Fence laws in Alaska

Who owns the fence between two properties in Alaska?

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Alaska law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.

Alaska has no law that splits the cost of a fence on a boundary. The state fence chapter, AS 03.30, once defined a legal fence, and the legislature repealed that section in 1977. What is left covers keeping barbed wire in repair, worn out wire fences and gates across roads. Title 34, the property title, sets no rule for a fence on the line between two lots either. So the borough or the city decides, or the two owners agree between themselves.

Documents read before writing that:

• AS 03.30.010 to AS 03.30.060Alaska State Legislature
• AS 34Alaska State Legislature

How tall can a fence be in Alaska?

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Alaska law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.

Alaska sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The borough or the city sets it. The state fence chapter has no height in it at all, because the section that defined a legal fence was repealed in 1977, and the state building code regulation lists fences as work that needs no state review.

Documents read before writing that:

• AS 03.30.010 to AS 03.30.060Alaska State Legislature
• 13 AAC 50.020Alaska Department of Public Safety, Division of Fire and Life Safety

Do I need a permit for a fence in Alaska?

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Alaska answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

A fence of any kind needs no state review in Alaska. The state takes the 2021 International Building Code by regulation and rewrites the list of work that needs no permit, and item 2 on that list becomes the single word Fences. The regulation also calls the whole process a plan review instead of a permit, because permits in Alaska are issued by the local government and not by the state.

Chapter 1, Section 105.2 (Work exempt from permit) of the IBC, item 2 is revised to read: "2. Fences."

13 AAC 50.020(6)Alaska Department of Public Safety, Division of Fire and Life Safety · Read 13 September 2026

Pool fence requirements in Alaska

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Alaska answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Alaska writes no pool fence height of its own. The one statewide pool rule is in the plumbing code section, AS 18.60.705, which takes the 1997 Uniform Swimming Pool, Spa, and Hot Tub Code as part of the state plumbing code and drops the first eight pages of its administration part. Any height that applies to an Alaska pool fence is in that outside code, not in Alaska law.

the 1997 edition of the Uniform Swimming Pool, Spa, and Hot Tub Code published by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials and adopted at the 67th annual conference, September 1996

AS 18.60.705(a)(2)Alaska State Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

Spite fence laws in Alaska

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Alaska law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.

Alaska has no spite fence law. A neighbor bothered by a fence has to use the general private nuisance section, AS 09.45.230, which says nothing about fences, height or why the fence went up. Subsection (e) of that section narrows it further: a private nuisance case cannot be brought at all unless that section allows it. Title 34, the property title, has no spite fence rule in it.

Documents read before writing that:

• AS 09.45.230Alaska State Legislature
• AS 34Alaska State Legislature

How fence height is measured in Alaska

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Alaska law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.

Alaska sets no fence height, so it never says where a height would be measured from. AS 29.40.040 is the law that lets a borough or city assembly control land use, and what an assembly may adopt runs to zoning districts, land use permits and rules that carry out the comprehensive plan. Height is not on that list. The livestock sections, AS 03.35.010 through 03.35.070, set up controlled livestock districts and give no fence sizes at all. So the borough or the city picks both the height and the surface it starts from.

Documents read before writing that:

• AS 29.40.040Alaska State Legislature
• AS 03.35.010 to 03.35.070Alaska State Legislature

Fence rules for corner lots in Alaska

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Alaska answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Alaska sets no clear view rule for a corner lot. Title 19, Chapter 25 sets a different rule. Section 19.25.200 says nothing may be built or kept across or along a state highway without a written permit from the department, and sections 19.25.220 through 19.25.250 let the department order out anything put there without one. That covers the public strip the road runs on, not how tall a fence may stand on private ground. Section 29.40.040 gives land use to boroughs and cities, so the corner rule is theirs.

An encroachment may be constructed, placed, changed, or maintained across or along a highway, but only in accordance with regulations adopted by the department. An encroachment may not be constructed, placed, maintained, or changed until it is authorized by a written permit issued by the department, unless the department provides otherwise by regulation.

AS 19.25.200Alaska State Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

Retaining wall rules in Alaska

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Alaska does not set this. It leaves it to the 2021 International Building Code, which is adopted by reference and not reprinted in the Alaska Administrative Code.

Alaska has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. It takes the 2021 International Building Code by reference and lists the changes it makes, and none of those changes touch the model code rule on that kind of wall. That model code text is not printed in the Alaska Administrative Code. The same regulation keeps detached one, two and three family homes outside the state code and drops every mention of the International Residential Code, so a wall at a house is left to the local building department.

The International Building Code 2021 Edition (IBC), Chapters 1 - 12, 14 - 28, and 30 - 35, and Appendix C are adopted by reference to regulate all occupancies and buildings

13 AAC 50.020Alaska Department of Public Safety, Division of Fire and Life Safety · Read 13 September 2026

The code hands this to the 2021 International Building Code, which is adopted by reference and not reprinted in the Alaska Administrative Code, which is not published in the code itself.

Fence materials allowed in Alaska

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Alaska answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Alaska names one fence material in its fence chapter, barbed wire, and the rule is about upkeep rather than about using it. A barbed wire fence has to be kept in good repair, and an owner who lets one fall apart can be made to pay for an animal killed or hurt on it. Nothing in state law says what a fence at a house may be made of.

A person having a barbed wire fence shall keep it in good repair.

AS 03.30.020Alaska State Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

Livestock and boundary fence law in Alaska

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Alaska answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Alaska handles loose livestock by district, not by fence. A district judge can set up a controlled livestock district of at least 1,280 acres of touching land when the owners and renters who live inside it ask for one. Inside the district, letting a farm animal graze or run loose is a class B misdemeanor, and a landowner there can collect for damage whether the land was fenced or not.

The owner and the person having custody and control of a domestic animal kept within a controlled livestock district may not with criminal negligence permit the domestic animal to graze or run at large.

AS 03.35.010(b)Alaska State Legislature · Read 13 September 2026