Who pays for a fence between neighbours in BC, and how high can it be?

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On rural land the Trespass Act makes neighbours share the cost of the fence between them unless they've agreed otherwise; in a town it's most likely for the neighbours to agree, and the zoning bylaw sets how high a fence may be. A fence's height and what it may be made of are the zoning bylaw's, zone by zone, and where the fence stands is the survey's, not the map's. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. Rural land: Unless they've agreed otherwise, the owners of neighbouring land in a rural area must build, keep up and repair the lawful fence or natural boundary between them, and each owes the other half of any cost reasonably spent on it (Trespass Act s. 10). The Act doesn't say what a rural area is; land outside a municipality is the plain case (our reading). The rule doesn't bind the Province, so it doesn't reach Crown land next door. A lawful fence: Outside a municipality the regulation defines it as a fence at least 4 feet 6 inches (about 1.4 m) high, built solid or of rails, pickets, woven wire or barbed wire to set spacings, the lowest wire or rail no more than 14 inches off the ground; a hedge of that height, a river bank or other natural boundary that keeps cattle out, or water too deep to wade, counts as one (Trespass Regulation, B.C. Reg. 85/62, ss. 3, 4). Land inside a lawful fence is enclosed land, where entering without consent is an offence (s. 2). Cattle: Keeping someone else's livestock off unfenced land outside a pound district is the landowner's job, not the herd owner's (Livestock Act s. 11 (4)); see open range. In towns: The Trespass Act's rule doesn't reach town lots (our reading). A fence built on the line belongs to both owners, and neither may take it down alone; who pays to repair or replace it is for the neighbours to agree, and a claim under $5,000 can go to the Civil Resolution Tribunal (People's Law School). Some councils' bylaws also make an owner keep a fence in repair. How high, and what of: The zoning bylaw sets it, often lower in front of the house than behind it. Abbotsford's, for example, allows fences up to 1.2 m between a house and the street and 1.8 m behind and beside it in most residential zones, with no barbed, razor or electric wire, sets no height in its agricultural and rural zones, and keeps a barbed or electric fence there 3.0 m back from a neighbour zoned otherwise (Zoning Bylaw No. 2400-2014, s. 140.5.2). Near a road corner, a sight triangle can limit fences and hedges too. A fence off the line: Where a survey finds a fence enclosing a neighbour's land, the Supreme Court can give an easement or the land itself to the owner who fenced it, each with compensation, or order the fence moved (Property Law Act s. 36). An old fence doesn't move the boundary: the survey plan and its posts do. What it means for a buyer: Walk the fences against the plan's posts before you buy: a fence well inside or outside the line is worth raising with your lawyer. On rural land, ask the neighbours how the fence between you has been kept and paid for.

Who pays for a fence between neighbours in BC, and how high can it be?

What the answer means

For one lot