Fencing Melbourne
Fencing in Melbourne, read from the Act
Six parts of Victoria’s fencing law, taken from the Fences Act 1968 itself and from the Victoria Planning Provisions on front fences: who the Act covers, the land it leaves out, fencing orders, boundary surveys, entering next door, and front fence heights.
A guide published by Dotto from the Act, the planning clauses and the government and court pages listed at the foot of each page, read on 9 October 2026. General information, not legal or planning advice about your own fence.
The law this site reads
Victoria’s law on fences between neighbours is the Fences Act 1968. The version read for this site is Authorised Version No. 072, which incorporates amendments as at 29 March 2021, published by Victorian Legislation. Beside it sit the Fences Regulations 2024, which exist to set out the forms the Act uses.
The Act is about the fence between adjoining lands, and in most circumstances it makes the owners of the land responsible for it. The government’s fencing page says, for dividing fences, that “The law in Victoria doesn’t say how tall a fence should be or what it should be made from.” The fence along the street is another matter, and it is the subject of the planning provisions in Bay 6, front fences.
The rest of the fence, told elsewhere
The everyday parts of Victorian fence law are explained on the government’s own pages, so this site points to them rather than retelling them:
- Sharing the cost and the Fencing Notice. The Fencing Notice page explains the formal document that sets out a proposal to build or repair a dividing fence.
- Urgent repairs. The Fencing in Victoria page covers urgent work on a damaged or destroyed fence, and the urgent fencing notice.
- Which side the rails go. The same page covers the placement of posts and rails.
- Building permits for fences. The Building and Plumbing Commission’s landscaping page says most fences need a building permit and gives examples of exemptions.
Before a dispute reaches court
The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria says you should try to resolve a dispute before coming to court, and that the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria’s dispute resolution service may be able to help. The government’s own fencing page is direct about it: “Talking to your neighbour is almost always cheaper, fairer and simpler than going to court.”
Six bays, six guides
- Bay 1 · sections 4, 34, 36 and 37
Who the Fences Act covers
Who counts as an owner, the four kinds of holder who do not, owners corporations, what the Act leaves untouched, and how a notice under it is given.
- Bay 2 · sections 4(2)(c), 31 and 30H
Crown land and council parks
Fences beside a public park or reserve and beside unalienated Crown land, and the six-month notice once that Crown land has an owner.
- Bay 3 · section 30C
Fencing orders
The thirteen matters a Magistrates’ Court fencing order can cover, the Form 5A complaint, and what happens when an order is not followed.
- Bay 4 · sections 28 to 30B
The boundary survey procedure
The boundary survey notice, the 30-day reply, the 21 days to engage a licensed surveyor, and who pays for it.
- Bay 5 · section 33
Entering next door to do the work
The owner’s right to go onto the land next door, at any reasonable time, to carry out fencing works under the Act.
- Bay 6 · clauses 54.02-7, 55.02-8, 32.08 and 59.03
Front fences
The front fence height table, the General Residential Zone’s two front-fence permit triggers, which are not necessarily the only ones, and the VicSmart route.