Backyard Fence Question
My neighbor contends that regarding the backyard fences in a brownstone neighborhood, the fences aren’t shared. Neighbor says, as you face the back, homeowner “owns” the fence to the left, and the neighbor on your right “owns” the fence to the right. So, you can change the one on the left, but have no rights…
My neighbor contends that regarding the backyard fences in a brownstone neighborhood, the fences aren’t shared. Neighbor says, as you face the back, homeowner “owns” the fence to the left, and the neighbor on your right “owns” the fence to the right. So, you can change the one on the left, but have no rights to the one on the right. Anybody have input or “real” information?
z’s correct.
I’ve actually gone to the DOB during one of those Open House nights and asked this question before we put our fence in. We were told: The fence can be no higher than 6 feet, doesn’t require a permit and belongs to and is the responsibility of the person whose lot it sits on. If it straddles the line, both parties share responsibility. I would assume especially in the cases where the fence is old and no one remembers who put it in. If a neighbor did put one on your property, then that’s a whole other kettle of fish. Your title may tell you where the fence sits- ours did. In reality, if we all were so dependent on our neighbors choice to right or left, no one would be able to have a uniform fence. That may have been custom, but is not code.
The fence/retaining wall code in vinca’s post may refer to instances where the retaining wall would make the grade change high enough to warrant a fence for safety according to code. Something like the reasoning for a deck railing even if the deck is only a few feet high. I believe this is why in the title of the article in the code the fence is referred to as a “protection fence” and only later refers to it as a partition fence, which it still is. You can see numerous examples of protection fences on retaining walls in her link to retaining walls.
However, the code that vinca links to about protection fences has been revised as of 7/08. If you go to that link, all the text has a strikethrough and tells you to refer to the revised code. Not sure what the new code is on that, but the DOB guy told us you are responsible for anything on your lot. Not that they’ve always been right.
So… the solution (based on vinca’s post) would be to make sure your fences aren’t considered “partition fences and retaining walls dividing their properties.”
Have anything that is *on* the property line removed, and just build fences a few inches *within* your property… then you’re not building a “partition fence” but rather something within your own property.
Would that work?
(In Georgia, my mother actually has one of these weird no-man’s-land spaces between two stockade fences because their neighbors are odd and didn’t want to cooperate — it’s a 10-inch “alley” where snakes and spiders live.)
Try this link for retaining walls (goes without saying, different than fences): http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/retaining_walls.pdf
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/bldgs_code/bc26s3.pdf

§[C26-75.0] 26-233 Maintenance and repair of protection fences and retaining walls.—Unless otherwise provided by special agreement between them, the owners of adjoining properties shall be responsible jointly for the proper maintenance and repair of partition fences and retaining walls dividing their properties; and each such owner shall be responsible for one-half of the costs of maintaining and repairing such fences and retaining walls, except that where the replacement of a partition fence removed by one owner is necessary for safety, the owner removing the fence shall replace it at his or her own cost.
See also: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/retaining_walls.pdf
And “fence†at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/violations/bh3-27-147.shtml
There have been several cogent discussions about fences – some quite recent – I’d look in the Forum Archives. I think someone even gives a link to the relevant code.
steve’s comment suggests that the left/right rule may have developed from the simple fact that in many areas, at some point in time, the left fence was on one lot while the right fence was on the other.
the left/right rule is a local myth that may have roots in custom but has no basis in law. the fence is the property and responsibility of both neighbors equally if it straddles the lot line; otherwise it’s the property and responsibility of the neighbor whose yard it’s sitting in.
I live in a neighborhood of attached homes in Queens. I thought the same thing about the fences. then we had a visitor, who, coincidentally from Brooklyn, told me that my assumption was wrong, that the fence really belonged to the person whose property it sat on (here on our street they are plainly on one side or the other). I too would like to know the truth.
Steve