CHAPTER 971: FENCES

As used in this chapter, “owner” means both of the following:

(A) The owner of land in fee simple, of estates for life, or of rights-of-way while used by the owners thereof as farm outlets;

(B) The department of natural resources with regard to any land that it owns, leases, manages, or otherwise controls and that is adjacent to land used to graze livestock.

Proceedings under this chapter do not bind the owner unless the owner is notified as provided in section 971.13 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 03-18-1999

The owners of adjoining lands shall build, keep up, and maintain in good repair, in equal shares, all partition fences between them, unless otherwise agreed upon by them in writing and witnessed by two persons. The fact that any land or tract of land is wholly unenclosed or is not used, adapted, or intended by its owner for use for agricultural purposes shall not excuse the owner thereof from the obligations imposed by this chapter on the owner as an adjoining owner. This chapter does not apply to the enclosure of lots in municipal corporations, or of adjoining lands both of which are laid out into lots outside municipal corporations, or affect Chapter 4959. of the Revised Code, relating to fences required to be constructed by persons or corporations owning, controlling, or managing a railroad.

Effective Date: 03-09-1999

(A) A person or corporation shall not have a willow or other live fence, except osage or blackthorn hedge.

(B) No person or corporation shall construct or cause to be constructed, a partition fence from barbed wire or electrified wire unless written consent of the adjoining owner is first obtained. Such consent is not necessary to the use of one or two barbed wires, provided that neither is less than forty-eight inches from the ground, and is placed on the top of a fence other than a barbed wire fence.

(C) Landowners may construct fences along controlled-access highways or limited access highways. As used in this division, “controlled-access highway” has the same meaning as in section 4511.01 of the Revised Code and “limited access highway” has the same meaning as in section 5535.02 of the Revised Code.

(D) Each thirty-day period that a violation of division (B) of this section continues constitutes a separate violation.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

When a person neglects to build or repair a partition fence, or the portion thereof which he is required to build or maintain, the aggrieved person may complain to the board of township trustees of the township in which such land or fence is located. Such board, after not less than ten days’ written notice to all adjoining landowners of the time and place of meeting, shall view the fence or premises where such fence is to be built, and assign, in writing, to each person his equal share thereof, to be constructed or kept in repair by him.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

The cost due the township fiscal officer and the board of township trustees for making the assignment set forth in section 971.04 of the Revised Code shall be taxed equally against each of the persons and, if not paid to the fiscal officer within thirty days from the date of the assignment, shall be certified by the fiscal officer to the county auditor, with a correct description of the lands and the amount charged against each portion.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 12-20-2005

The county auditor shall place the amount authorized in section 971.05 of the Revised Code upon the duplicate to be collected as other taxes, and the county treasurer shall pay it, when collected, to the township fiscal officer as other funds are paid.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 12-20-2005

(A) If either person fails to build the portion of fence assigned to him under section 971.04 of the Revised Code, the board of township trustees, upon the application of the aggrieved person, shall award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder agreeing to furnish the labor and material, and build such fence according to the specifications proposed by the board, after advertising for bids once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the township is situated.

(B) If no bids are received from responsible bidders as provided in this section, the trustees shall procure labor and materials at prevailing rates and cause such fence to be constructed.

(C) No person shall obstruct or interfere with anyone lawfully engaged in construction of a partition fence or in the performance of any other act described in this section.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

When the work is completed to the satisfaction of the board of township trustees, it shall certify the costs to the township fiscal officer. If the costs are not paid within thirty days, the township fiscal officer shall certify them to the county auditor with a statement of the cost of the construction and incidental costs incurred by the trustees and a correct description of each piece of land upon which the costs are assessed.

Effective Date: 10-02-1953; 12-20-2005

The county auditor shall place the amounts certified, as provided in section 971.08 of the Revised Code, upon the tax duplicate, which amounts shall become a lien and be collected as other taxes. The board of township trustees shall certify the amount due each person for building the fence and the amount due each trustee and the township fiscal officer for services rendered. In anticipation of the collection of the amounts, the auditor shall draw orders for the payment of the amounts out of the county treasury.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 12-20-2005

The county recorder shall keep a book known as “Partition Fence Record” and all divisions of partition fences made under this chapter shall be recorded therein, and shall be final between the parties thereto and successive owners thereafter, until such divisions become unequal by a sale or division of land or a portion thereof, in which case a new division may be had.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

If an adjoining landowner owns all the line fence, the board of township trustees may adjudge the value of the portion assigned the other owner, which may be recovered by the owner of such fence with cost of suit.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

The report of the assignment of partition fences under this chapter shall be made and certified to the county recorder by the township fiscal officer, and the cost of the record of the report shall be taxed against the parties with the other costs.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988; 12-20-2005

Notice to landowners shall be given in writing by serving a copy personally upon them, or by mailing a copy to them at their last known address by certified mail, return receipt requested. If the notice sent by certified mail is refused or unclaimed, notice may be served by sending it by ordinary mail. If the notice sent by ordinary mail is returned for failure of delivery, or if the addresses or whereabouts of any landowner involved is unknown and cannot with reasonable diligence be ascertained, notice may be served by publication once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the township is situated.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

When the division line of adjacent landowners is in a stream of water, along which division line it is impracticable to construct and maintain a partition fence, the board of township trustees shall assign to each landowner his portion of such fence upon his land, and the parts so assigned shall be built and maintained upon his own premises along the bank of such stream. The parts of the fence so assigned shall be joined by each landowner by constructing a fence or water gate from the end of the fence so assigned to him, nearest to the end and so assigned to the other landowner, to the division line in such stream.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

For determining the liability of one landowner by reason of the trespass of domestic animals upon the lands of the other, such fence is a partition fence.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

When a partition fence in controversy is on a township or county line, the board of township trustees of the adjacent townships has concurrent jurisdiction, and the board of either of such townships may be called to perform the duties imposed as to partition fences in this chapter. Either party may call the board of the other township, in which case they shall act jointly, but separate record shall be made in both townships.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

If a partition fence, or an enclosure, or a part thereof, is on the line of a township, or on the line of or in two or more townships of the same or different counties, actions prosecuted under this chapter may be brought before a judge of a county court or judge of a municipal court having jurisdiction in the township in which the defendant resides.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

The court before whom action is brought, as authorized in section 971.17 of the Revised Code, shall issue process against the defendant, directed to the sheriff of the county in which the court is situated, to serve and return such process, and the defendant shall answer thereto, and like proceedings shall be had as if such defendant resided in the township where the action was commenced.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

Effective Date: 02-14-1967

If a member of the board of township trustees refuses or neglects to perform a lawful duty imposed upon him by this chapter, he shall forfeit not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, to be recovered by a civil action in the name of the state. The amount recovered shall be paid into the township treasury for township purposes.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

If a horse, mule, ass, hog, sheep, goat, or any neat cattle, injures or trespasses upon land or an enclosure bounded by a partition fence, in consequence of the failure or neglect of a person to keep up and maintain in good repair his share of such fence, such person failing or neglecting shall pay to the person injured the damages sustained thereby, to be assessed, under oath, by three judicious, disinterested men, residents of the county, appointed by a judge of a county court or a judge of a municipal court having jurisdiction in the township in which the premises are situated. If such damages are not paid after demand therefor, the amount thereof may be recovered in an action with cost of suit.

Effective Date: 01-10-1961

In all actions under section 971.22 of the Revised Code, such assessment, reduced to writing, and subscribed by the persons making it, is prima-facie evidence of the damages sustained by the party aggrieved, but the court before which the cause is tried may set aside the verdict for irregularity or other good cause.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

The animals trespassing, as described in section 971.22 of the Revised Code, are not exempt from execution issued on a judgment rendered in a court, or before an officer having jurisdiction, for damages occasioned by such trespass.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

When the division line of adjacent landowners crosses a stream of water, through which it is impracticable to construct and maintain a partition fence, there shall be constructed and maintained a water gate on the division line of the adjacent landowners across such stream, that will turn livestock, and such water gate shall be built, kept up, and maintained in good repair in equal shares unless otherwise agreed upon by them in writing and witnessed by two persons. If either of the adjacent landowners neglects to build, keep up, and maintain such water gate or cannot agree upon the division of the same that each shall build, keep up, and maintain, the board of township trustees shall proceed to assign the portion of such water gate each shall build, keep up, and maintain, the same as if such water gate was a partition fence between adjacent owners. This chapter, applicable to the building, keeping up, and maintaining of partition fences, shall be applicable to this section, and for determining the liability of such adjacent landowners by reason of trespass of domestic animals upon the lands of the other, such water gate shall be a partition fence.

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

If a horse, mule, ass, hog, sheep, goat, or any neat cattle, running at large, breaks into or enters an enclosure, other than enclosure of railroads, the owner of such animal shall be liable to the owner or occupant of such enclosure for all damages occasioned thereby. An animal, so breaking into or entering, is not exempt from execution on a judgment rendered in a court, or before an officer having jurisdiction, for damages occasioned by such trespass.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

An owner or occupant of land bordering upon a public road or highway, except a street or alley in a municipal corporation, or through which a public road or highway passes, may set, plant, and cultivate a hedge or live fence on the line of such road or public highway, and place on the margin of such road a protection fence, not to occupy more than six feet of such margin. Such protection fence, when placed opposite a live fence or hedge, set or planted, may remain for seven years.

The board of township trustees may grant permission in writing to the owner of the hedge or live fence, described in this section, to continue the protection fence as long as is necessary.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

The owner of a hedge fence on a partition line, or along a public highway, shall not permit it to remain of a greater height or width than six feet, for a longer period than six months, or leave the cuttings from it on the public highway for more than ten days.

A person violating this section shall be liable to the person damaged in a sum not exceeding twenty cents per rod of such hedge fence. If the hedge is along a public highway, such person shall be liable to the board of township trustees of the township in which it is situated in a sum not exceeding fifteen cents per rod of such fence.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Before judgment is rendered under section 971.28 of the Revised Code, it must appear, by affidavit, that the person complained against has had at least twenty days’ notice, before the beginning of the suit, from the person complaining, that such hedge was unlawful and that unless it was cut to the legal height within twenty days, suit would be commenced for such violation.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Actions under sections 971.28 and 971.29 of the Revised Code, shall be brought upon the complaint of the person damaged, before a judge of a county court or judge of a municipal court having jurisdiction of the township in which the hedge is situated, or if it is along a public highway, the complaint shall be made by the township highway superintendent, or a member of the board of township trustees acting as such.

Effective Date: 01-10-1961

A landowner along, or through whose lands, a state or county road is laid out and established, upon consent and under the direction of the board of county commissioners of the proper county, may build and construct fences within such roads leading from the sides thereof to, and along the approaches to, and to the ends of the sides of bridges and culverts constructed over streams and ravines in such highways.

No landowner shall acquire title by prescription, or otherwise to any portion of the highways becoming a part of the enclosures of the landowner, by reason of the construction of such fences as authorized in this section. The owner, upon the order of the board of county commissioners, shall promptly remove the fences, but no township highway superintendent, or member of the board of township trustees acting as such, shall remove them except upon permission first obtained from said board. The superintendent shall not interfere with the fences further than is necessary to open ditches and improve the roadbed of such highways.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Barbed wire shall not be used in the construction of such fences as authorized in section 971.31 of the Revised Code, and the township highway superintendent, or member of the board of township trustees acting as such shall remove it if it is so used.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

An owner of land, adjacent to a line or partition fence, shall keep all brush, briers, thistles, or other noxious weeds cut in the fence corners and a strip four feet wide on his side along the line of a partition fence, but this section does not affect the planting of vines or trees for use.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

If the owner or tenant occupying land, neglects or refuses to cut brush, briers, thistles, or other noxious weeds, as provided in section 971.33 of the Revised Code, an owner or occupant of land abutting on the line or partition fence, after having given the owner or tenant not less than ten days’ notice to cut or remove them, may notify the board of township trustees of the township in which the land is situated, who shall forthwith view the premises, and if satisfied that there is just cause of complaint, shall cause them to be cut, by letting the work to the lowest bidder, or by entering into a private contract therefor.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

When the work authorized in section 971.34 of the Revised Code is completed, the board of township trustees shall certify to the county auditor the amount of the cost of the work with the expense thereto attached, and a correct description of the land upon which the work was performed. The auditor shall place the amount upon the tax duplicate to be collected as other taxes. The county treasurer shall pay the amount, when collected, to the township fiscal officer as other funds are paid.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 12-20-2005

The board of township trustees may anticipate the collection, and refund the cost of the work authorized in section 971.34 of the Revised Code, to the township fiscal officer for the amount, payable out of any township funds that may be in the fiscal officer’s hands.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 12-20-2005

Effective Date: 06-29-1988

(A) Whoever violates division (B) of section 971.03 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

(B) Whoever violates division (C) of section 971.07 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.

Effective Date: 06-20-1994