Ask any concrete contractor what the worst phone call is, and most will give you the same answer: “the neighbour reckons it’s over the line.” I’ve spent years pouring driveways and slabs around Dunedin, and that sentence still comes up more than any question about mix ratios or curing times. It’s not just a local thing either — a bloke out in Lynmore emailed me a while back because he’d laid a lovely wide driveway and only afterwards wondered whether the edge sat on his boundary or the council’s berm. Boundary rules aren’t glamorous, but getting them wrong is expensive and it sours things with the people you have to live next to. So here’s what I actually tell people, in plain language, before the truck turns up.
The short version, if you’re in a hurry
If you only read one section, read this one. Everything else below just fills in the detail.
| Question | Straight answer |
|---|---|
| Where’s my real boundary? | On the survey plan attached to your record of title — not wherever the fence happens to sit |
| Cost to get the corners pegged | A few hundred dollars for a licensed cadastral surveyor — cheap next to a job worth thousands |
| How close can I build to the line? | Fences up to 2m are usually fine on the boundary; sheds, decks and buildings answer to setback and recession-plane rules instead |
| Who pays for a shared fence? | Cost is split under the Fencing Act, but only after you’ve served a formal fencing notice |
| Where does driveway stormwater go? | Onto your own section, collected or piped away — never sheeted across onto next door |
Finding the line before you dig or pour
Your boundary is where the survey says it is, not where the old fence sits. Fences drift over the decades — replaced a few centimetres out here and there — until everyone treats them as gospel without anyone actually checking. Before you pour a driveway slab, dig footings, or plant a hedge near the edge, find the real line.
- Order a copy of your record of title and the survey plan — it shows the legal boundaries.
- For anything precise, a licensed cadastral surveyor can peg the corners. It’s a few hundred dollars well spent before a job worth thousands.
- Never assume the existing fence is on the line. If it matters, verify it.
How close to the line you can actually build
Sometimes you can build right up to it, sometimes you can’t — it depends what you’re building. Fences up to 2m are usually fine sitting on the boundary. Sheds, decks over a certain height, and buildings answer to setback and recession-plane rules in the district plan instead, which control how close and how tall you can go near the edge so you’re not shading or looming over next door.
In Rotorua the specifics sit in the council’s district plan, and it pays to check directly with Rotorua Lakes Council before you commit, because a Lynmore section near the reserve or a lifestyle-block edge can carry rules a standard town section doesn’t. A ten-minute call to the duty planner beats a stop-work notice.
Getting the water off your slab, not onto next door
This one catches concrete jobs constantly. You can’t just fall a new driveway or patio so the stormwater sheets straight onto your neighbour’s section — that’s a genuine dispute waiting to happen, and it can also breach your consent conditions. Whether it’s a Lynmore driveway or a Dunedin patio, drainage has to be planned before the first barrow of concrete goes down, not worked out afterwards. When I’m setting levels on a slab near a boundary, I make sure water is collected or piped to your own drainage system, not pushed over the line. If you’re paving or laying a driveway near the edge, work out where every litre goes in a downpour before the truck arrives.
The fence bill — who actually pays
Under the Fencing Act, a boundary fence is generally a shared responsibility, but if you want your neighbour to chip in you follow a formal notice process rather than just posting them an invoice. A few things worth knowing:
- You serve a fencing notice describing the work and the estimated cost before starting, if you want a contribution.
- An “adequate” fence is the default standard — if you want something fancier, you generally cover the extra yourself.
- Keep it friendly and in writing. Most boundary rows are really communication rows.
If your project is more of a full outdoor overhaul that happens to touch the boundary — a new driveway, a retaining wall, a deck and a fence all going in at once — it’s worth checking whether the wider job needs sign-off too. Our piece on what outdoor work needs consent in New Zealand covers where the lines fall.
What people actually ask me on the job
Is the existing fence my legal boundary? Not necessarily. Fences shift over the years and are often replaced slightly off the true line, so they’re not reliable. The legal boundary is defined by the survey plan on your record of title, and only a licensed surveyor can peg it accurately.
How close to the boundary can I build in Rotorua? It depends on the structure. Fences up to 2m are generally fine on the boundary, but sheds, higher decks, and buildings must meet setback and recession-plane rules in the district plan. Check with Rotorua Lakes Council before you build, since some sites carry extra conditions.
Can my driveway drain onto my neighbour’s property? No. You’re responsible for managing stormwater on your own section, and directing runoff onto a neighbour can breach consent conditions and start a dispute. Set your levels so water is collected or drained to your own system before you lay any concrete.
Do I really need to pay a surveyor before pouring near the line, or can I skip it? You can skip it if the edge is nowhere near the boundary. But for anything within centimetres of it, a few hundred dollars for a licensed cadastral surveyor is a lot cheaper than a dispute — or breaking out a slab that turns out to be sitting over the line.