Fencing MelbourneBay 1 of 6
Who the Fences Act covers
Victoria’s Fences Act 1968 works between the owners of adjoining land, which the Act defines as land sharing a common boundary, and its section 4 decides who counts as an owner. Usually that is the registered proprietor, but section 4 leaves some people out, section 36 takes some lots in an owners corporation out of the Act altogether, and section 34 lists what the Act does not touch.
General information, not legal advice. Read on 9 October 2026 from the Fences Act 1968 (Authorised Version No. 072, incorporating amendments as at 29 March 2021). The Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria’s fencing page is the government’s own plain-language guide.
Mostly a matter for owners
The Act defines a dividing fence as one on the boundary between two properties, even if it is broken or does not run the boundary’s full length. A fence that is off the boundary is a dividing fence too, if its purpose is to separate the adjoining lands. Retaining walls are not fences under the Act, and neither is a wall that forms part of a house, garage or other building.
In most circumstances the Act makes the owners responsible for the fence: where there is no dividing fence, for example, each owner is liable for an equal share of the works for a sufficient one. How that sharing works, and the fencing notice that starts it, are set out on the government’s Fencing Notice page.
So the first thing to settle is who the owner is on each side. Section 4(1) answers by the kind of title the land has.
| Section 4(1) | The kind of land | The owner |
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Land under the Transfer of Land Act 1958 (but not land in an identified folio) | The registered proprietor of the fee simple, or a person an Act empowers to execute a transfer of the land |
| (b) | Land in an identified folio, or land outside that Act for which a fee simple has been granted | A person holding an estate in fee simple in it (a mortgagee excepted), or a person an Act empowers to convey the fee simple |
| (c) | A residence area under the Land Act 1958 | The holder of the right to occupy it, whether or not a mining licence under the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 covers the land |
| (d) | Land alienated from the Crown by the grant of a lease or licence, where none of (a), (b), (c) or subsection (3) applies | The holder of that lease or licence |
Four kinds of holder who are not owners
Section 4(2) then says that, whatever subsection (1) provides, none of these is an owner:
- (a)a person who occupies, or is entitled to occupy, land under a licence granted under the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990;
- (b)a person occupying land held by yearly licence under any Act about selling and occupying Crown lands;
- (c)a council, a trustee, or any other person or body, for land it owns, has vested in it, or has in its care, control or management, where it holds that land as a public park or public reserve;
- (d)for land the Governor in Council has granted to it in fee simple under section 19 of the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010, a traditional owner group entity.
A note under section 4 adds one exception to paragraph (c): for section 16, which lets owners agree on a fence line away from a boundary blocked by a waterway or other obstruction, the councils, trustees and other bodies in (c) do count as owners. Bay 2, Crown land and council parks, follows that thread.
Owners corporations
Where land is common property that an owners corporation is responsible for, section 4(3) treats the owners corporation as its owner. A note to that subsection makes the line clear: it does not reach a lot affected by an owners corporation, whose owner is the lot’s own owner.
Section 36 goes further and switches the Act off in two situations, each needing both of its conditions:
Lot beside lot
Both pieces of land are lots of one owners corporation, and its rules provide for contributions to fencing works and subsidiary works between those lots.
Lot beside common property
One is a lot affected by an owners corporation, the other is common property the same owners corporation is responsible for, and its rules provide for contributions between that lot and that common property.
If the rules say nothing about fencing contributions, section 36 does not take the lots out of the Act.
What the Act leaves alone
Section 34 lists four things that nothing in the Act affects:
- (a)any contract or agreement between neighbouring owners, or between an owner and a tenant, except an agreement made under the Act;
- (b)a covenant affecting the adjoining lands;
- (c)a law about retaining walls or the rights of support for land;
- (d)the operation of any other Act.
How a notice under the Act is given
Section 37 governs how any notice under the Act reaches the other person. It may be delivered to them personally or sent by post. Two notes sit under that rule: the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984, at section 49(1), says when service by post is effected, and the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 applies to notices given under the Fences Act.
| Section 37(2) | How |
|---|---|
| (a) | Leave a copy with the person. If they will not take it, put the copy down where they are and tell them what kind of notice it is. |
| (b) | Deliver a copy at the place where they live, to someone who lives there and appears to be over 16. If that place is a hotel, boarding house or similar, give it to someone apparently over 16 who appears to be in charge or working in its office. |
| (c) | If the person runs a business, deliver a copy at the place of business to someone apparently over 16 who appears to be in charge of it or employed in its office. |
Section 37(3) sets the proper address: for an owners corporation, the address on the Registrar’s records for it; for any other corporation, its registered or principal office; and for an incorporated association, its registered address under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012. And section 37(4) has a rule for the post: if the sender asked the municipal council where the owner could be found, at least one copy goes to the address the council gave, if it gave one.
Further along the fence
In most circumstances the Act makes owners, not tenants, responsible for fences, though the government’s fencing page explains when a long-term tenant who is not on a residential or retail lease may have to contribute. Between owners, Bay 3, fencing orders, covers what the Magistrates’ Court can decide, and Bay 5 covers the owner’s right to go next door to do authorised work.