Ontario Fence Laws: Height Limits, Permits and Pool Fence Rules

Putting up or replacing a fence sounds simple until you ask how high it can go, whether you need a permit, or whether a pool changes the rules. The answers depend on where you live and what you are building, so it is worth confirming the details before you start.

This article explains how the layers fit together: your municipality's bylaws, the Line Fences Act that deals with neighbours sharing a fence, and a few property-law issues that come up when a fence is in the wrong place. It will not give you a height number for your street, because that depends on where you live.

Who sets the rules for fence height, permits and pools

The answers on fence height, permits and pools depend on where your property is and what you are building. How this applies to you is worth confirming before you start.

Because these rules vary, do not rely on what a friend in another municipality was told. Contact your municipality's building or bylaw office, or read the fence bylaw and any pool enclosure bylaw, before you buy materials or hire a contractor.

• Ask whether a permit is needed for the fence you have in mind, including for a replacement.
• Ask for the maximum height in the front, side and rear yards.
• If you have or plan a pool, ask what enclosure rules apply and whether they apply to the fence you are building.
• Ask whether there are any rules for corner lots or for fences near a driveway or sidewalk.
• Check whether your property is in a heritage area or has registered restrictions on title.

Where the Line Fences Act fits

The Line Fences Act is a different kind of rule. Its arbitration process applies only when owners cannot agree and either there is no fence on the boundary and one owner wants one built, or a line fence exists and one owner believes it needs reconstruction or repair.

It is also limited in two other ways. It does not apply where one owner has already built, reconstructed or repaired the fence alone and now wants the neighbour to share the cost, and it does not decide where the boundary is.

Municipal exemptions from the Line Fences Act

A municipal council may pass a by-law exempting all or part of the municipality from the Line Fences Act and assigning fence costs in another way, so you need to check for a local by-law. If your municipality has done this, the process you read about online may simply not be available to you, and the local rules will decide who pays.

Before anything formal, Ontario encourages informal discussion first, either with a municipal staff member or directly between the owners. A calm conversation, with the bylaw in hand, often settles who builds what and who pays.

Fences and the edge of your property

Many fence disputes are really boundary disputes. Since the Line Fences Act does not decide where the boundary is, an uncertain boundary is a reason to get a survey before building. A fence built on a neighbour's land can create problems that a permit does not fix.

If a fence has stood in the wrong place for years, people sometimes ask whether adverse possession applies. In Ontario, a claim requires open, notorious, constant, continuous and peaceful possession, an intention to exclude the true owner, and effective exclusion of the true owner for the entire ten-year period. For land that is registered under the land titles system, length of possession generally cannot be used to acquire title, except where the ten-year period ran before the land was registered. If the owners permitted the occupation, the element of adversity cannot be met. Whether these rules help or hurt you depends on how your land is registered and the history of the fence, so get advice before relying on them.

Fences also sometimes run along or into municipal road allowances, which are strips originally laid out for roads and generally 66 feet wide. Do not assume a strip beside your lot is yours to fence; confirm ownership and the municipality's position first.

What to do next

• Get a recent survey or reference plan if you are unsure where your boundary runs.
• Call or visit your municipality and ask about fence height, permits and any pool enclosure rules.
• Ask whether your municipality has a by-law exempting it from the Line Fences Act.
• Talk to your neighbour before building, and keep notes or emails of what you agree.
• Keep copies of any permit, quote and plans.
• If the neighbour will not agree, or the boundary is in doubt, speak with a real estate lawyer before you build or sue.

Frequently asked questions