in.

The short side is that without the knowledge and support from the neighboring property owner you are on thin ice.

its told around here in IN if you build anything today you must set back 5ft from the property line.

Fences built on the line are 1/2 and 1/2 from the center you built the right 1/2... and it will be assesed to taxes if the entire fence is fixed. that includes buldozing the line out.

(our land lord didnt want to pay for his and his neighbor was the Township Trustee... he paid)

if you want to build just half the line.. thats your right to. We have done that a few times ourselves.. have some really bad spots in the fence that belongs to the neighbors LOL.