Fence laws in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
What the Tuscaloosa municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Tuscaloosa sets no rule of its own, the Alabama rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Toward a neighbor Tuscaloosa is permissive and says so plainly: fences and walls are allowed anywhere on a lot, or on a property line between privately owned lots, and the answer turns on whether the line faces a neighbor or a street. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a property line between privately owned lots.
- How tall
- Tuscaloosa sets its heights above the grade on the abutting land and then splits them four ways, and the answer turns on the district, the use on the lot and where on the lot the fence stands. The figure is 4 feet, for fence inside the minimum front setback on a non-multifamily residential lot.
- Permits
- Tuscaloosa names no standalone fence permit, and the answer turns on what is being applied for and what the fence is for.
- Pool barriers
- Tuscaloosa sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Tuscaloosa has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- The height rule names its datum in the same sentence as the numbers: fences and walls may not exceed the listed heights above the grade on the abutting land, and the answer turns on whether the number is a fence height, a triangle or a retaining wall. The figure is 15 degrees, for lean from vertical at which a post fails the maintenance standard.
- Corner lots
- Tuscaloosa puts the whole corner rule in a definition and then uses it in one line: fences and walls are prohibited within a sight triangle. The figure is 20 feet, for distance from the intersection of the right-of-way lines forming the sight triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Tuscaloosa 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
- The banned list is specific and reads like a response to things people actually did, and the answer turns on the material, the district and which frontage the fence faces. The figure is 50 percent, for share of a residential front setback fence that has to be open.
- 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 Tuscaloosa?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the line faces a neighbor or a street.
Toward a neighbor Tuscaloosa is permissive and says so plainly: fences and walls are allowed anywhere on a lot, or on a property line between privately owned lots. Toward the street it is one of the strictest in this project. A fence has to be set back at least ten feet from the curb line of an abutting street, which is a distance measured from the pavement rather than from the property line, so on a street with a narrow right-of-way the fence ends up well inside the yard and on a wide one it may sit at the lot line anyway. A fence may not stand in a street right-of-way at all, and may not stand in a sight triangle. The last location rule is about water: a fence may not be installed so that it blocks or diverts a natural drainage flow onto or off of any other land, unless there is an approved stormwater management plan covering it.
Except as otherwise provided in this division, fences and walls are allowed anywhere on a lot, or on a property line between privately-owned lots.
The answer turns on whether the line faces a neighbor or a street.
- a line shared with a neighbor
- On the line is allowed. 0 ft
- a street
- Ten feet back from the curb. 10 ft
- a right-of-way or sight triangle
- No fence at all.
- a natural drainage flow
- Not blocked or diverted.
Also on fences on the property line in Tuscaloosa
- 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 Tuscaloosa?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the use on the lot and where on the lot the fence stands.
Tuscaloosa sets its heights above the grade on the abutting land and then splits them four ways. In a residential district on a lot that is not multifamily, four feet inside the minimum front setback and eight feet anywhere else. On a multifamily lot the front figure rises to six, on the reasoning that an apartment building needs more screening at the street than a house does. Business districts get a flat eight everywhere, industrial districts a flat ten. A corner lot in a residential district gets a specific allowance rather than a hardship: a fence up to six feet may stand inside the minimum setback of one of the two front yards, so the side street frontage can be enclosed without a variance. A retaining wall may go over any of these figures where the Director of Planning finds it does not unreasonably block the view of street traffic or the view from a car backing out of a driveway.
In Residential districts on lots with uses that are not multifamily dwellings, four feet when placed within the minimum front setback and eight feet when placed elsewhere on the lot;
The answer turns on the district, the use on the lot and where on the lot the fence stands.
- a house, inside the front setback
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a house, anywhere else on the lot
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a corner lot in a residential district
- Six feet in one of the two front setbacks. 6 ft
- an industrial district
- Ten feet. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Tuscaloosa
- 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 Tuscaloosa?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is being applied for and what the fence is for.
Tuscaloosa names no standalone fence permit. Compliance is checked when a development application comes through, on a planned development, a conditional use permit, a special exception use permit or a land development permit, whichever applies. Nine kinds of fence sit outside the division altogether: anything in the OS, IU and IP districts, customary fencing around athletic fields, tennis courts and playgrounds, fencing a public body installs along a public road, fencing holding up a structure, fencing around a stormwater pond, temporary construction fencing and barricades, tree protection fencing, a landscaping berm with no fence on it, and fencing needed for erosion control. The one real application is the security exemption, open only to non-residential land in the Business and Industrial districts, where a landowner asks the Director of Planning for a taller fence or for wire on top of one.
A landowner in need of heightened security may submit to the Director of Planning a security exemption plan proposing a fence or wall taller than the height permitted by this division
The answer turns on what is being applied for and what the fence is for.
- an ordinary fence
- No permit of its own.
- a development application
- The fence is reviewed with it.
- a business wanting razor wire
- A security exemption plan.
- a plan the Director refuses
- A variance is the next step.
Also on permits in Tuscaloosa
- 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 Tuscaloosa
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the number is a fence height, a triangle or a retaining wall.
The height rule names its datum in the same sentence as the numbers: fences and walls may not exceed the listed heights above the grade on the abutting land. The wording puts the reference on the neighboring ground rather than on the ground the fence stands on, so an owner who raises a yard does not buy extra fence with the fill. The sight triangle uses a different reference, measuring its band from street level. A retaining wall is the one case the ordinance carves out, allowed to exceed the heights where the Director of Planning finds it does not unreasonably impede visibility of street traffic or of vehicles leaving a driveway, and it does not say whether a fence standing on that wall is measured from the top of the wall or from the ground. One more measurement is worth noting because it has nothing to do with height: a post leaning more than fifteen degrees from vertical is a maintenance violation.
fences and walls shall not exceed the following heights above the grade on the abutting land
The answer turns on whether the number is a fence height, a triangle or a retaining wall.
- a fence height
- From the grade on the abutting land.
- the sight triangle
- From street level.
- a retaining wall
- The Director may allow more.
- a leaning post
- Fifteen degrees is a violation. 15 degrees
Also on how height is measured in Tuscaloosa
- 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 Tuscaloosa
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Tuscaloosa puts the whole corner rule in a definition and then uses it in one line: fences and walls are prohibited within a sight triangle. The triangle is the space between three and a half and ten 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 property line, and no fence, sign, vegetation or other obstruction to vision is allowed in it. Because the ban is on the fence rather than on the fence above a height, a low fence in the triangle is prohibited too even though it sits under the bottom of the band. The exception is geographic and unusual: the rule does not apply within the original city survey, which is the old downtown grid, where blocks are short and a twenty foot triangle at every corner would take a bite out of most lots.
The space between the heights of three and one-half (3½) and ten feet above the street level within 20 feet of the intersection of the right-of-way lines of two streets or two railroads or of a street and a railroad property line, and within which no fence, sign, vegetation, or other obstruction to vision is allowed, except within the original city survey.
Article II, definition of Sight Triangle
20 ftdistance from the intersection of the right-of-way lines forming the sight triangle
Also on corner visibility in Tuscaloosa
- 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 Tuscaloosa
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa
Compare materials across all 50 states
Tuscaloosa answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material, the district and which frontage the fence faces.
The banned list is specific and reads like a response to things people actually did. Fabric, rolled plastic and plastic tarps. Fiberboard. Plywood. Sheet metal. Chain link on a front yard fence in the MFR, MFRU, Business and Institutional districts. Razor wire, concertina wire and similar security material. Barbed wire and above ground electrified wire, except to hold livestock or domestic animals as part of an agricultural use. Beyond the list, a residential front setback fence on a lot that is not a corner lot has to be at least half open and unobstructed, using wrought iron, pickets, chain link or other customary fencing material, so the front of a house cannot be walled off. That openness rule is dropped on a corner lot in a single family neighborhood along a frontage facing a collector street or bigger. On a multifamily site the finished side, the one without visible framing, has to face outward.
Barbed wire or above ground electrically charged wire, except for the confinement of livestock or domestic animals as part of an agricultural use.
The answer turns on the material, the district and which frontage the fence faces.
- tarps, plywood or sheet metal
- Banned outright.
- barbed or electric wire
- Livestock only.
- a residential front setback fence
- Half of it open. 50%
- a multifamily site
- The finished side faces out.
Also on materials in Tuscaloosa
- 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 Tuscaloosa
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 Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa
- 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 Tuscaloosa 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 TuscaloosaTuscaloosa Zoning Ordinance, effective 1 January 2025
- 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 Tuscaloosa 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