Both sides of new state fence laws explained

Thursday, May 22, 2003

What side of the fence are you on? It can make a difference, under new rules recently passed by the Missouri Legislature in the general fence law. However, the law is not the same throughout the state. Vernon County is currently under the rules of the new general fence law, while Bates and Clinton county are under what is called a local option law. On the evening of Tuesday, May 20, farm management specialist Joe Koenen, Unionville, spoke at Kirksville on both of the fence laws, addressing how the new law will change things and answered questions from concerned landowners. Through the use of the TeleCenter network, simultaneous meetings were also held in Marysville, Warrensburg and Nevada. The general law, which applies to all but 17 of Missouri's counties, states that a landowner can only be required to build a boundary fence between adjoining pieces of property if they own livestock. However, in the other 17 counties, including Bates and Clinton, under the local option law, if one of the landowners has need for a boundary fence, then both of the landowners are legally required to pitch in half of the cost of building the said fence. In Vernon County, if both property owners own livestock, then they are supposed to meet and build or repair the boundary fence in a "reasonable" time. Koenen says that one of the problems with the new law is that there can be some confusion over what is a "reasonable" amount of time. Some people could consider 30 days reasonable, but others may have a much different view of things. "A 'reasonable' amount of time, to me, is going to cause a big amount of problems," said Koenen. In Bates and Clinton counties, if both landowners own livestock, then one landowner should give notice of need for building or repair on the boundary fence and the other landowner has 90 days to resolve the matter or face legal action. Many landowners will now be asking themselves what legal options are available if one landowner refuses to build a fence. Under the new general fence law, the simple answer is, none. Koenen reports that there is no specific legal recourse under this situation. Within the local option law, if one property holder refuses to build their fence, then the matter is to be decided by a judge. What is a fence? In Vernon County, the legal definition of a fence is a wire or wood span at least four feet high and having posts no more than 12 feet apart. In Bates and Clinton counties, the rules are much more stringent. The fence must have four barbed wire strands and the posts have to be at no more than 12 feet apart, unless the property owner put stays in‚ then posts can be 15 feet apart. If one party requires a more substantial fence -- for instance, if the party involved owns sheep or goats and needs a woven wire fence, then both the general and local option laws require both landowners to pay for half of the cost of installing the fence. Once a fence has been built, whose responsibility is it to maintain the barrier? Under the general law, in Vernon County, if each landowner will stand at the midpoint, on opposite sides of the fence, each one has to maintain their right hand sides. In optional law counties, landowners traditionally enter under the same agreement but they are not legally bound to do so. Both laws also state that adjacent property owners have a legal right to go onto another owners property to maintain the boundary fence. Under the new law, if livestock gets onto a property through the portion of the fence for which a property owner is responsible, then that property owner is only entitled to actual damages -- or nothing, depending on the fence condition. The local option law states that a landowner has no right to collect damages if livestock break through their fence but if livestock gets through the other side of the fence then the landowner can only get reimbursed for the cost of repair to the fence. However, in Vernon County, if livestock gets through the other side of the fence, depending on the condition of the fence, then the affected landowner can get actual or even double damages. Property owners present at the fence meeting showed a lot of frustration towards how confusing the fence laws were and the difficulty in getting unwilling landowners to accept their part of the bargain. One man was heard to say, "It will be cheaper to build the fence than to take it to court." Koenen advises that all fence agreements should be recorded at the county recorders office and old agreements can be found against deeds or old bank loans. The fence law can be found on the Internet at http://www.moga.state.mo.us/statutes/c272.htm. The revised general law begins at 272.010 and the local option starts at 272.210.

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