Q: The neighboring land is owned by an organization. Recently, without consulting me, it removed the fence between our land. I am considering raising
cattle and obviously the lack of the fence would be a problem.
In addition, the owner indicated the fence was in the wrong place and that I was farming some of the land belonging to it. How does one deal with a dispute of this
nature?
A: Fence line and boundary disputes are nasty and hard to solve.
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First, fence line legislation in all three prairie provinces provides that an owner who benefits from the fence must contribute to its upkeep. If you have cattle, you must help pay for fencing. If neighbors are unable to agree, there is an arbitration process to determine the contribution each is to make. The arbitrators, called fence viewers in Manitoba, can decide on the location of the fence. Any decision on the location of the fence does not settle the location of the legal boundary line. That must be done by survey and sometimes by the courts.
In my opinion, one owner cannot arbitrarily remove a fence line, even if it is not thought to be on the boundary line. Someone who does so could be liable for damages that have resulted.
There is a procedure for dealing with situations where one owner has used land belonging to an adjacent landowner. Let us say that A has farmed a four-acre strip of land that is in fact B’s land. The onus would be on B to show A was farming over the boundary line with an official survey showing the boundary line.
In Manitoba, one owner can give his neighbor a month’s notice of his intention to hire a surveyor to check the boundary. Both parties must share the expense.
Let’s say the survey establishes A is farming a four-acre strip that is indeed B’s land. In an ideal world one would hope that A and B can either negotiate or use mediation services to reach an agreement.
Failing that, B would have to begin court proceedings against A. The court could order a number of remedies.
First, it could order that the fence line be restored to the proper boundary, and that A has to pay rent to B for the prior use of the four-acre strip. The court might also order that A has to pay for the cost of restoring the fence and the cost of the survey.
Every province has legislation dealing with improvements made under mistake of title. Under this law the court can order that the four-acre strip be transferred to A upon A paying a price set by the court.
