Taller fence in Orleans if my neighbour agrees?

Your neighbour's agreement does not raise the height limit. The City of Ottawa Fence By-law, as published on ottawa.ca, sets the maximum at 213 cm (about 7 feet) in a side or rear yard, and that limit applies regardless of what you and your neighbour have agreed between yourselves.

The only route to a taller residential fence under the Fence By-law is an exemption the Director of By-law Services can grant, up to 3 m, where a taller fence is necessary for the health or safety of the public. The by-law does not describe this as a privacy or convenience option, and we found no application form or fee for it.

A few other rules apply in Orleans the same as anywhere in Ottawa:

• In your front yard, the limit is 1 m, neighbour agreement or not.
• In a side or rear yard, a gate may be up to 30 cm taller than the fence limit, an archway forming part of an entrance may reach 250 cm, and decorative caps on structural posts may exceed the limit by up to 15 cm. These allowances do not apply in the front yard.
• A residential fence that does not enclose a pool does not need a building permit. It must still meet the Fence By-law and zoning.

If your fence is near a property line, check geoOttawa for approximate lines and consider an Ontario Land Surveyor for exact ones before you build. A fence contractor cannot certify where the boundary is.

Your neighbour's agreement is still worth having in writing, because a shared fence involves shared expectations about cost, maintenance and appearance, and the Line Fences Act provides an arbitration process through the City if a dispute arises later. Talk to your neighbour first, and if you reach an agreement, put it in writing before any work starts.

If you and your neighbour agree on a fence within the limits, a short written note of who pays for what saves an argument later.