Is that home really fenced or not?

The Columbus Board of Realtor®’s MLS has a box that we can check as to whether the home is fenced. Knowing what happens when we “assume”, I think it’s safe to say that when the box is checked, the buyer expects that the yard is fenced and that if they buy the home, they will own the fencing.

That may be true or not.

Let’s suppose the brown house is the one for sale and that it is advertised as being fenced. The three adjacent properties (gray houses) all installed their own fencing within their property lines.

The brown house added front gates (blue line) while they lived in the home, thus enclosing their backyard as well. I once saw an example of this and the listing agent advertised the property as being FENCED.

So, is the property fenced or not? Technically it’s not, and it should be disclosed that the buyer will only own the two front fence panels. At any point, the neighbors could remove their fences.

Another issue to watch for is the “green grass” example above. Sometimes owners will have their fence set in from their property line to make it easier to mow around the fence. This land is only usable by the fence owner. If your dog decides to use that piece of grass as his “favorite” place, you could be in trouble.

Heads Up For Buyers

As a buyer, if you want a fenced yard …

• If there is no fence on the property, and you want to add one, first check the deed restrictions to see if fencing is allowed and if so, what restrictions are there to the type of fence.
• If fencing already exists on the property, check to see who owns it and if a building permit was obtained. Ask if a pin survey was done prior to installation.
• If the lot is partially fenced with some neighbor’s fencing, check to see whether the neighbors put their fence just inside their property line or a mower’s width inside the property line.
• Remember, you won’t be able to join your fence to the neighbor’s posts. Doing so would mean your fence rails are on their property.
• Don’t have a fence installed until you’ve had a pin survey done. It will be well worth the cost. If you don’t have the survey done, and you install the fence onto the neighbor’s property, you’ll have to remove it when the neighbor decides to sell and the title company finds that your fence encroaches.

A Seller’s Nightmare

I once had a buyer who wanted to buy a home on a corner lot that had three different types of fences enclosing the backyard. There was a privacy fence installed from the home, along the right side inside the sidewalk, then along half of the back lot line where it connected with a neighbor’s chain link fence. The neighbor’s chain link ran along the other half of the back lot line until it reached a shed which belonged to the home that was for sale. Along the left side of the yard was a 4-ft high board fence that belonged to the neighbor to the left. That fence also stopped at the shed. In other words, it was a mish-mash and really suspect that some or all of the fencing and the shed might be encroaching.

Since the Seller was advertising the property as being fenced, I wrote into the Buyer’s purchase offer that the Seller was to pay for a pin survey. If that survey showed any encroachment of the fencing or the shed, then they were to fix the problem. If moving the fence resulted in no longer having a fenced yard, then the Seller was to complete the fencing so the yard would be fenced.

Well, we got into contract on the home … a survey was done … the shed and some of the fencing had to be moved … and the Seller had to have new fencing installed. Saving money by not having a pin survey done initially, cost him a lot more than the survey would have in the first place before fence installation was done. I imagine he learned his lesson.

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