New York, NY Fence Regulations: Neighbor Fence Rules (2026)

Unlike rural town law, New York City does not run a partition-fence cost-sharing program, so neighbors are not statutorily compelled to split the cost of a division fence; cost-sharing is a matter of private agreement. The key boundary protections come from the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law. RPAPL Section 843 provides that any fence or fence-like structure exceeding ten feet in height, erected to exclude an adjoining owner from the enjoyment of light or air, may be adjudged a private nuisance in supreme court and enjoined, while preserving the right to improve one's land in good faith. RPAPL Section 543 (added in 2008) provides that the existence of minor non-structural encroachments - specifically including fences, hedges, shrubbery, plantings, sheds, and non-structural walls - is deemed permissive and non-adverse, so such a fence generally cannot ripen into an adverse-possession claim against the neighbor. Within the city, the Department of Buildings still enforces the height caps of Admin Code 27-509 and the front-yard limit of ZR 23-312 regardless of any private boundary arrangement.