Fence Servitudes and Easements in Louisiana — What You Can and Can't Build

You've picked your material, settled on a height, and you're ready to put a fence up. Then the permit office tells you part of your property sits inside a servitude and you can't build there without permission.

It catches a lot of homeowners off guard — especially when every neighbor on the street already has a fence in that exact same strip.

I'm Jay Davis, owner of Legend Fence in Prairieville. We run into servitude issues on jobs across Ascension Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish regularly, and I've walked customers through the encroachment approval process more than once. Here's what you need to know before it stalls your project.

What a Servitude Actually Is

Louisiana uses civil law rather than common law, so where most states say "easement," we say "servitude." The practical meaning is the same: you own the land, but someone else holds a legal right to use part of it.

The most common types you'll run into on a residential lot:

Utility servitudes. Gas, electric, water, sewer, cable, and telecom lines run through designated strips — often along rear or side property lines. The utility has the right to access, maintain, and replace that infrastructure.

Drainage servitudes. Strips reserved for stormwater flow, ditches, or subsurface drainage. In South Louisiana these are everywhere and parishes take them seriously, because blocking drainage affects more than just your lot.

Rights-of-way. Strips along roads reserved for public use, road widening, or maintenance access.

Access servitudes. Less common on subdivision lots, but these give a neighbor or entity the legal right to cross your property.

You pay taxes on that land. You mow it. But you don't have unrestricted rights to build on it.

Why "Everyone Else Has One" Doesn't Settle It

This is the single most common thing homeowners say when they hit a servitude issue, and I understand the frustration. If every house on the block has a fence in the rear servitude, how is yours a problem?

A few realities:

Some of those fences were built without permits. Nobody caught them, and nobody will until a utility needs access or the property sells and a title search flags it.

Some were built under different rules. Requirements change, and what was allowed fifteen years ago may not be allowed now.

Some went through the encroachment process properly — their owners got agency approval letters and recorded a hold harmless agreement, which isn't visible from the street.

Enforcement is usually complaint-driven or triggered at permitting. Existing fences often sit untouched for years. But you're applying for a permit right now, which means you're in the system, and the parish will apply the rule.

What You Can and Can't Do

Generally not permitted inside a servitude: permanent structures, anything that impedes drainage, anything that blocks required access, and anything built within a corner sight triangle.

Often permitted with approval: fences, paving, decks, pools, and generators — but only after you obtain permission from every agency with control over that servitude.

That's the key distinction. Encroaching into a servitude isn't automatically forbidden. It requires permission, and the burden of getting it falls on you.

The East Baton Rouge Encroachment Process

If you're in East Baton Rouge Parish and your project encroaches into a public servitude, here's the actual sequence:

Step one. Before a permit is issued, you must obtain permission from the agency or agencies controlling that particular servitude.

Step two. Your permit application must include a plot plan drawn to scale, clearly identifying lot number, subdivision, address, servitudes, rights-of-way, catch basins, manholes, property dimensions, and the proposed encroachment.

Step three. Plan review personnel determine the servitude type and tell you which agencies to contact. You then send a written request to each one, including a map of the proposed encroachment.

Step four. Once you have approval letters from every agency, you deliver them to the plan reviewer, who issues a Hold Harmless agreement. The property owner signs it, has it notarized, records it with the Clerk of Court, and returns it.

Step five. Only then does the permit move forward.

That Hold Harmless agreement matters more than most homeowners realize. It states that the City-Parish and the utility companies aren't liable for damage caused by maintenance or installation work in the servitude — and that you're responsible for replacing anything in it.

In plain terms: if the utility has to dig up your fence to get to a line, they can. They'll put the dirt back. Putting your fence back is on you.

Residential encroachment questions go to (225) 389-3226. Commercial is (225) 389-3105.

Ascension Parish

Ascension Parish takes a similar position. Fences and walls are not allowed within servitudes or rights-of-way, and they cannot impede drainage or sit within a required sight triangle.

The parish also makes a point worth repeating: it does not enforce private subdivision or deed restrictions. Parish approval doesn't substitute for HOA approval, and HOA approval doesn't substitute for the parish permit. Those are separate processes and you need both.

How Long This Takes

Plan for it. Agency approval letters commonly take one to three weeks depending on how many agencies are involved and how quickly each responds. If one sits on it, the whole thing waits.

Then there's notarizing and recording the Hold Harmless agreement with the Clerk of Court before the permit issues.

If your project has urgency — an unfenced pool, a dog that keeps getting out, a closing date — say so in writing when you submit your request. A documented safety concern tends to move things faster than a general inquiry.

How to Avoid the Problem Entirely

Pull your property survey before you plan the fence line. Your plat from closing shows recorded servitudes. Looking at it first is five minutes that can save you a month.

Consider setting the fence inside the servitude line. If your rear servitude is ten feet deep, building at the inside edge costs you some yard but skips the entire approval process. For a lot of homeowners that trade is worth it.

Ask during the estimate. We review this on every job. If your fence line crosses a servitude, you'll know before you're committed to a schedule.

Never build first and ask later. An unpermitted fence in a servitude can be ordered removed at your expense, and it will surface during a title search when you sell.

What We Handle

We identify servitude conflicts during the estimate, provide the scaled plot plan your application needs, and advise on which agencies control the servitude on your property. We don't start work until approvals are in hand, because starting early helps nobody.

If you're already stuck in the process, we've navigated it before and can tell you where things typically stall.

Get a Free Estimate

Planning a fence and not sure whether a servitude is in play? Call Jay Davis at (225) 433-3620 or reach out through legend-fence.com. I'll come out, walk the property, and flag anything that affects your fence line before you're committed.

Legend Fence serves Prairieville, Baton Rouge, Gonzales, Denham Springs, Walker, Central, Zachary, Hammond, Covington, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

This post is general information about the permitting process, not legal advice. Servitude rights and requirements vary by property and by parish. Confirm current requirements with your parish permit office, and consult an attorney for questions about your specific property rights.