Fencing in your yard can help you in many ways. It can boost your curbside appeal, provide security and privacy, and also help better establish property lines. What’s so important about property lines, though? How do fence companies find property lines?
Property lines are an important part of fence installation. As you might guess, you can’t install a fence outside of your property line. Knowing the boundaries of your yard is a must for any fence installation. How do you go about that, though? Here at Northland Fence, we’ve been in the fencing industry for over 15 years. We have a lot of experience with all aspects of fencing, including how to find property lines. Let’s talk more about how you can know where your property ends and your neighbor’s begins.
Each county has its own Recorder Office or Assessor’s office. The purpose of this office is to maintain permanent, public records of property transactions. If you ever have any questions regarding your own property and its boundaries, checking with your Recorder’s Office is a good place to start.
Here in the US, a plat is a map that shows the divisions of plots of land. Your local Assessor’s office has physical copies of the plats for the county. If you’re lucky, however, many county offices now have online services to check the plats as well.
Sometimes there are natural, or man-made, markers that can indicate the specific boundaries of your property. If your neighbor already has a fence built, you could ask if it’s on their property line or not. Other times, things like trees or rocks could have been used as markers for the outline of a property.
A surveyor can be helpful when it comes to determining the exact, specific location of your property boundary. While this process can be more costly than the others, it’s especially useful if there are any questions regarding who owns what. They will come out and make precise measurements to let you know, without a doubt, what land is yours and what isn’t.
It’s entirely the customer’s responsibility to know where your property line is. While we’re happy to help let you learn how to determine your property line, ultimately, the responsibility falls onto you.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind when planning out where you would like your future fence to be installed. Some counties have specific laws regarding how close to your property line a fence can be without prior agreement with the other owner of the property line.
You can build directly onto the property line if you get consent from your neighbor. Even if you don’t plan on building on your property line directly, we recommend that you at least give your neighbor a courtesy heads-up about where your future fence line will be. Keeping an open and honest line of communication between you and your neighbor can help if any future events regarding your fence or property line occur.
Property lines have been around for quite a long time. While there hasn’t always been a paper aspect to them, in some places in the United States you can still find evidence of cornerstones and other natural markers that were used to originally mark out who owned what. If you check your local offices, you can even find the history of who’s owned what property within your county.
Chances are when you bought your house, the details of your property line were included in the process. Property lines won’t change without a proper purchase or exchange between you and the owner of the other property. This means your property line will never change without you knowing about it.
Knowing exactly where your property line is allows you to plan out changes to your home and land without worrying about potentially upsetting the neighbors. At least, not upsetting them by building on their land by accident. Anything within your property line is yours to change as you see fit, within the regulations set by your specific county.
An easement is a part of your property that might be utilized or accessed by those who don’t own your property. Most commonly, these are near the front of your lot, normally by public land such as a sidewalk. An easement can also include land that is being occupied by power lines, telephone lines, or sewage drains.
Many counties have laws regarding building fences near an easement. Even if your county allows it, we highly encourage you not to build on an easement. This is due to the fact that sometimes an easement must be accessed by the city, and you could risk your fence being moved or destroyed when that area is needing to be accessed, at a cost to yourself.
Figuring out your property line is just one aspect of building the fence of your dreams. Established right here in Minnesota, with over 15 years of experience in the fencing industry, we’re happy to help you with every step of the process of getting your fence exactly how you want it. We’re no strangers to the myriad of questions that can pop up during the fencing process, and we have a variety of resources available to answer your questions. If you have any specific concerns regarding your county’s laws and regulations, feel free to check out our city code reference page in order to get the information you need.
With two locations in Minnesota (Ramsey and Apple Valley), our teams are ready to help tackle whatever fencing project you may have. We treat our customers and employees like family, we make sure that you get the best bang for your buck. We also pay our employees year-round, even during the off-season. We can install your new fence any time of year with our in-house team. We will never hire contractors when it comes time to install your new fence. This way you can be certain that the installation team is working to our standards.
We offer warranties on both our materials and our labor – we’re that certain that your fence is going to stand the test of time. We’re committed to giving you the best quality fence possible, and we’re prepared to back that statement.
If you have any questions about any step of the fence installation process, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (763) 316-4881. We also offer free, online estimates as well as a virtual fence planning tool – all so you can get started on your project faster. We look forward to working with you.
Your neighbor, and yourself, may only build directly on the property line if the other person consents to it.
We recommend that you discuss this with your neighbor in order to ensure civility. Legally, it is the responsibility of whoever’s property it’s on. Having a discussion with them can ensure that neither of you is uncertain about this situation.
Whether you’re looking for a beautiful, maintenance-free vinyl privacy fence, a sturdy chain link fence, or a ornamental fence, we’re ready to show you why we’re Minnesota’s highest and best rated fence company.
Use this form to request a free estimate or call us at 763-325-8211.
Northland Fence Company Ramsey
6390 McKinley St NW, Suite 150
Ramsey, MN 55303
763-496-4813
Monday: 9 AM–5 PM
Tuesday: 9 AM–5 PM
Wednesday: 9 AM–5 PM
Thursday: 9 AM–5 PM
Friday: 9 AM–5 PM
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: Closed
