North Dakota Fence Law: What Property Owners Need to Know
North Dakota does not have a state law requiring a licensed land survey before installing a fence. You can legally build a fence without one. But in North Dakota's PLSS-based rural landscape, where fence lines have often been placed by tradition, informal agreement, or rough estimate over generations, skipping a survey before a major fence installation is a decision that carries real risk.
North Dakota's partition fence statute, NDCC Chapter 17-05, creates a legal framework for fences on or near property boundaries between adjoining owners. When a fence is placed in the wrong location, the consequences range from neighbor disputes to formal fence viewer proceedings to costly removal and relocation. A boundary survey before installation is the straightforward way to avoid that outcome.
North Dakota's Partition Fence Law
NDCC Chapter 17-05 governs partition fences in North Dakota. Adjoining property owners share responsibility for maintaining partition fences along shared boundaries. When owners cannot agree on fence construction or maintenance, either party can call fence viewers to resolve the dispute.
The central issue in any partition fence dispute is establishing exactly where the property line sits. In rural North Dakota, this is more complicated than it sounds. Section corners were set by General Land Office (GLO) surveyors in the 1870s through 1890s during the homestead era. Over 130 years of agricultural activity, many of those original iron posts and wooden stakes have been displaced by deep plowing, drainage ditch construction, road grading, and other farming operations.
Fences placed in the intervening generations were often put up based on where a farmer or neighbor thought the section line was, not where a licensed surveyor determined it to be. Those traditional fence lines can be off from the legal boundary by a few feet or by much more, particularly along long rural fence lines spanning a quarter-mile or more.
Why Rural North Dakota Has More Fence Line Disputes
North Dakota's flat eastern landscape, the Red River Valley and the former lakebed of glacial Lake Agassiz, makes boundary errors particularly consequential. Parcels are large, often measured in sections and quarter sections. A fence line that is five feet off the legal boundary at one corner of a section can represent many acres of disputed land by the time it runs a half-mile to the next corner.
In the rolling terrain of central and western North Dakota's Missouri Plateau, the physical landscape makes it harder to estimate where a straight section line runs across irregular ground. Old fence lines follow terrain features and convenience in ways that frequently diverge from the true legal boundary.
When ownership changes hands, what was a neighborly informal agreement about a fence location can become a formal boundary dispute between new owners who have no knowledge of or obligation to honor the old arrangement. A licensed PLS survey resolves the question definitively.
Urban Fence Requirements: Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, and Minot
North Dakota's larger cities regulate fence installation through local zoning and permitting ordinances. In Fargo, residential fences over a certain height require a permit from the city's planning and building department. Permit applications typically require documentation of the fence's proposed location relative to property lines and required setbacks.
Bismarck, Grand Forks, and Minot have similar requirements. Without a current boundary survey, the location information submitted with a fence permit application is based on an estimate, which may or may not accurately reflect the actual property line. When a fence is later found to encroach on a neighbor's property, the city may require removal and the neighbor may pursue a claim for damages.
A boundary survey before the permit application gives you legally accurate placement information from the start and eliminates the risk of a costly correction later.
Section Lines and Old Fences: A North Dakota Reality
One of the most common boundary situations in rural North Dakota involves old fences that have been in place for decades, assumed by both neighboring landowners to follow the section line, but never confirmed by a survey. When one parcel changes ownership and the new owner orders a survey before installing a new or replacement fence, the survey sometimes reveals that the existing fence does not follow the legal boundary.
This situation is not unusual and is not a sign of bad faith by either neighboring family. It is a product of the state's agricultural history, the disturbance of original GLO corner monuments over 130 years of farming, and the practical reality that most fences in rural North Dakota were placed without the benefit of a licensed survey.
Resolving a fence line discrepancy discovered during a dispute is far more expensive and contentious than a pre-installation survey. A survey at the time of fence planning gives both neighbors a clear, legally defensible picture of the boundary before any construction begins.
What a Boundary Survey Does Before You Build a Fence
A licensed North Dakota PLS conducting a boundary survey before fence installation will:
- Research deed records, prior plats, and adjacent property documents at the county Register of Deeds
- Research original GLO field notes for the applicable PLSS township and section
- Conduct field work to locate and measure existing section corner monuments and property corner pins
- Set iron pins or other approved monuments at corners that are missing or disturbed
- Produce a stamped plat showing the boundary line with dimensions and bearings
- Mark the boundary physically on the ground so your fence contractor has precise reference points
The physical markers the surveyor sets give your fence contractor or crew precise reference points. Your fence follows the legal line, not an estimate.
The Cost of Getting the Fence Line Wrong
A fence built even a few feet over the property line creates a legal encroachment. In North Dakota, an encroachment can result in:
- A demand from the neighbor to remove the fence at your expense
- A fence viewer proceeding under NDCC Chapter 17-05
- A claim for damages related to the encroached land area
- Litigation if the dispute escalates
- Title complications when you try to sell, as encroachments appear in title searches
Removing and relocating a fence is far more expensive than a pre-installation survey. A boundary survey for a residential lot in North Dakota runs $500 to $900. Rural parcels run higher. Fence removal, reinstallation costs, and potential legal expenses in a dispute that goes to court can reach $5,000 to $15,000 or more. The math strongly favors the survey.
When a Survey May Be Less Urgent for a Fence
There are situations where a boundary survey before a fence is less critical in North Dakota:
- The fence will sit well inside the property and nowhere near any boundary, with no possibility of encroachment
- The property corners are clearly marked by monuments set by a prior licensed survey, both neighbors have confirmed they agree on the line, and the fence will follow those marked points
- The fence is temporary and will not be a permanent structure
In any situation where you are uncertain about where the boundary actually is, and that uncertainty is very common in rural North Dakota, a survey is the only reliable way to resolve it.
Finding a Surveyor in North Dakota Before You Build
If you are planning a fence in North Dakota and want to confirm the boundary first, contact a licensed North Dakota PLS. Have your property address, county, legal description from your deed, approximate parcel size, and any prior survey plats available before calling. Ask for a quote that includes field work, monument setting, and a stamped plat.
Local firms with experience in your county will have the most relevant familiarity with local PLSS section corner records and the specific history of corner monuments in your area. Turnaround on a residential boundary survey is typically two to four weeks during the field season. Rural agricultural parcels may take longer, particularly if corner monuments are difficult to locate.
Every surveyor in our North Dakota directory is sourced from NDPELSB state licensing records.
Find a licensed North Dakota land surveyor near you in our North Dakota land surveyor directory.