SALEM, Ohio — Ohio’s fence law — the bane of many unneighborly fights that resulted in bad blood, gunfire or calls to the sheriff — was updated last week in an effort to make the law more clear-cut and easy to swallow.
Gov. Ted Strickland signed H.B. 323 into law June 27. The legislation, proposed by Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Lakeville, was in the works since last September.
Updates
The original line fence law, which dated back more than 100 years, needed to be more objective and state when and how much fence a landowner was required to build, according to Larry Gearhardt, director of local affairs for the Ohio Farm Bureau.
“There were complaints and [court] cases about this stuff every other week or so,” Gearhardt said.
Historic
Ohio’s line fence law dates back to when Ohio farmers’ livestock roamed free. At that time, a farmer’s neighbors had the responsibility to fence livestock off their property.
With time, what was once a “fencing out” law became a “fencing in” law, and farmers who failed to build and maintain their fences found themselves paying for property damages and arguing with adjoining landowners over both parties’ responsibilities.
New
“The old law was massively old,” said Emily Pettigrew, a legislative aide for Rep. Gibbs.
“There were a lot of complaints about the line fence, and it wasn’t an efficient or effective system.”
The new law provides a two-pronged approach to the fencing issue, according to Larry Gearhardt.
If a fence is already in place, property owners on both sides of the fence share the cost of upkeep in an equitable, not equal, manner.
In the case of a dispute, township trustees and courts are charged with assigning what’s equitable and can use guidelines set by the law to make that decision.
If only one landowner needs and builds a completely new fence, he or she is 100 percent responsible for the cost and can file an affidavit with the county recorder to note what was spent to build the fence.
If the neighbor, who didn’t pay for the construction, or his heirs take advantage of the fence line in the next 30 years, he must pay a portion of the cost.
The 30-year figure was used since that’s the estimated life span for a fence, Pettigrew said.
If a farmer removes a fence and doesn’t replace it within a year, as long as he or she files an affidavit with the county recorder, he can fall back on shared responsibility if the fence is replaced within 10 years. If no affidavit was filed, and the landowner wants to replace the fence, he or she must bear the full cost.
Confusion
Under decades-old law, adjoining landowners were each responsible for half of the cost to build and keep up a fencerow, regardless of whether each owned livestock.
Then, a 1969 Supreme Court case determined that a fence was property interest, and that a person can’t be told to build or maintain a fence unless his benefit exceeded the cost, according to Gearhardt.
The statement of what benefit a person gets from a fence was questionable and confusing, even recently.
“Judges felt that if a person didn’t have livestock, there was no benefit from having a fence,” Gearhardt said, noting that fencerows are often also visual markers of property lines between neighbors.
Many people in southeast Ohio “live and die by the line fence law” and in northwest Ohio, many farmers don’t want fences because they interfere with moving large pieces of equipment, according to Gearhardt.
Any provisions of the new law can be overridden by a signed written agreement between both landowners, according to Gearhardt.
Clarification
The new law also provides landowners recourse in disputes either by taking the issue to township trustees, which was the old method, or by going directly to the common pleas court.
The law also allows a property owner a 10-foot leeway onto neighboring property while building a fence, and makes it a criminal offense to interfere with fencebuilding.
“We have to stress to people moving to the country that you have a responsibility for the fence. You’ll know it by seeing [a fence] in existence when you move in or you’ll see the affidavit on your title search. It’s all about notice and education,” Gearhardt said.
Deadlines
The law goes into effect July 27, according to Pettigrew.
Landowners who have removed a fence within the past two years and want the cost of any replacement fence to be shared with the adjacent landowner have one year to file with county recorders. If nothing is filed with the county, and a landowner rebuilds the fence, he must do it completely at his own expense.
Related coverage:
Fence law could change relationships (12/27/2007)
I am searching for fencing regulations for the keeping of a bull on one’s farm. (In Ohio) Can you head me in the right direction? I understand there are specific laws, but I am not finding one to read it. Thank you for your time.
Want to build a boundary fence around the property (71 acres), to restrict guests from wandering onto neighboring properties. Do I need a permit and what are the requirements for installation (I.e.- distant from property line, type of fence, etc.)?
Thanks,
RLH
Bob, we farmers fight this all the time. If you are agriculture in ohio then ohio revised code on agriculture exempts you from any type of permit. Some times township zoning people try to strong arm you into thinking you need a permit. Tell him to take a dive. 95% of the time they do not know the law.
sorry I missed something you asked. You can build it anywhere you want . right on the property line is ok.
If there is no agricultural benefit (no livestock, e.g.) to one landowner, can the other person make you pay half the cost of the new fence? Also, if there was an old line fence there (before 2008) and one landowner wants to just “repair” it rather than rebuild it, does the other landowner have to absorb all of the cost? Or, can the one be forced to pay for the cost of a new fence?
Maybe more clarity needs to be done on this issue. It’s not safe to assume that commonsense is common at all! I understand giving a neighbor a 10 foot right of way during construction of the fence, but what if said neighbor decides that four 30-40ft Black Walnut trees, that are within the 10 foot right of way, are in his way? Although they aren’t on the fence owners property, does this mean he can remove the trees? Does this also mean the fence owners can leave debris on the adjoining owner’s property? If you haven’t figured it out by now, yes I have a neighbor erecting an electric fence on the boundary line, and yes he cut down my Black Walnut trees and left a ton (okay maybe a half ton) of debris on my walking path!
In Highland County, Dodson Township the trustees are claiming if a fence was in place before 2008 the old law continues to apply and the new law only covers new stuff. Is this true? If so, where is this written? They talk of a grandfather something. thanks June 2018
Dispute is about “one neighbor has no livestock.”
I’m a non farmer. Residential neighborhood. I have a nightmare of a neighbor with audio and video cameras facing my home and full property..the neighbor causes problemsfor not just myself but also other neighbors.. I reside in Barberton Ohio
How tall is my fence aloud to be…. I do not feel 6 ft is tall enough as the adjoining property and home is under 10 ft from my property and cameras are about 10 ft above ground attached to the home as high as possible. Facing windows and back door of my home. I understand that video recording is not a crime. Yet audio recording is considered wire tapping. this was done without our concent or knowledge. I only know the cameras are audio recorded due the the nightmare neighbor plays the audio back through their cell phone through wifi.