Who pays for a boundary fence between neighbors in California?

Adjoining owners are presumed equally responsible for the reasonable costs of building and maintaining a shared boundary fence under California's Good Neighbor Fence Act, Civil Code section 841. A neighbor planning construction or repair must give at least 30 days' written notice, and courts may adjust the split where equal sharing would be unjust.

California's Good Neighbor Fence Act, Civil Code section 841, presumes that adjoining landowners share an equal benefit from a fence dividing their properties and are equally responsible for the reasonable costs of construction and maintenance. The neighbor who wants to build or repair must first deliver a written notice at least 30 days before work begins, describing the problem, the proposed solution, the estimated cost, the proposed cost split, and the timeline. The presumption of equal sharing is rebuttable: a court can order a different allocation where the fence benefits one owner more, where the cost is disproportionate to the benefit, or where equal payment would impose undue financial hardship. The Act addresses cost sharing, not location — a fence built over the line raises separate boundary and encroachment questions resolved by survey. A related provision, section 841.4, treats a fence exceeding ten feet built maliciously to annoy a neighbor as a private nuisance, actionable in court.

Authority: Cal. Civ. Code § 841