Bill Text: CA AB1404 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Real property: boundaries.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-08-12 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 86, Statutes of 2013. [AB1404 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB1404-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1404	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Judiciary (Wieckowski (Chair), Alejo,
Chau, Dickinson, Garcia, Muratsuchi, and Stone)

                        MARCH 12, 2013

   An act to repeal and add Section 841 of the Civil Code, relating
to real property.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1404, as introduced, Committee on Judiciary. Real property:
boundaries.
   Existing law defines the rights and obligations of owners of real
property. Under existing law, coterminous owners are equally bound to
maintain the boundaries between their properties. Existing law
further requires coterminous owners to maintain fences between their
properties, except as specified.
   This bill would instead require adjacent landowners to share
equally the responsibility for maintaining the boundaries and
monuments between them. The bill would establish a presumption that
adjacent landowners share an equal benefit from any fence dividing
their properties and, absent a lawful agreement to the contrary, are
equally responsible for the reasonable costs for the fence, as
specified.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 841 of the Civil Code is repealed. 
   841.  Coterminous owners are mutually bound equally to maintain:
   1. The boundaries and monuments between them;
   2. The fences between them, unless one of them chooses to let his
land lie without fencing; in which case, if he afterwards incloses
it, he must refund to the other a just proportion of the value, at
that time, of any division fence made by the latter. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 841 is added to the Civil Code, to read:
   841.  (a) Adjacent landowners shall share equally in the
responsibility for maintaining the boundaries and monuments between
them.
   (b) Adjacent landowners are presumed to share an equal benefit
from any fence dividing their properties and, absent a lawful
agreement to the contrary, shall be presumed to be equally
responsible for the reasonable costs of construction, maintenance,
and necessary replacement of the fence.