What can I do if my neighbour builds on the boundary?

Find out whether it had approval before anything else, because a shed, carport or garage on or close to a side boundary can be lawful. Many places allow a structure there when it meets the siting and fire rules, or when the council agreed to a variation. Ask your neighbour first, then the council, which can tell you whether it holds an approval on record. If the work went up without one, or does not match what was allowed, the council is the one that deals with it.

What decides whether it can stay?

Whether it met the rules that applied to it. A wall close to the boundary has to stand up to fire, its roof water has to stay on the neighbour’s side of the line, and its height and its length along the boundary are limited, in ways that vary by state and council. A structure the council allowed as a variation can sit closer than the usual rules say. Shade and the view from your yard are weighed when an application is assessed, but they rarely reopen an approval once it is given.

Who do I ask?

Start with the neighbour, since a question over the fence is quicker than a complaint and often settles it. The council holds the records and deals with building work that went up without approval, and it will usually ask what you saw and where. Where a private certifier gave the approval, the council can still tell you whether it is on record. The dividing fence is a matter between neighbours under your state’s dividing fence law, whatever is built against it.

What if it crosses the line?

That is a separate question from approval. A gutter, an eave or a wall over the boundary sits on your land, and only a survey shows by how much. A registered surveyor marks the line, and from there it is a matter between owners, often settled by agreement and sometimes with a lawyer’s help. The post on boundary setbacks explains how distances to the boundary are measured.

Reading it for your own lot

RapidSiteplan reads your lot from its address in a minute, with the boundaries from the land records laid over the aerial photo, so a structure next door that sits on the line shows against it. When you build beside it, the sheet dimensions your own work to every boundary. The page for sheds and outbuildings shows the sheet, the post on fence heights covers the dividing fence, and the council pages for every state show what each council maps. Start with the address.

Common questions

What can I do if my neighbour builds on the boundary? Find out first whether it had approval, by asking your neighbour or the council, because many structures can sit on or close to a side boundary when they meet the siting and fire rules. If it went up without approval, or does not match what was allowed, the council deals with it. A structure that crosses the line is a matter for a surveyor first.