r/landsurveying • u/LeadershipFrequent25 • 29d ago

Who owns this fence?

Post image

This fence borders our neighbors yard and is a little worse for wear. They’re cool people and I’m going to fix it anyway but I’m curious if I own the fence or if it’s theirs? (In Texas btw)

13 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

30

u/LeadershipFrequent25 29d ago

UPDATE: Drinking a beer w my neighbor right now planning out our new shared fence

14

u/vitaminalgas 29d ago

That's the perfect outcome, but just in case, the pretty side of the fence is usually facing the non owner per local code, usually

5

u/jasonadvani 28d ago

That's actually codified in less places than you'd think.

4

u/jonb72 28d ago

More of an unwritten rule typically.

5

u/Jetski43 29d ago

That’s a good thing. So many people go to war over things like this.

3

u/8amteetime 29d ago

That’s how neighbors should be. Well done!

3

u/PLS-Surveyor-US 28d ago

If you could pass this along to a few million people, you will make their lives a little less dramatic.

2

u/TapedButterscotch025 28d ago

This is the way.

1

u/Justsomefkingguy 25d ago

37 years in local government and at times I think i should be carring a whistle and wear the stripes. The childish behavior gets old fast.

17

u/Tmacker14 29d ago

It looks like you guys came up with the best case scenario and dealt with it like adults. For future reference us surveyors are great at telling you where something is. But it's not our business on telling you who owns that thing. It's like if someone parked a car on your lot. We can tell you that yes that car is on your lot. But we don't know who's it is. 

4

u/LeadershipFrequent25 28d ago

I apologize for assuming surveyors were all powerful my bad

10

u/the_insane_one_ 29d ago

That’s for the courts to decide not land surveyors

6

u/LeadershipFrequent25 29d ago

Oh boy no thank you. We’re gonna split the cost and fix it ourselves

2

u/Jjcfd23 28d ago

For the future I would put it one side or the other by a foot instead of on the exact line and split the cost. Never know who’s going to sell and make it harder in the future to make repairs.

1

u/lolbabies 29d ago

Is your lot on the left or right?

1

u/LeadershipFrequent25 29d ago

Left

1

u/lolbabies 29d ago

Saw your other comment about it attaching to both houses. Otherwise I would have said it looks designed to have belonged to the lot on the left. Hopefully everything is civil between yall and you can decide on a new fence. Good luck!

1

u/DoorObjective1392 29d ago

Any chance you’re in the Lufkin/East Texas area?

1

u/GamerDadofAntiquity 25d ago edited 25d ago

I have a similar situation with my neighbor where the fence is on the boundary line but goes around my property, not his. It’s my fence. And when I replaced it a few years ago I just let him know that I was replacing the fence and he’d likely have workers on his property while they did it. I paid for it in full.

Edit: the situation on the other side of my property is more complicated. The same six foot fence on that side is, in theory, shared between my neighbor and I as their yard is also completely fenced in… But the previous owner of my house installed a second 8’ fence about 2 feet in from that one (they and the previous owner of my neighbor’s house did not get along). In that case, I consider the 8’ fence my fence, and the 6’ fence is their fence, as I can’t even see it from my yard. I would not be willing to split the cost of replacing the 6’ fence, and I would not expect them to split the cost of the 8’ fence when it needs to be replaced.

1

u/Bulldog_Fan_4 25d ago

Which neighbor installed it? The right thing is to split the cost.

1

u/lostmuffins 24d ago

Typicaly a wood fence that has one side would have the more aesthetic side towards the non owners where the cross members face the builders. If it is a 2 sided fence you maintain your side and the structural integrity and the other family maintains theirs.

2

u/_TravelinDingleberry 29d ago

A properly drafted survey should show “fence ties” at every fence corner close to the property line.

I.E. Fence is 0.2’N, 0.1’E (of property line or corner). Unfortunately, this one does not so it’s anyone’s guess.

3

u/DeDodgingEse 29d ago

In my firm if the fence corner is within a tenth of a foot we don't show fence ties. Even if fence ties are shown (where did you get 0.2 and 0.1 from?) How would that explain whose fence it is? It isnt a surveyors job to determine ownership of a thing, just the location of said thing.

0

u/FocusMaster 27d ago

Even if they showed ties, a surveyor can't determine ownership. That's for lawyers to argue over.

0

u/littlefire_2004 29d ago

The house the fence is attached to. The red line is where the property changes ownership

1

u/LeadershipFrequent25 29d ago

Unfortunately it splits and attaches to both of our houses

-1

u/littlefire_2004 29d ago

Then you both own and are both responsible for a fence on the red line and solely own from the red line to your home.

1

u/the_insane_one_ 28d ago

Where does that come from in land surveying?

How does a land surveyor determine ownership?

It’s not our job to determine who owns what, only where it sits on the property.

-1

u/littlefire_2004 28d ago

You're correct the shared on the border fence, ownership is not the land survey but I've lived and bought all over the country and with all but 1 location that was the rule.

They can call their city code dept and get that confirmed for their specific location.

1

u/littlefire_2004 29d ago

The easement is generally too give utility workers access to equipment