Fence laws in Montgomery, Alabama
What the Montgomery municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Montgomery sets no rule of its own, the Alabama rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Montgomery, Alabama, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The fence rule is written from the lot line outward rather than inward, allowing a fence or wall along a lot line or next to it, so standing on the boundary is the ordinary case and no setback is stated, and the answer turns on the district, and whether the fence blocks drainage or fire access. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated between a fence and a lot line.
- How tall
- Montgomery picks seven feet, which is uncommon, and the answer turns on the yard and the zoning district. The figure is 7 feet, for fence or wall along a lot line in an office or residential district.
- Permits
- It is unlawful in Montgomery to start the excavation for any building or other structure, accessory structures included, or to store building material, or to put up a temporary field office, or to begin moving, altering or repairing a structure, until the Administrative Official has issued a building permit carrying a statement that the plans and the intended use conform to the zoning ordinance, and the answer turns on what the fence is made of and how tall it is. The figure is 3 feet, for height below which a fence is not a structure.
- Pool barriers
- Montgomery sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Montgomery has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Montgomery answers the question most codes in this project leave open, and answers it against the taller lot.
- Corner lots
- In every district except B-1-a, B-1-b, B-2 and M-3, 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. The figure is 20 feet, for distance from the intersection of the right-of-way lines kept clear.
- Retaining walls
- Montgomery 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 battery charged fence in Alabama stands at least ten feet tall. The figure is 10 feet, for height of a battery charged fence. It reaches battery charged fences on land not set aside only for homes, and not fences used for farming or holding animals only.
- 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 Montgomery?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Montgomery answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, and whether the fence blocks drainage or fire access.
The fence rule is written from the lot line outward rather than inward, allowing a fence or wall along a lot line or next to it, so standing on the boundary is the ordinary case and no setback is stated. Where the ordinance does get specific is in the patio home and zero lot line districts, and there the limits are about water and fire rather than distance. A privacy fence or wall may be placed on or along any lot line provided it is not built in a way that blocks local lot drainage, and provided gates or other openings are there so fire protection access is not cut off. Eight feet is the maximum for such a fence on or along a required side or rear yard. The required eight foot side yard on a patio home lot has to be kept perpetually free of permanent obstructions, accessory structures, walls and fences without gates, so a gateless fence is the thing barred there.
Privacy fences or walls may be placed on or along any lot lines provided that such fences or walls are not constructed in such a manner as to block any local lot drainage
Article VII, patio home provisions
The answer turns on the district, and whether the fence blocks drainage or fire access.
- an ordinary lot
- Along the lot line, no setback stated. 0 ft
- a patio home lot
- On the line, if drainage still runs.
- the required eight foot side yard
- No fence without gates in it.
- a drainage easement
- A fence is allowed, with openings kept clear.
Also on fences on the property line in Montgomery
- 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 Montgomery?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Montgomery answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and the zoning district.
Montgomery picks seven feet, which is uncommon. A fence or wall may be put up, kept or grown along a lot line of property zoned for office or residential use, or next to it, to a height not over seven feet above the ground. Four districts get an extra foot: R-20-t, R-24-t, PGH-35 and PGH-40 are allowed eight. The allowance carries a condition that reads like a leftover from an older code, requiring the main structure to have the yard space this ordinance requires. Out front the number drops hard. No fence or wall in a required front yard or a required street side yard may exceed three feet, which is the strictest front yard rule in Alabama and lower than the four feet Huntsville and Birmingham allow. A corner lot therefore has two three foot frontages and a seven foot fence only behind the building lines.
Fences and walls may be erected, placed, maintained or grown along a lot line of property zoned for office or residential use, or adjacent thereto a height not exceeding seven (7) feet above the ground
The answer turns on the yard and the zoning district.
- along a lot line in most districts
- Seven feet. 7 ft
- R-20-t, R-24-t, PGH-35 or PGH-40
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a required front or street side yard
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a patio home side or rear yard
- Eight feet for a privacy fence.
Also on fence height in Montgomery
- 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 Montgomery?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Montgomery answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence is made of and how tall it is.
It is unlawful in Montgomery to start the excavation for any building or other structure, accessory structures included, or to store building material, or to put up a temporary field office, or to begin moving, altering or repairing a structure, until the Administrative Official has issued a building permit carrying a statement that the plans and the intended use conform to the zoning ordinance. Painting and wallpapering are excepted, and so is grading or filling where nothing is excavated. Whether a fence needs that permit turns on the definition of structure, and Montgomery writes two exclusions into it: a wire fence of any height, and any other fence less than three feet high, along with retaining walls and terraces. So a chain link fence falls outside the word structure entirely while a six foot board fence does not.
but not including telephone poles, overhead wires, wire fences and other fences less than three (3) feet high, retaining walls or terraces.
Article II, definition of Structure
The answer turns on what the fence is made of and how tall it is.
- a wire fence
- Not a structure at all.
- any fence under three feet
- Also outside the word. 3 ft
- a solid fence above that
- A building permit first.
- grading with no excavation
- No permit needed.
Also on permits in Montgomery
- 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 Montgomery
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Montgomery 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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Montgomery 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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Montgomery answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Montgomery answers the question most codes in this project leave open, and answers it against the taller lot. The height of walls is measured from the lowest ground elevation on either side of a joint property line, so where two yards sit at different levels the lower one sets the datum and the owner on the high side gets less fence. A four foot drop between neighbors turns a seven foot allowance into three feet of fence on the upper lot. The sentence says walls rather than fences, and it sits at the end of the paragraph that governs both, which is the kind of loose drafting that gets argued at a counter. What it does not cover is a fence standing on a berm or on top of a retaining wall, and it does not say how a fence stepping down a long slope is read, since the lowest point on the whole run would govern on a literal reading.
The height of walls shall be measured from the lowest ground elevation on either side of a joint property line
Also on how height is measured in Montgomery
- no rule, documents checkedAlabama 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. Ala. Code 3-4-1Alabama · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Montgomery
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Montgomery answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
In every district except B-1-a, B-1-b, B-2 and M-3, 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. Three things separate this from the usual rule. The bottom of the band is three and a half feet rather than the common two and a half or three, which quietly permits a taller shrub or a low wall. The top is fifteen feet, high enough to reach tree canopy and the face of a sign. And the twenty feet is measured from the right-of-way lines rather than the curb or the lot line, so a wide planting strip pushes the protected area back off the pavement. The same rule covers a street meeting a railroad and two railroads meeting each other.
no fence, wall, sh rubbery, sign, marquee, or other obstruction to vision between the heights of three and one-half (3 ½) feet and fi fteen (15) feet above street level shall be permitted within twenty (20) feet of the intersection of the right-of-wa y lines of two 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 Montgomery
- 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 Montgomery
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Montgomery 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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery
Compare materials across all 50 states
Alabama answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A 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.
This one is Alabama law, not Montgomery law. All Alabama findings
(6) Is at least 10 feet in height.
10 ftheight of a battery charged fence
Also on materials in Montgomery
- no rule, documents checkedThe zoning ordinance names no permitted fence material and prohibits none. Barbed wire does not appear. Razor wire does not appear. An electric fence does not appear. Chain link appears only in the definition of a structure, where a wire fence is excluded from the word, and that is an exemption rather than a permission. The fence section itself regulates position and height and says nothing about what the thing is built from, which is consistent with an ordinance adopted in 1985 and amended in pieces since. The closest the code comes to a material question is the patio home rule that a fence may not be built in a way that blocks local lot drainage, which reaches a solid panel and leaves an open one alone without ever naming either. So a chain link fence and a masonry wall are the same thing here as long as they are the same height. Article VI, Section 7Montgomery · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Montgomery
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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery
- 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 Montgomery 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 MontgomeryCity of Montgomery Zoning Ordinance, adopted 12 August 1985
- 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 Montgomery 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