Building and Maintaining a Boundary Fence between Neighbors

Building and Maintaining a Boundary Fence between Neighbors

By: James D. Bradbury PLLC, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension

Frequently, questions arise regarding how neighboring landowners must share in the costs of building and maintaining boundary fences.

A landowner in Texas has no legal obligation to share in the costs or future maintenance of a fence built by his or her neighbor on the dividing property line, unless he or she has agreed to do so. The Texas Supreme Court has held that, “if one proprietor [encloses] his land, putting his fence upon his line, the owner of the adjacent land may avail himself of the advantage thereby afforded him of [enclosing] his own land without incurring any liability to account for the use of his neighbor’s fence.”20 Even if a boundary fence is destroyed by natural causes, a neighbor still has no obligation to contribute toward its reconstruction.21 However, if the neighboring landowner does not participate in the costs of erecting the fence, it is not considered a common fence; rather, it is the exclusive property of the builder.22 Similarly, if a fence is built not on the property line, but instead on one landowner’s property, then the fence is also considered exclusive property of that landowner.

If the neighbors agree that each will maintain a portion of the fence, such agreement is legally binding and can be enforced.23 These agreements are rare, but may be extremely useful for neighboring landowners to specify their rights and obligations regarding fences before an issue arises. Once neighbors reach a friendly agreement, it should be written down and a copy given to each owner.

An excerpt from the article posted by the Texas Farm Bureau at: http://texasfarmbureau.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/FiveStrands_Bradbury-min.pdf

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