Fencing Quickguide
PLEASE NOTE: The Committee is not able to provide advice about fences. If you are unable to find an answer to your question in the Fencing QuickGuide, please do not contact the Committee as we will be unable to assist you. We suggest that you contact a community legal centre (http://www.communitylaw.org.au/find_a_clc.php) or a solicitor instead.
The property beside you is vacant and you cannot find out who the owner is
If the identity or whereabouts of the adjoining owner is unknown, the Act allows you, after making reasonable inquiries, to place an advertisement in a local newspaper addressed to the occupant of the land requiring him/her to contribute to constructing the fence, or to send such a notice by registered post to the address shown on the rates notices for the property.
You can then apply to the Magistrates' Court without the other party present for an Order authorising the construction of the fence, the kind and position of the fence, and the proportion of the cost to be met by each party.
If at any time during the life of the fence the owner is found or any other person occupies the adjoining land, you may serve a copy of the Magistrates' Court Order upon that person, with a demand for payment, within one month of the date of service, of a sum representing the same proportion of the present actual value of the fence as provided in the original Order. You are entitled to payment at the end of that month, unless within that time the other person issues a Magistrates' Court Complaint complaining that the Order is unjust.
There is no similar provision in the Act with respect to fence repairs.