Fence laws in Decatur, Alabama
What the Decatur municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Decatur sets no rule of its own, the Alabama rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Decatur, Alabama, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Decatur sets no setback between a fence and a lot line, and the one place the code puts a fence next to a boundary on purpose is the zero lot line rule, and the answer turns on whether the lot is a zero lot line lot. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a property line.
- How tall
- Decatur sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- It is unlawful in Decatur to start the excavation for or the construction of any building or other structure, accessory structures included, or to store building materials, or to put up a temporary field office, or to begin moving, altering or repairing a structure, until the city building inspector has issued a permit stating that the plans and the intended use conform to the zoning chapter, and the answer turns on whether the work counts as a structure and what the repair costs.
- Pool barriers
- Decatur sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Decatur has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Decatur never says what a fence height is measured from. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Corner lots
- In a residence or local business district, no fence, wall, shrubbery, sign, marquee or other obstruction to vision may stand between three and a half feet and fifteen feet above street level within twenty feet of where the right-of-way lines of two streets meet, or two railroads, or a street and a railroad. The figure is 20 feet, for distance from the intersection of the right-of-way lines kept clear.
- Retaining walls
- Decatur leaves retaining walls to the Alabama Residential Building Code adopted by the Home Builders Licensure Board, which is a published edition of the International Residential Code. It reaches one and two family homes only.
- Materials
- For a house fence Decatur names no material and bans none, and the answer turns on what is behind the fence and what it faces. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum solid fence between commercial or industrial and residential property.
- Livestock
- Alabama says what a fence has to be to count as a lawful fence. The figure is 5 feet, for height of a lawful fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Decatur?
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Decatur answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the lot is a zero lot line lot.
Decatur sets no setback between a fence and a lot line, and the one place the code puts a fence next to a boundary on purpose is the zero lot line rule. Where a house is built on the line, a perpetual drainage and maintenance easement five feet wide is provided on the neighboring lot, and that strip has to be kept clear of structures with the exception of fences. A fence is therefore the single thing allowed to stand in a strip whose whole purpose is access and drainage, and it comes with a condition aimed at the neighbor who has to look at it: the fence is maintained in its original color and treatment unless the two affected owners agree otherwise in writing. The easement is shown on the plat, written into every deed transferring the property, and approved by the city engineering department.
A zero lot line can be used, provided that a perpetual drainage and maintenance easement of five (5) feet shall be provided on the lot adjacent to the zero lot line property line, which with the exception of fences, shall be kept clear of structures.
The answer turns on whether the lot is a zero lot line lot.
- an ordinary lot line
- No setback stated. 0 ft
- a zero lot line easement
- A fence is the one structure allowed. 5 ft
- that fence
- Kept in its original color and treatment.
- a change to it
- Both owners agree in writing.
Also on fences on the property line in Decatur
- set in state lawBoth neighbors share the cost of a fence on the line in Alabama. Section 35-7-3 says a fence between improved land is built and repaired at the joint cost of the occupants, and it calls that kind of fence a partition fence. A person who later ties into a neighbor's fence and uses it as a line fence owes a share of what it cost, based on the shape the fence was in when it was joined. Ala. Code 35-7-3Alabama · Statute
- set in state lawAn owner who will not pay a share can be sued for it after ten days notice. Section 35-7-7 sets out that step: notice goes to the joint owner asking for help to build, repair or keep up the shared fence, and after ten days the owner who refuses can be taken to any court that hears such a case. The court or the jury decides whether the work was needed and what it was worth. The section also stops one owner from spending carelessly on the fence and billing the others. Ala. Code 35-7-7Alabama · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Decatur?
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Decatur law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Alabama sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. City and county zoning sets it. The one height in state fence law is in Section 3-4-1, which says a lawful fence has to be at least five feet high, and that number is a floor for holding livestock rather than a cap on a yard fence.
This one is Alabama law, not Decatur law. All Alabama findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Ala. Code 3-4-1Alabama Legislature
- Ala. Code 34-14A-82Alabama Legislature
Also on fence height in Decatur
- no rule, documents checkedDecatur has no fence section. Its zoning chapter runs from Section 25-1 to Section 25-28.1 in the general article and then through floodplain, signs, day care, temporary businesses, home occupations and site plan review, and the word fence appears in it six times. Twice in the zero lot line rules, twice in a screening requirement for business property next to houses, once in a redevelopment buffer, and once in the corner visibility section. The heights section, 25-15, sends every structure to the district tables and then lists what is exempt, naming church steeples, silos, chimneys, flag poles, water tanks and the rest, and never mentions a fence. The yards section, 25-14, sets yard depths and lot widths and says nothing about what may stand in a yard. So a residential fence in Decatur has no stated ceiling in the zoning chapter. Section 25-15Decatur · Zoning code
Do I need a permit for a fence in Decatur?
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Decatur answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the work counts as a structure and what the repair costs.
It is unlawful in Decatur to start the excavation for or the construction of any building or other structure, accessory structures included, or to store building materials, or to put up a temporary field office, or to begin moving, altering or repairing a structure, until the city building inspector has issued a permit stating that the plans and the intended use conform to the zoning chapter. Two things are excepted and one of them is a dollar figure rather than a description: a repair that does not change the character of the structure and costs no more than one thousand dollars, and painting or wallpapering. The definition of a structure is where Decatur differs from its neighbors. It covers any combination of materials whose use requires location on or attachment to the ground, names signs and billboards, and excludes telephone poles and overhead wires. It neither names a fence nor writes one out, which Montgomery and Auburn both do.
It shall be unlawful to commence the excavation for or the construction of any building or other structure, including accessory structures, or to store building materials or erect temporary field offices
The answer turns on whether the work counts as a structure and what the repair costs.
- building a structure
- A permit from the building inspector first.
- a small repair
- Exempt up to a thousand dollars.
- the word structure
- A fence is neither named nor excluded.
- painting or wallpapering
- No permit.
Also on permits in Decatur
- set in state lawAlabama does not write its own house building code. Section 34-14A-82 says the Alabama Residential Building Code is built from a published edition of the International Residential Code and the International Energy Conservation Code, and the Home Builders Licensure Board is what adopts it. The rule that lets a fence skip a permit is inside that adopted code. Alabama does not post that code text, so the wording is not quoted here. Ala. Code 34-14A-82(b)Alabama · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Decatur
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Decatur law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Alabama names no pool fence height in a law or in a statewide health rule. The Department of Public Health runs pool permits and inspections through county health departments rather than through one statewide chapter. The height that does apply comes from the Alabama Residential Building Code, which the state builds out of the International Residential Code. The International Code Council sells that text and Alabama does not post it, so no number is quoted here.
This one is Alabama law, not Decatur law. All Alabama findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Ala. Code 34-14A-82Alabama Legislature
- ADPH public swimming pool programAlabama Department of Public Health
Spite fence laws in Decatur
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Decatur law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Alabama has no spite fence law. Nothing in the Code of Alabama limits a fence put up to annoy a neighbor, and no height turns a fence into one. Title 35, Chapter 7 covers only who pays for a fence on the line, and Title 3, Chapter 4 covers fences for livestock. That leaves a general nuisance lawsuit or a city ordinance.
This one is Alabama law, not Decatur law. All Alabama findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Ala. Code 35-7-1Alabama Legislature
- Ala. Code 3-4-1Alabama Legislature
How fence height is measured in Decatur
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Decatur law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Alabama never says what a fence height is measured from. Section 3-4-1 requires a fence to be at least five feet high and stops there. The five feet could start at bare dirt, at a graded yard, or at the low side of a slope, and the law does not pick one. The city zoning article does not fill the gap. Sections 11-52-70 and 11-52-71 let a city say what kind of structures may go up in each district, and neither one uses the word height. So the town writes both the number and the surface it starts from.
This one is Alabama law, not Decatur law. All Alabama findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Ala. Code 3-4-1Alabama Legislature
- Ala. Code 11-52-70Alabama Legislature
Also on how height is measured in Decatur
- no rule, documents checkedThe only datum in Decatur that touches a fence belongs to the corner rule, which measures its band from street level, so the road governs at an intersection whatever the lot does. Nowhere else does the chapter give a reference point that reaches a fence, and since it sets no residential fence height there is nothing for one to attach to. The fence heights that do appear, six feet for screening a business and six feet for the 7th Avenue buffer, are stated without saying what they are read from. A berm is addressed as a landscaping feature, at twenty linear feet wide and four feet high along 7th Avenue SE, and not as something a fence might stand on. A retaining wall is not addressed. A fence stepping down a slope is not addressed, and nothing says whose side of the line the height is read from. Section 25-20Decatur · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Decatur
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Decatur answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
In a residence or local business district, no fence, wall, shrubbery, sign, marquee or other obstruction to vision may stand between three and a half feet and fifteen feet above street level within twenty feet of where the right-of-way lines of two streets meet, or two railroads, or a street and a railroad. This is the same rule Montgomery uses, word for word in places, which is common among Alabama codes drawn from the same model in the 1950s and 1960s. Two details are worth noting. The districts covered are residence and local business only, so a general business or industrial corner is not reached. And the section adds a separate setback that has nothing to do with vision: an accessory structure within twenty five feet of the rear lot line of a corner lot is set back the full front yard depth required on the side street.
In a residence or local business district no fence, wall, shrubbery, sign, marquee, or other obstruction to vision between the heights of three and one-half (3½) feet and fifteen (15) feet above street level shall be permitted within twenty (20) feet of the intersection of the right-of-way lines of two (2) streets or railroads or of a street and a railroad right-of-way line.
20 ftdistance from the intersection of the right-of-way lines kept clear
Also on corner visibility in Decatur
- left to the townAlabama draws no clear view triangle at a corner. The city does that. Section 11-52-70 gives each city the power to say what kind of structures may go up in each district, and a corner clearance rule belongs there. Section 11-52-72 lists what a zoning ordinance is for, including easing traffic in the streets, and it names no corner and no triangle. The highways title has one rule about blocking a driver, section 23-1-274, and it covers outdoor advertising signs in business areas, not a fence on a house lot. Ala. Code 11-52-70Alabama · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in Decatur
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Decatur does not set this. It leaves it to the Alabama Residential Building Code adopted by the Home Builders Licensure Board, which is a published edition of the International Residential Code.
Alabama writes no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. Section 34-14A-82 says the Alabama Residential Building Code is built from a published edition of the International Residential Code, and the Home Builders Licensure Board adopts it. The height at which a wall of that kind needs a permit, and how one has to be built, are inside that adopted code. Alabama does not post the code text, so the number is not quoted here.
This one is Alabama law, not Decatur law. All Alabama findings
The proposed Alabama Residential Building Code, and any subsequent amendment to the code, shall be based upon a published edition of the Alabama Energy and Residential Code as adopted and amended from the International Residential Code (IRC) and the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).
The code hands this to the Alabama Residential Building Code adopted by the Home Builders Licensure Board, which is a published edition of the International Residential Code, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Decatur
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Decatur answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is behind the fence and what it faces.
For a house fence Decatur names no material and bans none. Every material rule in the chapter is about separating a business from a home. Development next to residential property provides either perimeter landscaping at least five feet deep between the parking area and the neighbors, or a solid fence or wall of at least six feet, and where the fence route is chosen chain link and other wire fencing material is prohibited. The Redevelopment District repeats the same requirement. The strictest version is along 7th Avenue SE, where a developer may build a buffer fence at least six feet high in place of or alongside a twenty foot planted berm, with a column every fifty feet, built of stone, brick or other masonry the Planning Department approves, and wood is not permitted at all. That fence runs the full length of the property and its design goes on the site plan.
All commercial or industrial development adjacent to residential property shall provide a solid fence or wall. The fence shall be a minimum of six (6) feet high. Chain link or other wire fencing material is prohibited.
The answer turns on what is behind the fence and what it faces.
- a house fence
- No material named.
- a business next to houses
- Solid, six feet, no wire. 6 ft
- the 7th Avenue SE buffer
- Masonry only, no wood.
- that buffer fence
- A column every fifty feet. 50 ft
Also on materials in Decatur
- set in state lawA battery charged fence in Alabama stands at least ten feet tall. State law defines that kind of fence as part of an alarm system and then gives a list of things it has to meet, and the ten feet is one of them. Ala. Code 11-80-17Alabama · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Decatur
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Alabama answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Alabama says what a fence has to be to count as a lawful fence. Five feet high is the base rule. A rail fence needs rails no more than four inches apart from the ground up through every two feet. A paling fence needs palings no more than three inches apart. A fence built with a ditch needs the ditch four feet wide at the top, the fence five feet high measured from the bottom of the ditch, and three feet high from the top of the bank.
This one is Alabama law, not Decatur law. All Alabama findings
All inclosures and fences must be made at least five feet high, unless otherwise provided in this chapter. If the fence is made of rails, the rails must be not more than four inches apart from the ground to the height of every two feet. If the fence is made of palings, the palings must be not more than three inches apart.
5 ftheight of a lawful fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Decatur
- set in state lawThe animal owner keeps the animals in, not the neighbor. Alabama's stock law makes it an offense to let livestock run loose on another person's land or on public land, roads and streets, and it says no county in the state is open range. Section 3-5-3 then makes that owner pay for damage the animals do to crops, shade or fruit trees, shrubs and flowers. Ala. Code 3-5-2Alabama · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, of which 1 was published by Decatur itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Alabama LegislatureCode of Alabama 1975, Section 35-7-3, Expenses to Be Borne Proportionately by Adjoining Owners
- Alabama LegislatureCode of Alabama 1975, Section 35-7-7, Action to Recover Costs and Expenses
- City of DecaturDecatur Code of Ordinances, Chapter 25, Zoning, Article I, In General
- Alabama LegislatureCode of Alabama 1975, Section 3-4-1, Requirements as to Construction of Lawful Fences - Generally
- Alabama LegislatureCode of Alabama 1975, Section 34-14A-82, Proposal, Adoption, and Implementation of Alabama Residential Building Code
- Alabama Department of Public HealthPublic Swimming Pools, Spas, and Interactive Water Features program page
- Alabama LegislatureCode of Alabama 1975, Section 35-7-1, Partition Fences Defined
- Alabama LegislatureCode of Alabama 1975, Section 11-52-70, Establishment, Etc., of Business, Industrial and Residential Districts
- Alabama LegislatureSenate Bill 13, 2021 Regular Session, Enrolled (Act 2021-380)
- Alabama LegislatureCode of Alabama, Title 3, Chapter 5, Stock Law
What this page does not cover
A city ordinance is not the only rule that reaches a fence. The zoning district a parcel sits in can change the height allowed on it, and so can an overlay district, a recorded easement, a fire hazard severity zone or a coastal zone. A homeowner association can be stricter than the city and nothing in the municipal code will say so. None of those appear here.
The rules above are the ones Decatur publishes, plus the Alabama rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Alabama has the state layer in full.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, ordinances are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean