Erie County has no countywide fence or boundary-line law. Neighbor issues fall under your municipality's zoning code plus New York State civil law, including the Spite Fence and RPAPL boundary rules. Check your town or village code first.
There is no Erie County ordinance governing shared or boundary fences. Which yard rules apply, and whether a fence must sit inside your line, is set by your city, town, or village zoning code. New York's Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law and the state's spite-fence doctrine also apply countywide: a fence over 10 feet erected maliciously to annoy a neighbor can be actionable as a private nuisance. Property-line disputes are civil matters resolved between owners, often needing a survey. Many towns, such as Amherst, require fences to respect front-yard and clear-vision-triangle limits regardless of neighbor consent.
Zoning violations are enforced locally; boundary and spite-fence disputes are resolved through civil court, not county code enforcement.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Erie County, NY
Animal hoarding in Erie County is investigated by the SPCA Serving Erie County and prosecuted as cruelty by the Erie County District Attorney's Animal Cruelt...
Erie County, NY
The Erie County Department of Health treats improper bird and wildlife feeding as a rodent attractant and public-health nuisance and investigates complaints ...
Erie County, NY
Erie County does not license cats, but New York law requires every cat to be rabies-vaccinated, and the county Health Department runs free rabies clinics for...
Erie County, NY
Erie County sets no numeric limit on household pets. Any cap on the number of dogs or cats comes from a town, city, or village ordinance, while state law req...
Erie County, NY
Erie County imposes no countywide livestock ordinance. Keeping cattle, horses, goats, pigs, or other farm animals is controlled by each town, city, or villag...
Clarence, NY
Clarence Town Code prohibits keeping chickens in the Residential Single-Family (R-SF) zone unless the parcel is at least 5 acres or is located in the Agricul...
Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in Erie County.
See how Clarence's neighbor fence rules rules stack up against other locations.
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