Fence laws in Hoover, Alabama
What the Hoover municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Hoover sets no rule of its own, the Alabama rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Hoover, Alabama, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Hoover sets no distance between a fence and a lot line and spends its words on easements instead, which is where most of the trouble actually is, and the answer turns on whether the fence sits in an easement and who holds it. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a property line.
- How tall
- Hoover picks a number nobody else in this project uses, and the answer turns on whether the fence is in the front setback and who owns it. The figure is 6.5 feet, for general ceiling for a fence or wall.
- Permits
- A fence in Hoover is permitted work, and the ordinance prints the paperwork rather than describing it, and the answer turns on whether the fence touches an easement or a corner.
- Pool barriers
- Hoover sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Hoover has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Hoover 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
- Hoover leaves corner clearance to the City of Hoover Building Department, which reviews the sight triangle drawn on the permit survey. The figure is 4 feet, for fence height allowed in the front building setback at a driveway.
- Retaining walls
- Hoover 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
- Hoover writes the front yard fence as a picture rather than a list of bans, and the answer turns on where on the lot the fence stands and whether it fronts Highway 280. The figure is 50 percent, for share of a front setback fence that has to be open space.
- 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 Hoover?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Hoover answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence sits in an easement and who holds it.
Hoover sets no distance between a fence and a lot line and spends its words on easements instead, which is where most of the trouble actually is. A fence or vehicle barricade of wood, iron, chain link, vinyl or similar material counts as lightweight and movable and may sit inside a recorded easement, and where the easement carries an open drainage ditch the fence has to be built so it does not slow the storm water. A wall, a retaining wall or an entrance feature may go in an easement too, except one recorded for the benefit of the City, and only with written permission from the easement owner. That owner keeps the right to pull the thing out to reach its pipes, at the fence owner’s cost, and to make him take it out if it gets in the way. Nothing may stand in the street right-of-way at all.
Fences and vehicle barricades comprised of wood, iron, chain link, vinyl, or similar material, being considered lightweight and movable, may be located within a recorded easement subject to the remainder of this Section.
The answer turns on whether the fence sits in an easement and who holds it.
- a shared lot line
- No distance stated. 0 ft
- a recorded easement
- A light fence may sit in it.
- a City easement
- No wall or other structure.
- the street right-of-way
- Nothing at all.
Also on fences on the property line in Hoover
- 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 Hoover?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Hoover answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is in the front setback and who owns it.
Hoover picks a number nobody else in this project uses. Unless the ordinance says otherwise, no fence or wall may exceed six and a half feet, which is six inches under the common six and a foot and a half under the common eight. A fence is allowed in a front yard, and where it reaches into the prescribed building setback of that front yard it drops to four feet and picks up several conditions with it. A commonly owned decorative masonry wall or wrought iron fence along the edge of a subdivision gets back up to six and a half, provided it sits in a recorded easement, is owned in common by every owner in the subdivision, stands nowhere between the front of a house and the street right-of-way, and runs the entire length of the boundary where it fronts a street.
Unless otherwise stipulated herein, no fence or wall may exceed 6.5 feet in height.
The answer turns on whether the fence is in the front setback and who owns it.
- anywhere on the lot
- Six and a half feet. 6.5 ft
- inside the front building setback
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a subdivision boundary wall
- Six and a half, owned in common.
- the Highway 280 corridor
- Article 14 rules apply on top.
Also on fence height in Hoover
- 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 Hoover?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Hoover answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence touches an easement or a corner.
A fence in Hoover is permitted work, and the ordinance prints the paperwork rather than describing it. Before the City issues the permit, the owner of a proposed fence or other structure submits a signed and notarized letter to the Building Department, and the ordinance sets out the wording in full. In it the owner agrees that he is responsible for any encroachment into an easement, that he has to keep the easement, the drainage ways and the drainage infrastructure clear of debris and obstructions, that he or a later owner will move or remove all or part of the fence at his own cost if it affects the use of the easement, that he may be liable for damage to other beneficiaries of the easement and to anyone the fence injures, and that the City takes on no responsibility for maintaining a private easement or his improvements. On a corner lot the plot plan or survey filed with the application has to show the sight triangle.
If located on a corner lot, the sight triangle shall be incorporated on the plot plan/survey accompanying the permit application.
The answer turns on whether the fence touches an easement or a corner.
- any fence
- A permit from the City.
- the application
- A notarized hold harmless letter.
- a corner lot
- The sight triangle drawn on the survey.
- an easement owner objecting later
- The fence comes out at the owner’s cost.
Also on permits in Hoover
- 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 Hoover
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Hoover 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 Hoover 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 Hoover
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Hoover 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 Hoover 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 Hoover
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Hoover 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 Hoover 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 Hoover
- no rule, documents checkedHoover is precise about its numbers and silent about where they start. Six and a half feet is stated to the half foot, four feet applies in the front setback, and neither is tied to a grade, a curb, a crown or a finished ground level anywhere in the section. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed, although retaining walls appear a few lines later as their own kind of structure in an easement. A fence stepping down a slope is not addressed. Nothing says whether the height is read on the owner’s side or the neighbor’s where the two yards sit at different levels. The one measurement the ordinance does anchor belongs to a different feature entirely: a cornice or eave may project into a required yard up to twenty four inches, and a sill or ornamental feature up to six inches. Section 9.04.02Hoover · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Hoover
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Hoover does not set this. It leaves it to the City of Hoover Building Department, which reviews the sight triangle drawn on the permit survey.
Hoover writes the duty and leaves out the dimensions. A fence in the front building setback may not obstruct sight distance at the intersection of the street and the driveway, may not block access to a fire hydrant or other public safety infrastructure, and on a corner lot the sight triangle has to be drawn on the plot plan or survey that goes with the permit application. What the ordinance never does is say how big that triangle is. There is no distance along the curb, no distance along the lot line, and no band of protected height anywhere in the fence section or in the definitions. The rule closes by saying that such obstructions are subject to removal or revision, so the consequence is set out even though the standard is not. Along Highway 280 the same idea appears in one line: fences and walls may not restrict traffic intersection sight lines.
The fence shall not exceed four feet in height, shall not obstruct sight distance at the intersection of the street and driveway and shall not obstruct access to a fire hydrant or other public safety infrastructure.
4 ftfence height allowed in the front building setback at a driveway
The code hands this to the City of Hoover Building Department, which reviews the sight triangle drawn on the permit survey, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Hoover
- 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 Hoover
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Hoover 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 Hoover 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 Hoover
Compare materials across all 50 states
Hoover answers this, but the answer changes depending on where on the lot the fence stands and whether it fronts Highway 280.
Hoover writes the front yard fence as a picture rather than a list of bans. A fence in the front building setback has to be made of vertical wood, metal or vinyl balusters with intervening spaces that are evenly spaced and make up at least half the surface area of the fence, and a split rail fence is allowed as a second option. Chain link and other wire fences are prohibited there outright. Behind the setback the ordinance names no material at all, so the same chain link is fine in a back yard. Two other sets of rules reach specific places. A commonly owned subdivision wall has to be stucco, brick or stone and a wrought iron one needs vertical support columns surfaced in brick. Along the Highway 280 corridor a privacy fence has to be masonry, ornamental metal, durable wood or wood-look vinyl, chain link and plastic and wire are out wherever the fence is visible from public property, and a solid fence takes an evergreen strip on the highway side.
The fence shall be constructed of vertical wood, metal or vinyl balusters with intervening spaces that are evenly spaced and represent at least 50% of the surface area of the fence. Split rail fences are also permitted.
The answer turns on where on the lot the fence stands and whether it fronts Highway 280.
- the front building setback
- Balusters, half the face open. 50%
- chain link or wire out front
- Prohibited.
- behind the setback
- No material named.
- the Highway 280 corridor
- Masonry, metal, wood or wood-look vinyl.
Also on materials in Hoover
- 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 Hoover
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 Hoover 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 Hoover
- 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 Hoover 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 HooverCity of Hoover Zoning Ordinance, adopted 21 December 2020
- 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 Hoover 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