Dividing fences and the neighbour conversation
The Dividing Fences Act governs who pays for what on a shared boundary, and a landscaping project usually forces the issue. How to have the conversation before you start, and what happens if it goes badly.
Every renovation on a Perth block eventually arrives at the boundary. You want to raise levels for a new lawn, run limestone blocks down the side, get a bobcat through the side access, or the twenty-year-old fibro fence has to come out because the new bed sits hard against it. The moment you touch that line you are in someone else’s business, and two separate Acts start running at once.
The first is the Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA), which decides who pays for the fence. The second — the one people miss — is Part 6 of the Building Act 2011, which decides whether you are allowed to remove it, affect it, or work across the boundary at all. That one carries fines of up to $25,000, and where no building permit is in effect it applies to you, the owner, not to your contractor.
Neither is complicated. Both are unforgiving about sequence.
What a professional does at this stage
A landscaper quoting a job that touches a boundary does three things before putting a number on paper: confirms where the boundary actually is, reads the council’s fencing local law, and gets the neighbour’s consent in writing on the right form.
Not because they are careful people. Because the alternative is a job that stops halfway with a bobcat on site, a neighbour who has withdrawn permission, and a 28-day statutory clock before anyone can go to court. That is the most expensive week in landscaping.
They also make one judgement early: is this a fence job or a fence conversation? If the existing fence is sound and you simply want it gone for access, that is a two-week negotiation about a temporary barrier and make-good. If it is at end of life anyway, you have a genuine cost-sharing right and a much better conversation to have.
Establish the boundary before you assume anything
Fences move. Old Perth fences in particular were often put up by whoever built first, on a line pegged by eye. A fence is not evidence of a boundary.
Before you set out anything permanent near the line — retaining, paving, a screen, a pergola post — cross-check the fence against your certificate of title and your site measurements from measuring up. If you are within about 100 mm of the line with anything structural, or if the fence visibly does not line up with the neighbouring pair of houses, get it surveyed.
The Act gives you a formal path for this. Under section 12 you give written notice of your intention to have the line defined by a surveyor licensed under the Licensed Surveyors Act 1909. The neighbour then has 7 days to either peg the line themselves or engage a surveyor. Reasonable survey costs are shared equally — unless the survey proves their pegs were right, in which case they recover their costs from you.
An encroachment discovered after the concrete has gone in is a demolition, not a negotiation.
What a “sufficient fence” actually is
This is the heart of the Act. Adjoining owners are liable to contribute in equal proportions to a sufficient fence — and to its repair. Not to the fence you want. A sufficient fence is:
- whatever your local government’s fencing local law prescribes for that part of the district; or
- whatever the two of you agree on, provided it does not breach that local law; or
- failing both, any substantial fence “ordinarily capable of resisting the trespass of cattle and sheep”, or a fence the court decides is sufficient.
Point 3 is a nineteenth-century test that tells you nothing useful in Bayswater, which is precisely why nearly every Perth council has a fencing local law. Read yours. The pattern looks like this:
| Council | Sufficient residential dividing fence | Note |
|---|---|---|
| City of Bayswater | 1,800 mm, up to 2,100 mm with the adjoining owner’s consent; listed materials include colour bonded metal, timber, limestone, brick and fibre cement sheet | Fibre cement and colour bonded metal not permitted adjacent to a primary street boundary |
| City of Canning | 1.8 m to 2.2 m, measured from the higher ground level either side | Brick or masonry over 0.75 m needs building approval |
| City of Joondalup | 1,800 mm from natural ground level, except within the street setback | Street walls over 1.2 m must be visually permeable above the verge midpoint |
Two consequences follow immediately.
You pay the difference on anything above sufficient. If the local law says Colorbond at 1.8 m and you want rendered blockwork at 2.1 m for acoustic screening, your neighbour’s liability stops at half the cost of the sufficient fence. Everything above that is yours unless they agree in writing — and section 6 makes clear that a written agreement between owners overrides the Act’s default position, in either direction.
The front fence is a different law entirely. The Dividing Fences Act deals with the line between two lots. Your street wall is governed by the R-Codes and your local planning scheme — typically a 1.2 m solid limit within the street setback with visual permeability above. That belongs in R-Codes and your council.
Who pays, and the exceptions that catch people
| Situation | Who pays |
|---|---|
| No sufficient fence exists | Half each, for a sufficient fence |
| Existing fence needs repair | Half each |
| Fence destroyed by storm, flood, lightning or accident | Either owner may repair immediately without notice and recover half |
| Fence destroyed by a fire that started through one owner’s neglect, or by their tree falling | That owner repairs it, and if they refuse the other owner recovers the whole cost |
| You want better than sufficient | You pay the excess |
| Your boundary is with a public reserve, park or Crown land | No contribution — the Act does not bind the Crown and excludes public reserve trustees from the definition of owner |
| Rented property | Apportioned between landlord and tenant by the length of the lease under section 19 |
Giving notice properly
Notice under this Act is not a text message. It must be in writing, signed, and either handed over personally or sent by registered mail to the person’s usual or last known address. A construction notice must specify the boundary or line to be fenced, contain a proposal for fencing it, and specify the kind of fence proposed.
Then the clocks run:
| Trigger | The clock |
|---|---|
| Construction notice given, no agreement | After 21 days, either owner may apply to the Magistrates Court |
| Agreement or court order made, no time stated | 3 months, then the other owner may build the whole fence and recover half the cost |
| Repair notice given | Neighbour has 14 days to reply in writing; no reply means you may repair and recover half |
| Claim for half the value of a fence already built | Neighbour has one month to pay or dispute |
| BA20 / BA20A consent notice under the Building Act | 28 days before you may apply to the court |
Send the notice even when the conversation is friendly. A signed, dated notice is what turns a verbal agreement into a recoverable debt eighteen months later when the neighbour has sold.
The Building Act consents nobody tells you about
This is the part that bites landscapers. Under Part 6 of the Building Act 2011 you must have each affected owner’s written consent before you:
- remove a fence, gate or other barrier on or beyond the boundary — fine up to $10,000, with a $1,000 on-the-spot infringement;
- adversely affect the neighbour’s land — fine up to $25,000. “Work” here expressly includes changing ground levels to an extent that could adversely affect other land, which is exactly what a raised lawn or a new retaining wall does;
- affect a party wall, a substantial dividing fence, or a boundary retaining wall protecting their land — fine up to $25,000;
- go onto their land to do the work or conduct a survey — fine up to $10,000.
The consent is given on approved forms — BA20 for encroachment and adverse effect, BA20A for protection structures, party walls, fence removal and access. Serve the form, and the neighbour has 28 days. If they refuse, or say nothing and ask nothing, you can apply to the Magistrates Court for an order under section 86. In deciding, the court weighs the burden on the neighbour against whether you had a reasonable alternative that avoided their land.
In 2021 the Building Services Board fined a builder $1,000 for removing a rear boundary fence in Balga without notifying the neighbour, who was left without a fence for about seven weeks. He had assumed the owner would handle it. Where no permit is in effect, the duty sits with the owner — you.
Safety and the things that are not negotiable
- Old fibro fences are asbestos until proven otherwise. Super six sheeting was standard on Perth boundaries into the 1980s. More than 10 square metres of non-friable material is licensed removal work, and any friable material is Class A licensed work. Never cut, drill or high-pressure-wash it.
- Pool barriers. If any part of the fence you are removing forms part of a pool barrier, a compliant alternative barrier must be in place for the entire period it is down. See pools and pool fencing.
- Services in the post line. Fence posts and strainer holes go straight through comms, gas and unmarked poly. Do the enquiry in locating services first.
- Retaining under a fence is a separate approval. A fence sitting on top of a retaining wall is two structures with two rulesets — see retaining walls approval.
- No registration filter. Fences and retaining walls are “incidental structures” and are excluded from builder work, so your fencing contractor needs no building contractor registration whatever the price. Your protection is the written contract, not a licence — which is why contracts and variations matters more here than elsewhere.
When it goes badly
Your council will not referee. The City of Canning states plainly that it does not resolve dividing fence disputes and refers owners to a solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau; most Perth councils take the same line, acting only where a fence is dangerous or non-compliant.
The realistic ladder is: written notice, then mediation, then court. CAB WA runs community mediation covering dividing fences, retaining walls and encroaching roots and branches — $200 per party for the pre-mediation appointment and $250 per party per session, with some councils (Joondalup, Kwinana, Stirling, Swan and Vincent are named) subsidising free sessions for residents.
If that fails, the application is Form 53 in the Magistrates Court, filed as an application under a conferring Act: $198.50 for an individual on the fee schedule effective July 2026, or $58.50 concession. The court can decide whether the fence is needed, what kind it is, who builds which part, by when, and where the line sits — and its order is final. That is a modest fee for a binding answer, and knowing it exists usually improves the conversation before you need it.
What happens next
Write the fence outcome into your workbook as a hard constraint: agreed fence type and height, who pays what, the notice date, and any BA20A consent you hold. That number goes into your budget and that line goes onto your concept plan as fixed.
The next lesson moves off the boundary and onto the water supply — bores, the sprinkler roster and the winter switch-off — which sets what the garden you are designing is allowed to drink.
Checklist
- Establish the true boundary line before assuming the fence is on it
- Know the cost-sharing principle for a "sufficient fence"
- Give neighbours written notice before work that affects them
- Agree in writing on anything above standard fencing
Where to go deeper
Every link below was fetched and checked before it shipped. Nothing here is a guess.
- Freegovernment20 minPerth / WA
Dividing fences
Building and Energy, Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety
Why this oneThe WA regulator's own step-by-step guide to the Dividing Fences Act 1961, and the single best starting point because it is written for owners rather than lawyers. It walks the new-fence process and the repair process separately, states that notice must be in writing, signed, and delivered personally or by registered post, and explains the exceptions where one owner wears the whole cost. It also has a dedicated page for the case where the adjoining land is vacant or the owner cannot be found.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freestandard40 minPerth / WA
Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA)
Parliamentary Counsel's Office, Government of Western Australia
Why this oneThe Act itself, free, in HTML, Word and PDF. It is only 24 sections and most of what you need is in sections 5 to 15 — the definition of a sufficient fence, the equal-contribution rule, the notice procedure, the 21-day and 14-day clocks, and what happens when a tree or a fire takes the fence out. Read the actual words before you accept anyone's summary, including a neighbour's. The compilation table on this page shows the last substantive amendment commenced on 30 June 2021, so the current consolidation is stable.
Change this for PerthThe Act does not bind the Crown, and the definition of owner in section 5 excludes trustees of a public reserve or public park. If your boundary is with council public open space, a school or a reserve, you cannot compel a contribution under this Act — ask the land manager what their policy is instead.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- FreetoolPerth / WA
Building approvals — Building Act forms (BA20 and BA20A)
Building and Energy, Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety
Why this oneThe approved forms for getting a neighbour's written consent, which is a legal requirement under Part 6 of the Building Act 2011 and not a courtesy. BA20 covers encroaching on or adversely affecting the neighbour's land; BA20A covers protection structures, work affecting a party wall, a substantial dividing fence or a boundary retaining wall, removing a fence or gate, and going onto the neighbour's land to work or survey. Both forms include the response notice the neighbour fills in, and both state the 28-day response period.
Change this for PerthWhere no building or demolition permit is in effect, the Building Act defines the "person responsible for work" as each owner of the land the work is done on — that is you, not your contractor. Serving the form is your duty even on a DIY job.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment10 minPerth / WA
Dividing fences in a residential area
City of Bayswater
Why this oneA worked example of what "sufficient fence" actually means once a local law fills in the blank. Bayswater's Fencing and Floodlighting Local Law 2016 lists the permitted materials — brick, stone, concrete, limestone, glass, modular, wrought iron, tubular steel, timber, corrugated fibre reinforced cement sheeting and colour bonded metal — and sets the height at 1,800 mm, up to a maximum of 2,100 mm with the adjoining neighbour's consent. Read it to see the shape of the answer, then go and read your own council's version.
Change this for PerthThis is one council's local law and it binds nobody outside the City of Bayswater. Materials, heights and front-setback rules vary between Perth councils, and local laws are amended — the City of Melville was consulting on a fencing amendment local law during 2026.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment5 minPerth / WA
Dividing fences
City of Canning
Why this oneThe most honest council page on the subject, because it says out loud what most owners assume is not true: the City does not resolve dividing fence disputes and will refer you to a solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau. It will only act where a fence is dangerous or non-compliant. It also gives Canning's sufficient-fence range of 1.8 m to 2.2 m measured from the higher ground level, and confirms that a brick or masonry fence over 0.75 m needs building approval.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment10 minPerth / WA
Fencing and street walls
City of Joondalup
Why this oneThe front-boundary half of the problem, which the Dividing Fences Act does not touch at all. It sets out the street-wall rules by R-Code density, the 1.2 m solid-wall limit within the street setback, and the definition of visually permeable — continuous vertical or horizontal gaps of 50 mm or greater occupying not less than one third of the total surface area. It also restates the building permit exemption: 750 mm for masonry, 1.8 m for anything else.
Change this for PerthThe street setback distances and densities quoted are Joondalup's. Your own council's local planning scheme and any structure plan or design guidelines may differ, and a rural or special-control area changes it again.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Paid · $200 per party for the pre-mediation appointment, then $250 per party per sessiondirectoryPerth / WA
Community Mediation
Citizens Advice Bureau of Western Australia
Why this oneThe realistic middle step between a stalled conversation and a court application. CAB WA's community mediation explicitly lists dividing fences, retaining walls and encroaching roots and branches among the disputes it handles, uses two accredited mediators, and starts with separate pre-mediation interviews. Several Perth councils — Joondalup, Kwinana, Stirling, Swan and Vincent are named — subsidise a limited number of free sessions for their residents, so check yours before you pay.
Change this for PerthMediation is voluntary. If your neighbour will not attend, it achieves nothing and you are back to the notice-and-court path under the Act.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment10 minPerth / WA
Dividing Fences — applications to the Magistrates Court
Magistrates Court of Western Australia
Why this oneThe court's own page confirming that Form 53 is the application used under the Dividing Fences Act 1961, both where the owners cannot agree and where the adjoining owner cannot be found. It links to the Form 53 template in Word and PDF and to the current fee schedule. Knowing the form exists, and that it is a fixed-fee application rather than a lawsuit, changes how the conversation with a difficult neighbour feels.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- FreedirectoryPerth / WA
Find a Licensed Surveyor
Land Surveyors Licensing Board of Western Australia
Why this oneSection 12 of the Dividing Fences Act only recognises a surveyor licensed under the Licensed Surveyors Act 1909, so if the boundary is genuinely in dispute this register is the filter. It is searchable by surname, given name or licence number and shows registration date, licence number and whether the practising certificate is current. The Board is constituted under section 4 of that Act, which makes this the authoritative list rather than a paid directory.
Change this for PerthThe register lists individuals, not firms or prices. Get at least two quotes for a boundary re-establishment survey — the cost varies with how much old survey evidence still exists on the ground.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment20 minPerth / WA
Asbestos law and guidance
WorkSafe WA
Why this oneOld Perth dividing fences are frequently asbestos cement, and this is the regulator's statement of where the licensing line sits. A Class A or Class B licence is required to remove more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos-containing material, and a Class A licence is required for any amount of friable material. Read it before you agree to split the cost of removing a fibro fence, because removal and disposal can outweigh the new fence.
Change this for PerthThese thresholds are work health and safety duties binding anyone doing the work for fee or reward. A homeowner working on their own home also has duties under the Health (Asbestos) Regulations 1992 and must dispose of the material at a facility licensed to accept it — confirm the tip and the wrapping requirements with your local government environmental health officer first.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
The rules, with sources
WA regulation changes. Each point below names its primary source and the date it was last checked — always confirm with your own council before you build.
Owners of adjoining lands not divided by a sufficient fence are liable to join in, or contribute in equal proportions to, the construction of a dividing fence between those lands. The same equal-shares rule applies to repairs.
Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA) ss. 7 and 14 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
A "sufficient fence" means a fence prescribed by the local government's local law for that part of the district, or a fence of the description and quality agreed by the parties that does not breach that local law. Where there is no local law and no agreement, it means any substantial fence ordinarily capable of resisting the trespass of cattle and sheep, or a fence determined to be sufficient by the court.
Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA) s. 5 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Any notice or demand under the Dividing Fences Act must be in writing and signed, and must be delivered personally or sent by registered mail to the person's usual or last known place of abode. A construction notice must specify the boundary or line to be fenced, contain a proposal for fencing it, and specify the kind of fence proposed.
Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA) ss. 8 and 22 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
If the owners have not agreed within 21 days after a construction notice is given, either owner may apply to the Magistrates Court, which may determine the need for and kind of fence, what portion each owner builds, the time for construction and, if necessary, the line the fence sits on. An owner given a repair notice has 14 days to reply in writing; if they do not, the owner who gave the notice may repair the fence and recover half the cost.
Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA) ss. 9 and 15 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Where a dividing fence is damaged or destroyed by fire, or by a tree falling, the owner of the land through whose neglect the fire originated or on which the tree stood must repair or renew it. If they fail to, the adjoining owner may do the work and recover the whole of the cost, not half.
Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA) s. 15(7)(c) and s. 15(8) ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Where owners disagree about the position of the common boundary, either may give notice of intention to have the line defined by a surveyor licensed under the Licensed Surveyors Act 1909. The other owner then has 7 days to peg the line or engage a surveyor. Reasonable survey expenses are shared equally, except where the survey confirms pegs the receiving owner placed, in which case that owner recovers their costs.
Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA) s. 12 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
A person constructing or repairing a fence under the Dividing Fences Act, and their agents and workers, may enter the adjoining land at all reasonable times to do what is necessary to carry out the work. This is a fencing right only; it does not authorise general site access.
Dividing Fences Act 1961 (WA) s. 21 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Under Part 6 of the Building Act 2011, a person responsible for work must not remove a fence, gate or other barrier on or beyond the boundary without each affected owner's consent (fine up to $10,000), must not adversely affect land beyond the boundary without consent (fine up to $25,000), must not affect a party wall, a substantial dividing fence or a boundary retaining wall without consent (fine up to $25,000), and must not go onto the neighbour's land to work or survey without consent (fine up to $10,000). "Work" includes changing ground levels to an extent that could adversely affect other land, and where no building or demolition permit is in effect the person responsible is each owner of the land the work is done on.
Building Act 2011 (WA) ss. 75, 77, 79, 80 and 81 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Removal of a fence, gate or other barrier to land without consent, court order or other authority carries a modified (infringement) penalty of $1,000, and encroachment beyond boundaries without consent carries $2,500.
Building Regulations 2012 (WA) Schedule 6 Division 1 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
A building permit is not required for a fence, screen or similar structure built in accordance with the local government's fencing local law. Where the district has no such local law, the exemption applies only if the fence is no more than 0.75 m high in masonry, or no more than 1.8 m high in any other material, and is not in wind region C or D. Separately, where work requires removal of any part of a private swimming pool barrier, an alternative compliant barrier must be in place for the whole period the component is removed.
Building Regulations 2012 (WA) Schedule 4 cl. 2 item 4 and reg. 54A ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Construction of an incidental structure — which the Building Act 2011 defines to include a fence, free-standing wall or retaining wall — is excluded from "builder work", so a contractor building your dividing fence does not need registration as a building contractor regardless of the value of the job.
Building Services (Registration) Regulations 2011 (WA) reg. 13; Building Act 2011 (WA) s. 3 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
The Magistrates Court fee schedule effective July 2026 sets the application fee for an application under a conferring Act (Form 53, used for Dividing Fences Act applications) at $198.50 for an individual, including a $3.00 Suitor's Fund fee, or $58.50 for an eligible individual. A minor case claim not exceeding $10,000 has a filing fee of $199.50 for an individual.
Magistrates Court of Western Australia, Court Fees (PDF), effective July 2026 ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026