California is a state that doesn’t shy away from being unique.  From its avant-garde fashion sense to its relaxed oceanside attitude, California is a state that marches to the beat of its own drum. California introduces new laws every year, and when it comes to real estate, the state has some pretty strange legal eccentricities that homeowners will want to keep up with. Here are a couple of the oddest real estate laws in The Golden State.

Fences of Spite

Getting along with neighbors isn’t always a walk in the park. Privacy can be important, and fences are typically central to achieving privacy in your yard and home. If you’re putting a pool in your backyard, you’ll probably want to build a fence or plant some privacy shrubbery. However, according to California courts, when a fence (or shrub wall) taller than 10 feet is constructed, it’s no longer considered to be a tool to ensure privacy but rather an instrument of spite.

It’s important to note that homeowners who bring a spite fence case to court need to prove malicious intent in the construction of the fence in order to win a ruling in their favor. However, legal experts have indicated that the purpose of the law is more to prevent neighborly spats over fences than it is to provide a legal means to lower fences.

Squat-to-Own

People who occupy a home or piece of land without the legal right to do so are colloquially referred to as “squatters”. The laws on squatters and their rights vary greatly from state to state, but California’s squatter laws stand out among the pack because they can enable squatters to take legal possession of the property. If a squatter has openly occupied a home or property for more than five years, pays the property taxes attached to the title, and improves the property in some way, then they can gain full legal rights to that property in a process known as adverse possession.

Adverse possession is defined as the legal process through which a non-owner occupies a piece of land and, after a set period of time, gains title and ownership of it. The specter of this can be the stuff of nightmares for homeowners, but by remaining diligent, the loss of your property to squatters can be avoided. Calling the police, serving an eviction notice, and filing a lawsuit will all have the effect of proving knowledge of the squatters and should prevent adverse possession from coming into play.

Mello-Roos Taxes

The third and final California real estate law is less odd than it is unique to the state of California. Mello-Roos tax districts can be created by California cities, counties, or school districts, and their creation means that all homes in the district must pay an extra tax to finance an infrastructure project. Supporters of Mello-Roos point to the important projects, such as the construction of new and needed schools, that were made possible by the extra tax levied. Opponents argue that regular state and property taxes already go toward these types of projects.

Oddly Californian

California’s real estate market tends to hover around varying degrees of red-hot. So while the state may have some odd real estate laws, all indications are that California will remain unapologetically odd.