Legal Question in Construction Law in California

It depends on the location of the fence and retaining wall, who built it and when. If it is on the property line and was built as part of the original construction of both homes, such as in a housing development, it is what is called a "good neighbor" fence and costs of maintenance, repair, renovation and replacement over time are shared. If it was built off the property line, or by one neighbor and not the other, then it is the responsibility of the person who built it, or their successor owners. This is assuming there are no agreements on the subject, such as covenants running with the land, CC&R's, easements, etc.

California's only statute dealing with the cost of maintaining boundary fences between neighbors was part of the original 1872 Civil Code (section 841 thereof) and ir reads as follows:

"� 841. Boundaries, monuments and fences; maintenance

Monuments and fences. Coterminous owners are mutually bound equally to maintain:

1. The boundaries and monuments between them;

2. The fences between them, unless one of them chooses to let his land lie without fencing; in which case, if he afterwards incloses it, he must refund to the other a just proportion of the value, at that time, of any division fence made by the latter."

What does it mean in the 21st Century? That's a good guess, and I have asked the Law Review Commission to propose an update, to no avail. Apparently, if X and Y are neighbors, and X has a fence, wall, and/or hedge completely surrounding his property, on all sides, he must contribute half the cost of the portion of the fence between Y and himself, but nothing if he doesn't fully enclose his own land.

This is a different result than Mr. McCormick's answer gives, and frankly I think his idea is what the law should be, but insofar as one can tell from the statutes and decisions interpreting them, there is no "good neighbor" cost-sharing law even though there ought to be. Present law might have made sense in 1872 when most people were trying to keep livestock in, or out, but the law is largely irrelevant nowadays.