Do Fence laws make sense?

[Paddy]

Local story where a guy is getting a bill for $9000 for his half of a line fence. It's already gone through the Township trustee and will be levied on his taxes. He has only 9 ac. His neighbor wants to start raising cattle and is using Indiana fencing laws to force him to pay half. Some of the cost was tree clearing.

I understand back in the day and where two farms meet, both parties benefit from a fence. The law was to prevent one farmer from dragging his feet on keeping their shared fence up. But clearly the guy with 9 ac and a house doesn't want or need a fence.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Industrial Toys]

We had this miserable neighbor (deceased now) that pretty much the first words out of his mouth when meeting a new neighbor, was, "you have to pay for half the fences".

He was a very poor quality farmer and everything he did, he did cheap and shoddy, so the load of fence rails I provided made him happy. In fact, I think I said, OK but if we do it, we do it right and bring in a fencing contractor, knowing he would never go for that.

I would be surprised if fence laws are still enforced, because around here, someone can build a house next to a farm operation and pretty much shut the farmer down for odour and such!

 

[CobyRupert]

Seems like an idiotic law.
Hopefully people can be reasonable and share when mutually beneficial, but ultimately the one who wants the fence the most should pay.

Why can't the 9 acre neighbor just put up some 12" high flower garden wire-type fence and say "Done!", then send 1/2 the bill to the farmer.



Who says it has to be a 5 strand, cattle ready fence?

 

[95XL883]

It has been a while since I checked so I may have this wrong. My memory is Kansas has a similar provision but I believe there is an exemption for somebody not containing livestock. So when I fenced part of my land, I couldn't bill or even expect that neighbor to pay for any of the fence. (And that is the way I wanted it because I don't want him to be able to make any changes to the fence. It's my fence; leave it alone.) Likewise, a neighbor can't force me to pay for part of a new fence unless I'm also keeping livestock on my ground. (Of course, I do wonder how I could keep livestock without a fence to begin with.) Maybe the law makes more sense when dealing with repairs, replacement or improvement to an existing fence?

 

[MossRoad]

Local story where a guy is getting a bill for $9000 for his half of a line fence. It's already gone through the Township trustee and will be levied on his taxes. He has only 9 ac. His neighbor wants to start raising cattle and is using Indiana fencing laws to force him to pay half. Some of the cost was tree clearing.

I understand back in the day and where two farms meet, both parties benefit from a fence. The law was to prevent one farmer from dragging his feet on keeping their shared fence up. But clearly the guy with 9 ac and a house doesn't want or need a fence.

What are your thoughts?

On the flip side, in Indiana, if they cleared ANY trees or roots into the 9acre guy's property, the 9acre guy can sue them for damages. I'd sue for the amount of the fence that I am being assessed for.

 

[TheMan419]

Local story where a guy is getting a bill for $9000 for his half of a line fence. It's already gone through the Township trustee and will be levied on his taxes. He has only 9 ac. His neighbor wants to start raising cattle and is using Indiana fencing laws to force him to pay half. Some of the cost was tree clearing.

I understand back in the day and where two farms meet, both parties benefit from a fence. The law was to prevent one farmer from dragging his feet on keeping their shared fence up. But clearly the guy with 9 ac and a house doesn't want or need a fence.

What are your thoughts?

do you have a link? I am in Indiana and am interested in this case to see what the law is.

 

[dodge man]

I am a land surveyor and get asked this question all the time. Illinois has a similar law, in this case you were held responsible for the half to your right as you stood on your property and looked at the fence. I was told a few years ago by an attorney that there were a few court cases and it no longer holds up in court. Like already mentioned if on person would not need the fence the other person has to pay for the entire thing.

 

[MossRoad]

Read this very thoroughly and carefully...

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ec/ec-657.pdf

 

[bcp]

From:
Property Line and Fence Laws in Indiana - FindLaw

Determining Responsibility for a Partition Fence

A partition fence is one that is used to divide neighboring plots of land. Under the Indiana Partition Fence Law, adjacent landowners are required to share the burden of building partition fences, so long as one property is agricultural land located outside town or city limit. This applies even if only one property owners benefit from or use the fence. Land is considered agricultural when it is:

Zoned or otherwise designated as agricultural land
Used for growing crops or raising livestock
Reserved for conservation

 

[MossRoad]

In Indiana, you only have to build to your right. So if the neighbor wants to build the Taj Mahal of fences on his right half, you don't have to. You can build one to the minimum code and not be required anything more.

 

[MossRoad]

From:
Property Line and Fence Laws in Indiana - FindLaw

Determining Responsibility for a Partition Fence

A partition fence is one that is used to divide neighboring plots of land. Under the Indiana Partition Fence Law, adjacent landowners are required to share the burden of building partition fences, so long as one property is agricultural land located outside town or city limit. This applies even if only one property owners benefit from or use the fence. Land is considered agricultural when it is:

Zoned or otherwise designated as agricultural land
Used for growing crops or raising livestock
Reserved for conservation

That's not a complete description and doesn't mention the right half only rule.

 

[MossRoad]

Farm Partition Fence Law Upheld - Hoosier Ag Today

 

[MossRoad]

Read this very thoroughly and carefully...

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ec/ec-657.pdf

I like this quote from this article...

"Patience, neighborliness, good judgment, and legal counsel may be necessary to avoid liability, even when landowners think they are within their rights."

 

[oosik]

Here in cattle country - you must fence your property to keep your animals on your property. I would imagine sharing the expenses would make sense where two cattle owners have a common property line.

 

[95XL883]

Local story where a guy is getting a bill for $9000 for his half of a line fence. It's already gone through the Township trustee and will be levied on his taxes. He has only 9 ac. His neighbor wants to start raising cattle and is using Indiana fencing laws to force him to pay half. Some of the cost was tree clearing.

I understand back in the day and where two farms meet, both parties benefit from a fence. The law was to prevent one farmer from dragging his feet on keeping their shared fence up. But clearly the guy with 9 ac and a house doesn't want or need a fence.

What are your thoughts?

Thinking about the numbers, that is an expensive fence. If the 9 acres is square, then half the perimeter is 1,254 feet. But one side of the 9 acres is probably street side. So one-half of what is left is 940.5 feet. That means a charge of $9.57 per foot. Now, four years ago I paid $2.75 per foot for a well built 5 strand fence. If I owned that nine acres, I would be objecting to the $9,000 as including clearing which isn't part of the fence. My argument would be that clearing is actually an improvement to the neighbor's property and I shouldn't be paying for any of it. Let's see; 940.5 feet times $2.75 is $2,586.38.

I suspect there is more to this story that would be interesting to know. I'm wondering if the neighbor is deliberately pulling a fast one, or if he is related to the "trustee" and thus getting more than he is entitled. Or maybe they just aren't focusing that the clearing probably isn't part of the fence but is a separate land improvement. Something seems really off with those numbers.

 

[zzvyb6]

Try that here and it will keep me in steaks and burgers for a LONG time.

 

[oosik]

I installed a mile and a half of four strand barbed wire fence in 1982. 570 - T-133 steel post & 26 rolls of barb wire. As I remember - total cost ~ $3800. That was 37 years ago and it still stands - straight, tight & proud.

My 80 acres is a pure rectangle - - 1320 by 2640.

 

[MossRoad]

I agree. That sounds like a lot for a fence on part of 9 acres. But 9 acres doesn't mean it's a square. I was looking at 40 acres that had a 100' wide lane back to a 40 square. It was an extra 1/2 mile of fence if you had to put fence on both sides of the lane. Remember, and acre is a measure of area, not length.

There's varying interpretation of a fence in Indiana, from a demarcation of property lines to a cattle fence, and who's responsible for keeping animals in and out, etc... read up on that lawsuit that I linked to. It got appealed. Couldn't find the outcome. There's also provisions in that Indiana law as to townships and how they can make the laws apply to keep animals in or keep animals out. So yeah, it could be just a township thing.

 

[Paddy]

do you have a link? I am in Indiana and am interested in this case to see what the law is.

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ec/ec-657.pdf

 

[ultrarunner]

Fence... spend a lot of property management time on fence issues and this is residential.

Last week I come up to one of the properties and the fence I put in and the line of 35 year old Camelia and Rhododendrons is GONE... just the stumps remain.

The adjoining property is being renovated and the contractor removed it all to access... said the owner told him too... owner said it is on the contractor... I said... it is on all of you... just another day in Paradise…. the home is being flipped... I can always file a notice of Lis Penden...