Property Disputes
Fencing Dispute Lawyers in Melbourne
Victorian fencing law gives you a set process: fencing notice, 30 days, then the Magistrates' Court if you still disagree. Get one step wrong and you can lose the right to recover a cent. We get the process right, and we resolve the boundary fights hiding underneath.
- Free initial advice
- Senior lawyer on every file
- 24/7 availability
Neighbour refusing to pay their half, or gone silent on your fencing notice? The Fences Act has a clock, and it is probably already running.
Victorian fencing law gives you a set process: fencing notice, 30 days, then the Magistrates' Court if you still disagree. Get one step wrong and you can lose the right to recover a cent. We get the process right, and we resolve the boundary fights hiding underneath.
Your neighbour does not get to just say no
You want the sagging fence replaced. Your neighbour will not return calls, disputes the quote, or announces they will not pay for something they never asked for. You still have to live next to them, so you want this fixed without a war. The Fences Act exists for exactly this moment: it makes adjoining owners share the cost of a sufficient dividing fence, ordinarily half each, and it gives you a process that works even when the other side will not engage.
MK Law runs fencing disputes across Melbourne and Victoria, and most of them end with a notice or a letter rather than a hearing. Call 1800 130 120 for a free first call before you order the fence. The order you do things in is what decides whether you can recover anything at the end.
The fencing notice is the whole game
Except for urgent works, you cannot build and bill. You serve a fencing notice first, describing the fence, the line, the quotes and the contribution you claim. From service, your neighbour has 30 days. Three things can happen, and each has a clean next step.
They agree, and you build on the agreed terms. They disagree, about the fence, the standard or the split, and the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria decides it; unlike most neighbour disputes, fencing matters go to the Magistrates’ Court rather than VCAT. Or they say nothing for 30 days, and the law then lets you do the works and recover their share through the same court.
The trap is a defective notice. Wrong owner, vague works, missing quotes, or a built fence that does not match what was proposed: any of these can sink recovery. Serve it on the owner of the neighbouring land, not the tenant, and if you are unsure who owns it, a title search answers that in a day. We draft or check the notice before you serve it, which costs very little next to a recovery claim that fails on a technicality.
A good share of the fencing fights that reach us turn out to be arguments about the boundary line underneath the fence. Before you spend thousands on a new fence, make sure it is going up in the right place. A fence built on the wrong line can hand your neighbour the beginnings of an adverse possession claim after 15 years.
When it is really a boundary dispute
If either side doubts where the boundary sits, you can give a boundary survey notice: a licensed surveyor defines the line unless you agree it first, and in most circumstances both owners share the survey cost. The survey answers the question, and sometimes it reveals a bigger problem, a garage, a driveway or a whole fence line encroaching on someone’s land. At that point remedies move beyond fencing law into encroachment, trespass and, where a structure has sat there for over 15 years, adverse possession. Our property dispute lawyers handle that escalation as one continuous file, so you are not starting again with new lawyers when the stakes jump. And if the neighbour lists the land for sale while an encroachment or possession claim is live, the next question is whether a caveat on property can hold the title still for long enough to finish the argument.
Fence damage caused by building work next door is different again, and usually belongs with our building dispute lawyers. If you live in a townhouse or apartment complex, the line you are arguing about may sit on common property rather than between two freehold titles, which turns a neighbour argument into a body corporate disputes matter with an entirely different decision-maker.
Thirty days on a fencing notice pass quickly
Whether you are serving one or you have just received one, the response window shapes everything after it. A free call now gets the sequence right before positions harden.
What this costs, honestly
What a fencing dispute costs depends on how far it goes. Most end with the notice or one letter. A Magistrates’ Court contribution claim with a clean paper trail is short work, and we tell you before filing whether the amount at stake justifies it. The real money only enters the picture when the fence fight turns out to be a boundary fight, and we tell you which kind you have, and scope it, in the free first call. Call 1800 130 120 or use the form on this page, and bring photos of the fence and any notice or demand you have received.
Legal Information
Talk to a lawyer before the next step
Meet the firm
Michael Kuzilny
Founder & Principal, MK Law Group
Michael has been working in the Victorian legal system since 1986. MK Law Group acts for individuals, family businesses, and commercial clients across Melbourne, with a senior lawyer on every file from the first call.
"We take on the matters we know we can run well, and we are direct about the ones we cannot."
- Practising in Victoria since 1986
- Senior lawyer on every file from day one
- Free initial advice on every new matter
Testimonials
Real reviews from real clients
Verified client reviews appear here. Want to leave one?
Share your experienceFAQs
Frequently asked questions
-
My neighbour refuses to pay half the fence. What can I do?
Serve a fencing notice, the formal demand the law gives you for exactly this. It sets out the fence you propose, the line it will follow, the quotes and the contribution you want. Adjoining owners generally share the cost of a sufficient dividing fence equally, so a flat refusal does not hold up. If your neighbour responds but disagrees, the Magistrates' Court of Victoria decides the fence, the standard and the split. If they do not respond within 30 days, you can build and then recover their share. We prepare notices that stand up in court, because a defective notice is the most common reason recovery fails. The first call is free.
-
I served a fencing notice and my neighbour has ignored it. Now what?
Once 30 days pass with no response, the law lets you carry out the works in the notice and then recover your neighbour's share through the Magistrates' Court. Stick to what the notice described: courts award contributions against the notice, so a bigger or fancier fence than you proposed weakens the claim. Keep the quotes, the invoices and proof the notice was properly given. If that paper trail is in order, these claims are usually short and cheap to run, and often a solicitor's letter after day 30 produces payment without a hearing.
-
We disagree about where the boundary actually is. Who decides?
Either owner can give a boundary survey notice, which says the boundary will be defined by a licensed surveyor unless you can agree its location. The surveyor's plan usually settles the argument, and in most circumstances both owners contribute to the survey cost. If the survey shows a structure sitting on the wrong side of the line, the matter becomes an encroachment claim rather than a fencing one, and the stakes change completely. Get advice before you pay for the survey, so that whatever it shows, you already know what you would do about it.
-
My neighbour built a new fence without asking me and now wants half. Do I have to pay?
Usually not. The right to make you contribute runs on the fencing notice, and an owner who builds without giving one generally cannot force you to pay afterwards, unless the works were genuinely urgent, for example a fence flattened in a storm, where the law allows action first and recovery after. If a demand has arrived for a fence you were never consulted on, do not pay it reflexively. Send us the demand and we will tell you in one free call whether it has any legal legs.
-
I want a better fence than my neighbour is willing to fund. How does that work?
The equal split applies to a sufficient dividing fence, which means a fence adequate for the properties in that street, not the premium option. If you want higher, longer lasting or better looking than sufficient, you pay the difference above the sufficient standard and your neighbour pays half of the sufficient fence only. Pricing both versions in the fencing notice heads off the argument later, and it is the sort of detail that makes a notice hold up at the Magistrates' Court.
-
Is it worth using a lawyer for a fence?
For a simple contribution disagreement, often one properly drafted notice or letter is all it takes. Where it genuinely pays to have a lawyer is when the fence fight is really a boundary fight: a survey showing the fence in the wrong spot, a neighbour's structure over the line, or a possible adverse possession claim after decades of a misplaced fence. Those disputes affect the title to your land, and the early moves matter. Call 1800 130 120 and we will tell you which kind of fight you have.
- 30+
- Years in Victorian civil work
- 1,500+
- Files run end-to-end
- 4.7
- Average Google rating
- 24/7
- Free initial advice
Be in touch
Talk to a Melbourne civil lawyer today
Free first call. Honest assessment. No obligation. Reach us by phone, email, or the form below.
- marcus@mklawfirm.com.au
- 1800 130 120
- 2/212 Barkly Street, St Kilda VIC 3182