Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

As commendable a notion as it might be, "good neighbor fence" is not part of the law of California. We have an ancient (1872) statute, based on when neighbors either raised crops and wanted to fence animals out, or raised livestock, and wanted to fence them in. The law says if someone encloses his property with fence (and/or buildings and hedges, etc.), he is responsible for sharing costs with his neighbors; but as long as he chooses not to enclose his property, he needn't share any costs. See Civil Code section 841.

I'm not saying a small-claims judge wouldn't be sympathetic to an argument based on fairness, and the good-neighbor fence concept certainly would be worth raising. I'm only saying there is no black-letter law supporting that theory.

In a development with an HOA and common areas, very likely the duties of owners with respect to fences are going to be set forth in the CC&Rs;, other owner agreements, or rules the HOA is permitted to make and enforce. That's where I'd look for your answer.