ᐅ Fence / Boundary enclosure with neighbor

Hello everyone,

this year we are building a house in Schleswig-Holstein, and I have been looking into the topic of garden fences.

I always had the general rule in mind: I am responsible for enclosing the property on the right side neighbor’s boundary at my own expense.

After doing some Googling here and there, I would now like to hear your practical experience on this.

The properties have a slight slope, meaning our right neighbor’s land will be leveled about 40–60 cm (16–24 inches) higher. It is clear that the neighbor must install retaining wall blocks for this, which is not my concern.

Now the question is about the fence on or along the property boundary. Everywhere I read, the costs for the garden fence are supposed to be shared between both neighbors?!

What was your experience in practice?

Looking forward to your input. Thanks and have a nice evening!

Best regards,
Kai123

Every municipality has its own regulations, so you will need to do some research. Visiting a neighbor can also be helpful. For example, on our property, we split the right side costs because the neighbors wanted a slightly taller fence than we were willing to pay for, and their gate post is quite substantial and had to be placed right on the boundary. This means the concrete foundation extends onto our land. However, by dividing the costs, everyone was satisfied.

Just take a look at the local neighborhood laws – they usually state that
- there is no specific regulation regarding the rights of the neighbor on the right side
- neighbors must come to an agreement and share the costs (if your neighbor insists on more than, for example, 120cm (5 inches) of fence height, they should cover the additional cost themselves)
and so on.

Otherwise, also check the relevant regulations that might exist at the municipal level.

It’s very similar here in NRW. In our residential area, we coordinated with many neighbors, and then the fencing contractor was allowed to install the "consensus fence" for about a dozen properties. This also saved a lot of money!

nordanney schrieb:
Just have a look at the neighborhood law – it should generally state that
- there is no rule for the right neighbor

It depends. It varies by state or region... Just try searching for "neighbor law" plus the name of your state or region.

In our experience (where I grew up), there was no fence on the right side or the rear, while the neighbor on the left had a dog and therefore built a fence at their own expense. Somehow, everyone was satisfied with that.

Bieber0815 schrieb:
It depends. It’s a matter for each federal state

That’s what I mean – but Schleswig-Holstein (SH) is quite similar to North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

This is a very delicate topic where you absolutely must reach an agreement with your neighbors. The best approach is definitely to have a conversation with all relevant neighbors (usually two or three) to clarify your plans and find a mutual understanding. Ideally, everyone agrees to share the costs and the boundary fence or enclosure is placed exactly on the property line.

- most cost-effective
- minimal loss of space
- each person takes care of "their side" of the fence

and most importantly:

- no conflicts!!

In our case, we have streets on two sides, with a northwest neighbor who has a carport in front, and a southern neighbor with whom we need to coordinate.