The short answer
If you own the fence, you can generally replace it without your neighbour’s permission — but with three important limits: you must keep it on the same line, you must not step onto your neighbour’s land to do the work without their agreement, and you must stay within the permitted height (broadly two metres, or one metre next to a highway, before planning permission is needed). If the fence is shared, or ownership is genuinely uncertain, you should agree the work first. And if it is actually your neighbour’s fence, you cannot simply replace it. The trap is replacing a fence on an assumption about ownership or position, and creating a dispute in the process.
Why it matters
Two questions decide this, and both come down to evidence rather than assumption: who owns the fence, and where exactly it should sit. The popular “you own the left-hand (or right-hand) fence” rule does not exist; ownership is shown by the deeds, any T-marks and the history. Where you do own it, replacing like-for-like on the same line rarely causes trouble. The problems arise when a replacement quietly shifts the line, when the fence turns out to be shared or the neighbour’s, or when access onto their land is needed and not agreed. Establishing ownership and the line first is what keeps a simple job from turning into an argument.
What to do now
- Check the deeds and title plan for T-marks or express wording on ownership.
- Replace on the same line — do not take the chance to move it.
- Keep within permitted height, and agree any access onto the neighbour’s land in advance.
- If ownership is shared or unclear, agree the work in writing first.
Common mistakes
- Relying on the left/right-hand fence myth.
- Moving the line while “just replacing” the fence.
- Stepping onto the neighbour’s land without agreement.
- Replacing a fence that is actually shared or the neighbour’s.
When to call Coburns
If ownership or the line is unclear, we establish it objectively from the evidence — so you replace your fence without inadvertently starting a boundary dispute.