Fence laws in Dothan, Alabama
What the Dothan municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Dothan sets no rule of its own, the Alabama rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Dothan, Alabama, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Dothan is explicit where many codes are merely silent: fences may be located along all front, side and rear yards and may be constructed on any common property line, and the answer turns on whether the fence affects drainage, and whether a pool is involved. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a common property line.
- How tall
- No fence in Dothan generally exceeds six feet, and the answer turns on the yard, the setback and whether the fence is engineered for wind. The figure is 6 feet, for general fence height limit.
- Permits
- Dothan opens its fence rules with the shortest permit sentence in this project: all fences require a permit and comply with the building code.
- Pool barriers
- Dothan sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Dothan has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Dothan 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
- Dothan sets the lowest corner figure in this project and then hands the shape of the area to another chapter, and the answer turns on whether the fence is opaque and how far the sight distance standards reach. The figure is 2 feet, for opaque fence or hedge allowed in the line of sight at a corner.
- Retaining walls
- Dothan 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
- A fence in Dothan has to be built of a permanent weatherproof material, and the code names wood, vinyl and masonry as examples rather than as the whole list, and the answer turns on the material and the district.
- 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 Dothan?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Dothan answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence affects drainage, and whether a pool is involved.
Dothan is explicit where many codes are merely silent: fences may be located along all front, side and rear yards and may be constructed on any common property line. No distance is stated from a neighbor, and the permission to build on the shared line is written out rather than left to be inferred from the absence of a setback. The one physical limit is drainage, and no fence may be built or installed in a way that interferes with drainage on the site. The distances that do appear in the section belong to pools rather than fences: a pool is built no closer than ten feet from the waterline to any property line, and a pool enclosure stands no closer than five feet to any property line. Both are stricter than anything the fence rules ask for.
Fences may be located along all front, side and rear yards and may be constructed on any common property line.
The answer turns on whether the fence affects drainage, and whether a pool is involved.
- a common property line
- A fence may sit on it. 0 ft
- site drainage
- It may not be interfered with.
- a swimming pool
- Ten feet from the waterline to any line. 10 ft
- a pool enclosure
- Five feet.
Also on fences on the property line in Dothan
- 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 Dothan?
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Dothan answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the setback and whether the fence is engineered for wind.
No fence in Dothan generally exceeds six feet. The building official may approve up to eight, and the condition attached is structural rather than aesthetic: the fence has to be designed to withstand the current wind load, which is the kind of test a city on the Gulf coastal plain writes into its code. Out front the figure drops to four feet for a fence or hedge in a required front yard, unless the fence is pulled back far enough to meet the minimum front yard setback for its district, in which case the six foot rule applies again. A corner lot gets the same four feet where its street side yard abuts the front yard of another lot, so the neighbor’s frontage is protected rather than the corner owner’s. The Board of Zoning Adjustment may grant a special exception from the front yard limit, but only in the L-I, H-I and AC districts.
No fence shall generally exceed six feet in height; however, fences may be approved by the building official of a maximum of eight feet in height if designed to withstand the current wind-load.
The answer turns on the yard, the setback and whether the fence is engineered for wind.
- most of the lot
- Six feet. 6 ft
- engineered for the wind load
- Eight feet, if the building official agrees. 8 ft
- a required front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a corner lot facing a neighbor’s front yard
- Four feet on that side.
Also on fence height in Dothan
- no rule, documents checkedAlabama 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. Ala. Code 3-4-1Alabama · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Dothan?
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Dothan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Dothan opens its fence rules with the shortest permit sentence in this project: all fences require a permit and comply with the building code. There is no height threshold, no material threshold and no exemption for a replacement. Two other approvals sit behind it and both are discretionary. The building official signs off on anything over six feet, and only where the fence is engineered for the current wind load. The administrative official may let a fence exceed the height limits where another public agency requires it for safety or to guard a hazard, and only on satisfactory evidence that the extra height is needed. A fence in a residential, office or commercial district that would carry barbed wire needs the Board of Zoning Adjustment, and so does a front yard fence over four feet in the L-I, H-I and AC districts.
All fences require a permit and shall comply with the building code.
Also on permits in Dothan
- 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 Dothan
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Dothan 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 Dothan 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 Dothan
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Dothan 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 Dothan 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 Dothan
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Dothan 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 Dothan 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 Dothan
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence rules state two feet, four feet, six feet and eight feet, and not one of them is tied to a datum. No grade is named, no crown of the road, no finished ground level. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed. A fence running down a slope is not addressed, and nothing says whether the height is read on the owner’s side of the line or the neighbor’s where two yards sit at different levels. The gap is more noticeable here than in most cities because Dothan is otherwise careful about physical conditions, requiring a fence over six feet to be engineered for the wind load and barring any fence that interferes with drainage on the site. The one measurement in the section that names what it is taken from belongs to a pool, where ten feet runs from the waterline to the property line. Section 114-183(b)(3)Dothan · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Dothan
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Dothan answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is opaque and how far the sight distance standards reach.
Dothan sets the lowest corner figure in this project and then hands the shape of the area to another chapter. Where a property faces two roadways, or anything else the code construes as a corner lot, no opaque fence or hedge over two feet may stand in the line of sight. Two feet is below the two and a half or three feet most cities allow, and because the limit is written on opaque fences it leaves an open picket or a wrought iron fence alone. What the zoning chapter does not do is draw the area. The corner visibility section says only that fences, walls, shrubbery, signs, marquees and other obstructions to vision comply with the sight distance standards referenced in City Code chapter 98, section 10, so the distances live with the street rules rather than the zoning rules. Accessory structures on a corner lot are set back the full front yard depth from each street.
In areas where the property faces two roadways or is located in any other area construed to be a corner lot, no opaque fence or hedge exceeding two feet in height shall be located in the line of sight.
The answer turns on whether the fence is opaque and how far the sight distance standards reach.
- an opaque fence in the line of sight
- Two feet. 2 ft
- an open fence
- The two foot rule does not name it.
- the size of the area
- City Code chapter 98, section 10.
- an accessory structure
- Full front yard depth from each street.
Also on corner visibility in Dothan
- 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 Dothan
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Dothan 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 Dothan 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 Dothan
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Dothan answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and the district.
A fence in Dothan has to be built of a permanent weatherproof material, and the code names wood, vinyl and masonry as examples rather than as the whole list. Then it closes the loophole most codes leave open: fabric, plastic sheeting or metal attached to a fence that is itself made of approved material is not permitted, unless the thing was specially designed and made as a fence. That reaches the tarp zip-tied to a chain link fence for privacy, which is a common sight and a common complaint. Barbed wire and similar products may not be used in a residential, office or commercial district unless the Board of Zoning Adjustment approves it. Any fence next to a public right-of-way or a private road is placed with the finished side facing the road. A pool fence has the additional job of being built so a child or a household pet cannot get through it.
Fences must be constructed of a permanent weatherproof material such as wood, vinyl or masonry. Fabric, plastic sheeting or metal attached to a fence constructed of approved materials (unless specially designed and created as a fence) is not permitted.
The answer turns on the material and the district.
- the fence itself
- Permanent and weatherproof.
- a tarp or sheeting added on
- Not permitted.
- barbed wire near houses or offices
- Only if the Board approves.
- a fence along a road
- Finished side faces the road.
Also on materials in Dothan
- 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 Dothan
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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 Dothan 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 Dothan
- 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 Dothan 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 DothanDothan Code of Ordinances, Chapter 114, Zoning, Article XI, Supplemental Regulations
- 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 Dothan 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