Personally I would never install a fence that wasn't set 4" back along my property line. By leaving property on the other side of the fence that you don't access, in some states the neighbor can claim "adverse possession" after a period of time and then own it. Nothing says the existing privacy trees has to be on their side, they can remain inside your fence line on your side, just remove the ones that interfere with the fenceline.

People sure like those vinyl/PVC fences, but I'm not a fan. They sag, stain from grass trimming, and stand out like a sore thumb. My opinion only. But you can mix 2 styles with success, as long as it changes with some other demarcation (e.g. shed, lot corner, etc).

I will be leaving 4 feet, I should have been more clear. I just meant I won’t be following the exact property line because it would bring us so close to the neighbor’s outdoor kitchen set up

To reiterate, I said place the fence 4 inches away from your prop line wherever that routes. They could own your 4 feet X whatever length if you don't.

I'd even go so far to guess that their kitchen is too close to the property line, there are usually setbacks for patios or structures.

By leaving property on the other side of the fence that you don't access, in some states the neighbor can claim "adverse possession" after a period of time and then own it.

It's not as simple as leaving a patch of unfenced yard. Adverse possession isn't as easy a process as people here lead it to be.

My son just gained land by adverse possession and it wasn't too difficult. He first offered to pay for the property that cut into his yard weirdly dividing his backyard and that had been used for 20 years by the woman who sold him his house (he had not looked closely enough at his plat and the owner of his house did not of course mention it), but then the developers (flippers) stopped answering his texts, so he went the other route. Problem solved within a couple of weeks-lovely lot now with a normal shape.

Sorry, but it’s not “just that easy”. You are either unaware of some of the details, or you are using the incorrect term. You cannot even claim adverse possession until 7years have passed. That is the minimum length of time in the US, and that is in California. Most states are 15-20yrs.

20 years can be combined from previous owners, at least in Massachusetts

So, the prior owners use of the land probably played a factor. Like I said, missing info.

But anyway, now that your thread has been completely derailed.....

@suedonim75 It's really hard to tell. Two of our sons are attorneys in MN. They have each had a case of adverse possession that seemed ridiculous at the onset, but they ultimately lost for their client. Much better to be safe, than sorry! (Plus out your property and a lot of money.)

YMMV on the adverse possession, I didn't delve into difficulty or length of time or if the neighbor would even care. The nature of my comments is you are buying a slice of earth, do you want what you paid for or not. If you have large property or your property backs up to open space, or you just want a smaller fenced portion for a dog, a fence not following the property line is perfectly acceptable. Usually there is some other demarcation of property, access to it, or no need for it.

Here, I interpret the fence is following the prop line except where it is close to neighbor's use within a wooded area. I would bet money that putting the fence 4ft back at just part of the fence line, to give the neighbor more breathing space, would soon be overtaken by the neighbor with their stuff, plantings, treehouse, whatever. Even if that is ok to the OP, at some point the OP might want to recapture that portion and there will be an uncomfortable conversation with the neighbor.

I would live there for a while before I made a decision regarding fencing. I think keeping as many trees as possible between yourself and your neighbors is a good idea. You might want to consider more than one type of fencing depending on the conditions. It's not typical, but a chain-link fence hidden among the trees is not a terrible idea.

Also, consider selecting a color that blends in with your natural landscaping. There is no dictate that says the trim on your home and the fence have to match.

We fenced in our yard when we acquired a dog and for privacy. We ran aluminum fence (what looks like wrought iron) on the sides of our property that abutted our neighbors, and black chain link in back. The neighbors like having a pretty fence. The back chain link is covered by shrubs and trees and is nearly invisible, year round. Be sure to plan for gates. We measured the width of the commercial lawn mower that is used in our yard. AND, since we have HUGE Oak trees, we also figured out the with of a crane truck in case we need to have trees trimmed or taken down. Thus: one double wide gate for “access”, and two ornamental gates, all in the ornamental aluminum fence.

See below for pictures to reference. The trees are directly behind our house and essentially cut the usable land of our property in half. We would like to have space for our dog to run around, play lawn games, etc. You can see that if we cut the trees down and ran the fence all the way up to the rock wall on the left side (essentially the property line), we would have little privacy from the neighbors' outdoor patio, whereas if we left a few trees up and ran the fence at the angle described above, there would be a little more breathing room and privacy between us. I'm not sure the space between the rock wall and our potential fence would be a huge candidate for adverse possession, as everyone is commenting about, but you never know. Looking for best solution to make everyone happy. Want to make better use of our lawn and not be a bad neighbor.

You can see that if we cut the trees down and ran the fence all the way up to the rock wall on the left side (essentially the property line), we would have little privacy from the neighbors' outdoor patio, whereas if we left a few trees up and ran the fence at the angle described above, there would be a little more breathing room and privacy between us.

I am still not connecting the dots in my head. I see 3 choices:

1. If you cut everything down up to the prop line and install the fence against the neighbor's patio, you now have privacy from the fence, and a more open yard for your use.

2. If you run the fence 4' inside your property line following the natural clearing edge of the trees, you have privacy from the fence, but have gifted the "breathing space" to your neighbor's patio use. You have the same amount of usable yard you had without the fence.

3. If you run the fence following the property line, cutting through the trees, you have privacy from the fence. You have the same amount of usable yard you had without the fence. But you have a buffer of trees against the fence on your side.

1. If you cut everything down up to the prop line and install the fence against the neighbor's patio, you now have privacy from the fence, and a more open yard for your use. The fence would provide some privacy yes, but having all of the trees cut down, we'd be able to see right into their yard/they see right into our yard from my deck/their patio.

2. If you run the fence 4' inside your property line following the natural clearing edge of the trees, you have privacy from the fence, but have gifted the "breathing space" to your neighbor's patio use. You have the same amount of usable yard you had without the fence. Privacy from both fence and trees

3. If you run the fence following the property line, cutting through the trees, you have privacy from the fence. You have the same amount of usable yard you had without the fence. But you have a buffer of trees against the fence on your side. I'm not sure what you are referring to here. In order to create the fence to the property line, we would need to cut the trees down.

Are you sure the trees need to be removed? We cut back the brush (mostly forsythia) along our line but have huge trees. Our fencing, aluminum and chain link,was threaded among the huge 200 year old oak trees. It is less rigid than a paneled fence. I say keep as many trees as you can, thread the fencing through them as close to the REAL property line as you can.

We would certainly like to remove the brush and the trees closest to our deck, as that is kind of the purpose of the whole project, as now we can't really use that land for anything. Cutting these down will obviously impact the privacy a bit. The ones on the property line (and especially the left side of the picture towards the neighbors) are the harder ones to figure out to make sure we still have enough privacy, but also enough room to be able to expand our lawn and make the project worth it.

The understory small branches and suckers from the roots of an individual tree should be removed for its health anyway. I'm sure you will find places along the prop line within the trees to place a post every 6'.

If privacy is a bigger concern than expanding usable space, I would start thinking about an overall plan for some evergreens tall enough to account for the deck height to provide year-round screening. That plan might actually include removing those trees anyway. IMO here the fence should be along the prop line in any scheme, you can't fit your life around where they chose to put their firepit.

Identify and define your lot first by clearing a path all around the property boundary line (a mower and a half in width). Mark your property line on both sides and in the back by setting a treated 4"x4"x8' post in the ground at every corner or turn or angle -- placed at and immediately inside your property line.

Do paint the part of the post that will be below ground to help protect it from moisture. Consider adding a solar light atop each posts, perhaps with a motion sensor and Consider adding a plain but sturdy bracket for hanging a hanging basket on each post.

Also, and even if it is not at a corner or angle of your property line, make a point of placing one post on each side of the property (at and immediately inside the property line) across from each of the front corners of the house. You could do the same for a point directly across from the back corners of the house.

If you are on reasonably good terms with your neighbors, you could even look for the "iron pins" that usually mark property lines together.( (If your neighbors are going to dispute the property line, just doing those things to mark your property line should be enough for you to find that out before investing in a lot of expensive fencing. )

Once you've clearly identified your property line, you can begin deciding what in the way of trees and shrubs, etc., you want to keep or thin out or add and even begin to do that before building any fence.

Once your sure the left and right property line at the front and back corners of your home is not going to be disputed, you can create a privacy fence (as viewed from the road) for your (to be fenced) side of the yard and for your back yard. For symmetry/ curb appeal, make these two fences in line with the front and/or back exterior wall of the home.

You could put the solid privacy fence on the left (to be fenced in) side of the yard beginning from the front corner to the side property line post in line with the front exterior wall of the house. You could put the fence on the right (driveway side) of the house in line with the rear exterior wall of the house to the post on the driveway side of the property with a gate in that fence and a path from the driveway to the gate.

Then you need to decide how much privacy you want from each side.

If identifying and fencing your yard is your primary objective -- if you want the entire back property fenced in, the rest of your fence could be a chain link fence beginning and ending at the property line post of your (as viewed from the road) side privacy fences and you might be able to use a "green fence" inside the chain link fence for privacy on either side of the back yard or along the back property line.

A chain link fence will be easier to maintain because you will not need to keep painting it to protect it from rot as you would a wood fence -- a fence against which your neighbor's could plant things so close to a wood fence as to be detrimental to its lasting longer.

Note: Keeping a path beside the chain link fence that can be kept clear as a walk path and/or mowed both gives your pets a run path (and/or a poop path) and lets you access you fence to maintain it long term.

If privacy from the side is also an issue, such as on the narrower driveway side, you could still create the chain link fence, with or without a green fence, first but then, at selected areas, you might add other privacy measures.

https://www.google.com/search?q=lattice+privacy+screen&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0g8_ZyavvAhW7F1kFHRUlCykQ_AUoAnoECBMQBA&biw=1366&bih=626

Remember that one form of privacy is physically blocking the neighbors and/or their guests and/or pets and/or children from just "walking over" into your back yard any time they want. That could be very important, especially if you have dogs and they have children that live or visit with them.

The difficulty with the driveway side is that it runs at an odd, non square angle (along a diagonal rock wall), which is where a lot of the trouble in making the lines lies

CLF is the one item that will lower your property value, no matter where it is. It is designed for industrial or farm use. A free standing, movable dog kennel in CLF might be acceptable, but you devalue your home if you're putting where decorative privacy fencing should go.

I would find a way to run that fence behind the trees. I am betting that could be done with a little thought put into it.

I would put the fence as close to the property line as the regulations in your area require.

Where I live now fences are 1' from the property line while buildings or structures must be 3' from the property line.

Where I lived before fencing was placed on the property line, but buildings and structures had to be 10' from the property line.

I had an odd corner in my last back yard where the lot rose up about 6' higher than the rest of my back yard. The various owners over the years had planted different things to camouflage the space. I would have never considered just bringing the fence inside the tree/plant line.

You can keep your trees/plants on your side of the fence and your neighbors can keep their trees/plants on their side of the fence.

Regardless of which side of the fence the trees are on, you are still responsible for trimming them, maintaining their health, getting them taken out if they become diseased, keeping the weeds down. It is far easier to do all your yard work on your side of the fence.

I always enjoyed the feeling that this one corner gave to the yard. Better than having a perfectly blank space with nothing buy yard.

We used brown chain link fence for our dog pen with a woods backdrop and you could barely tell it was there. It was on a hill, had other challenges and weird angles. FAPP it disappeared. I imagine in some situations green might be the disappearing color.

If there is an issue with regard to fencing in the driveway side of your yard, you could chose the spot along your back property line that is behind your house and begin your fence by putting a straight fence from house to that point, then fence across the rest of the back yard and around the other side of the yard at the property line. Alternately, (perhaps after widening your back deck), you could begin your fence from the driveway side of the deck straight back to the property line and then fence in that part of the back yard and the larger side yard.

If you don't want a chain link fence, you could place treated posts every four feet, add wire fence (hog wire/chicken wire) and then add a horizontal board at the top with the option to also put a board at the bottom and/or two or more in the middle between the others ... over time if not in the budget to do all at once..

Check out the second picture:

https://www.menards.com/main/4-foot-garden-fence-project-by-richard/c-60300990438.htm

If the metal/wire fencing is galvanized, it will last a lot longer before it rusts.

100% fence it so you get the most out of your yard. We have cedar fencing on the sides and chain link on the back. It absolutely does not reduce our property value and is perfect. It means you can see through to the creek and get the beauty of the vegetation behind it. I’m glad we have the cedar fencing on sides for privacy.

Having had a massive dispute with a neighbour when we bought our house we fought tooth and nail to get our lot back when the new fence went in. It was a huge headache. I absolutely recommend fencing just inside your lot line. One pick is creekside through the supposedly price reducing CLF and the other is last May.

@A S I can't imagine the property line actually jogs around the neighbors shed?

Nope! That was the compromise. We took about 1.5 feet back on our side after the shed. Basically our lot widens from the retaining wall back and he had absorbed that for himself. So we got back what we could. He fought us regularly on it and would say one thing in person and another in writing. It’s so far from perfect. His deck is built up against the lot line further up and touches our fence. But living with neighbours is a balance. The way it was before we were giving him a good chunk of what was ours. Now he is encroaching on us with his buildings and only about a ten foot spot the fence is on our side more than it should be