Property Line and Fence Laws in Colorado

Property line and fence laws in Colorado address encroachment, boundary lines, fence construction, and responsibilities between neighbors.

Fence and property line disputes cause more neighborhood issues than almost any other problem. A good fence only makes a good neighbor if it’s on the neighbor’s side of the property. Legal questions about where property lines begin and end and where the fence belongs fill courtrooms throughout Colorado.

Property line surveys aren't guaranteed to resolve all the issues, but they can often help. A survey can tell you where the property boundary is, but may not answer who must pay for the fence. Whenever neighbors have a property line dispute or fence issue, a property survey is always the first step.

Colorado’s laws might not address the types of fence at issue in a residential dispute. Fence laws arose in Colorado’s early cattle-ranching days and need updating. Neighbors may need help from municipal regulations and homeowner’s associations to handle their fence line disputes.

Rural and Residential Fences

The Colorado Revised Statutes have two laws concerning fencing. These laws focus on agricultural or grazing land, not front lawns of private homeowners.

Partition Fences

A partition fence separates two adjoining parcels of land, whether agricultural or grazing land. Colorado is a “fence-out” state, meaning landowners have the responsibility to fence livestock out of their property. Livestock owners are not required to fence in free-range animals on grazing land.

Partition fences must be “lawful fences” according to Colorado statutes. A lawful fence is a “well-constructed” barbed wire fence with:

• At least three wire strands
• “Substantial” posts
• Posts set approximately 20 feet apart
• Fencing sufficient to deter ordinary horses, cattle, mules, and other domestic livestock

Although partition fences prevent livestock from entering property, Colorado fence laws require both landowners to pay the cost of construction and maintenance. The statute requires both parties to contribute to the building of a new fence or repair of an existing fence. If one owner will not contribute to the fence, the other owner may complete or repair the fence, and place a lien on the property for one-half the cost.

Residential Fences

Neighborhood disputes involving fences generally involve decorative or privacy fences between houses. There are no Colorado fence laws about residential fences, so feuding neighbors must look to their city or county building codes for guidance.

City fence regulations limit where and how owners may place fences on commercial and private property. Cities may limit:

• Fence height in front and rear yards: Typically four feet in the front and six to eight feet in back
• Materials and permeability: For instance, in Denver, front-yard fences must be 50% open, while side and back yard fences can be 100% solid
• Type of materials: Most cities do not allow hazardous materials such as barbed wire, razor wire, or corrugated metal, while historic districts may limit use of PVC or chain link fencing in favor of wood fencing or brick walls

Homeowners’ Associations (HOAs)

HOAs may have an appearance clause in the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs). The HOA can settle neighbor dispute over height, color, or style of fencing based on requirements in the CC&Rs, if they exist.

Common Causes of Neighbor Disputes

Neighbors find ways to argue over nearly anything involving the borders of their properties. Common causes include:

• Boundary line encroachment: The boundary line appears on the property deed as a series of measurements taken from markers around the property borders. Fences and walls should sit on the boundary line. In older neighborhoods, fences tend to drift as old fences come down and new ones are built. Without periodic surveys, one neighbor’s fence slowly moves onto another neighbor’s property.
• Loss of easement: In older neighborhoods, some properties had easements attached to the deed, giving them access to roads or recreational areas. As new developments came in or fresh owners took over the property, the easements may not have been as important. Later owners may decide they want to exercise the property right granted by the easement, which was never removed or extinguished in the original deed.
• Public nuisance: Noisy children, loud parties, trees that drop leaves or fruit over the fence, even security cameras that peer over the privacy fence can all become sources of neighbor disputes.

Tree Trimming Laws

If the trees next door blow dead leaves into your lawn and gutters, you may want to rake them up and throw them back over the fence. That's not a good idea. In Colorado, putting anything in your neighbor’s yard can be trespassing.

Under Colorado’s common law, you may trim back the branches that hang over your fence up to the property line. You can't enter onto your neighbor’s property to cut the branches, but you are permitted to cut or grind down any roots that impinge into your yard. You're not allowed to kill the trees by doing so, so consider your options before acting.

Trees on the common property line are boundary trees. Surveyors use boundary trees as marks or monuments to determine the exact location of property lines. Property owners cannot remove these monuments without written notice to a Colorado land surveyor.

If you trim tree branches that intrude into your yard, you cannot bill your neighbor for the cost.

Having Boundary Issues? Get Legal Advice From a Colorado Real Estate Attorney

Both rural and residential property owners may need legal help when they have neighbor disputes over fences, trees, and the cost of repairs and removal. Before these disputes become litigation, get legal advice from a Colorado real estate attorney.