Fences and Property Lines

[UrbanFabulous]

Does anyone know if there are laws on where a neighbor can build a fence. Is it on the property line or does it have to be a few inches away from it on their side? I’ve been searching the RCWs and Municipal Code, but can’t find it. This makes me think that on the property line is ok. Can anyone point me to a specific law that says otherwise? Any personal experience?

Thanks.

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[RonM]

I believe it can be back as far from the property line as you want, but you may loose the property to your neighbor if you don’t use it in 7 years or so. You should put the fence on the property line if you can, hopefully with permission of your neighbor.

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[KatherineL]

If you build right on the property line, years later there may be arguments about whose fence it is and who has to maintain it. If it’s just a few inches over, there’s no question about who should fix it.

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[Anonymous]

This publication lists the city of Seattle regulations regarding fences.

http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/publications/cam/cam312.pdf

No mention of any set back rules, just restrictions on height. When we built ours, I remember being told 8 inches was required, but don’t remember where that info came from. As others have stated, I believe it has more to do with who can claim a right to it, if it’s built on the property line.

I have known friends to form a mutual agreement to construct, pay for, and maintain one fence exactly on the line. Mixed results on the outcome, depending on the neighbors and the length of time you’ll each be in the house.

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[UrbanFabulous]

Well, the fence is up (the neighbor did it) and it is about 11 feet high!! Seriously. On her single story house it goes up to the gutters! She said she might take it down a few inches, but that’s it. What are the chances that those crazy Alki winter winds are going to knock that sucker down and in to my house?

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[cjboffoli]

Urbanfab: City regulations limit the height to 6 feet. I think you can complain and they’ll have to take it down. And I say this fully wishing I could build an 11 foot wall to fence out the horrible rental tenants living in the absentee landlord, unkempt tenement next to my house.

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[beachdrivegirl]

Well on the topic, does anyone know how much a surveyor costs? We are thinking about continuing are front yard fence to our back yard and tearing out some bushes. We were going to just build where the bushes were but want to make sure taht the city (it is in an alley way) cant come back to us later and expect us to tear it down…any help?

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[j]

We just had our entire yard surveyed to help guide us while putting our fence in and it was about $800. We called most places and it’s around $1000 for an entire yard. Our neighbor just so happened to want his yard done too, which gave us a $200 discount. Of course you can get specific lines done for less money, but the cost is still pretty high because most of the money you pay is going into research.

Here’s who we used: Dobbs/Fox and Associates

They had great ratings on Angie’s List. If you do get your yard surveyed, be prepared, if the property line is covered by plants, they will have to clear the way to set the stake.

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[MikeDady]

Dobbs/Fox is who we have used as well. Did have a bit of trouble getting their CADD guy to come through with some minor mislabeled corrections, but other than that they were A-okay.

Another helpful surveyor outfit is True North Land Surveying http://truenorthlandsurveying.com/

Money spent on a site survey is well worth preventing any possible misunderstandings.

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[beachdrivegirl]

Thanks MikeDady and j. It sounds like our fisrt step then is to clear out the bushes in the back to make room for the surveyors.

Funny side note we called Alki fence to get a price quote from a “West Seattle” company and came to find out they arent from here at all, but actually from Lynnwood.

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[MikeDady]

Beachdrivegirl,

If you would like to source the extension of your fence line to a business whose owners live in West Seattle and whose shop is located just across the Duwamish River in Georgetown let me know. Our metal and glass fabrication shop is branching out, pun intended, into the wide world of wood and a fence project is something within our scope of work.

You may peruse the company website here:

http://www.mimiriley.com/Site/Home.html

WSB – If this advertisement for our company in this context is a violation of The WSB Code Of Justice I apologize and please delete it.

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