Fence laws in Arkansas
What Arkansas statutes and statewide codes say about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line.
Fence laws in Arkansas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Nothing has been read for Arkansas on this one yet.
- How tall
- Arkansas sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- Arkansas has no separate statewide building code.
- Pool barriers
- A fence around a public or commercial pool in Arkansas stands at least four feet high, with limits on the gaps at its sides and under it. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of the barrier around a public or commercial pool.
- Spite fences
- Arkansas has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Arkansas measures one kind of fence from the ground and says so. The figure is 20 inches, for bottom wire of a lawful fence in a small stock fencing district, measured above the ground. It reaches a lawful fence inside a small stock fencing district only.
- Corner lots
- Nothing has been read for Arkansas on this one yet.
- Retaining walls
- Arkansas leaves retaining walls to the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, Volume III, which is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes.
- Materials
- Arkansas puts the battery charged fence in the law about alarm systems, and the definition there is what sets the standard. It reaches battery charged security fences on land the city has not set aside for homes, and not fences used for farming or fish farming only.
- Livestock
- A field kept for livestock in Arkansas has to be fenced.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Arkansas?
Not researched yet for Arkansas. Nothing on this page states what the rule is, because nothing has been read that says.
How tall can a fence be in Arkansas?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Arkansas law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Arkansas sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The city sets it. The one code the state does adopt is the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, run by the State Fire Marshal, and it gives no fence height.
Documents read before writing that:
- Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, Building CodesArkansas Department of Labor and Licensing
- Division of Emergency Management, State Fire Marshal's OfficeArkansas Department of Public Safety
Do I need a permit for a fence in Arkansas?
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Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arkansas has no separate statewide building code. The building rules are one part of the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, which the State Fire Marshal adopts. That code comes in three volumes, and Volume III is the one for houses.
The Arkansas Building Code is adopted by the State Fire Marshal's office. It is a part of the Fire Prevention Code.
Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, Building Codes
Also on permits in Arkansas
- set in state lawA city or county in Arkansas cannot require its own permit for a battery charged fence. Act 267 of 2023 says so: no permit beyond the alarm system permit or license the city already issues, no rules of its own on how the fence is put in or run, and no outright ban. The law covers only fences on land the city or county has not set aside for homes, and it leaves out a fence used for farming or fish farming. Ark. Code § 17-40-108(b)Arkansas · Statute
- set in state lawA battery charged fence in Arkansas tops out at ten feet, or two feet above the plain fence or wall around it, whichever of those two is taller. The same 2023 law requires that plain fence or wall to ring it completely and stand at least five feet high. Warning signs reading WARNING ELECTRIC FENCE go up no more than thirty feet apart. Ark. Code § 17-40-108(a)(2)(F)Arkansas · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Arkansas
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Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence around a public or commercial pool in Arkansas stands at least four feet high, with limits on the gaps at its sides and under it. The Department of Health reviews the plans and sets that rule. The same page says the department does not cover a pool at a single family home, which is left to local rules.
The barrier shall not be less than four feet in height.
Arkansas Department of Health, Swimming Pool FAQs
4 ftminimum height of the barrier around a public or commercial pool
Spite fence laws in Arkansas
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Arkansas law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Arkansas has no spite fence law. The 2023 act that rewrote the state fencing chapter covers what a fence is, what a livestock pen needs, and who judges whether a fence is good enough. It sets no height and says nothing about a fence put up out of spite. The only other recent Arkansas fence law is the 2023 act on battery charged fences, which is about local permit power. So a fence built to annoy a neighbor is a plain nuisance question here.
Documents read before writing that:
- Ark. Code Title 2, Chapter 39, as amended by Act 594 of 2023Arkansas General Assembly
- Ark. Code § 17-40-108Arkansas General Assembly
How fence height is measured in Arkansas
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arkansas measures one kind of fence from the ground and says so. Section 14-386-203 describes a lawful fence inside a small stock fencing district. The bottom barbed wire sits twenty inches above the ground, the next wires are spaced up from there, and a rail version puts the top rail four and one half feet above the ground. Nothing applies that starting point to a fence at a house. The Arkansas Fire Prevention Code is sold rather than posted, and the state does not put the Arkansas Code itself online for free, so another measuring rule somewhere in state law has not been ruled out.
wire twenty inches (20″ ) above the ground, the second wire ten inches (10 ″ )
Ark. Code 14-386-203, as set out in Act 594 of 2023
20 inbottom wire of a lawful fence in a small stock fencing district, measured above the ground
Fence rules for corner lots in Arkansas
Not researched yet for Arkansas. Nothing on this page states what the rule is, because nothing has been read that says.
Retaining wall rules in Arkansas
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Arkansas does not set this. It leaves it to the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, Volume III, which is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes.
Arkansas writes no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. One code runs statewide, the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, adopted by the State Fire Marshal and applied even in the country and outside any city. It comes in three volumes and Volume III is the one for houses. Volume III is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes, so the height at which a wall of that kind needs a permit comes from that outside code text, which Arkansas does not post.
The Code is based on the International Fire, Building, and Residential Codes, with some Arkansas changes.
Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, Building Codes
The code hands this to the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, Volume III, which is the International Residential Code with Arkansas changes, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Arkansas
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Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Arkansas puts the battery charged fence in the law about alarm systems, and the definition there is what sets the standard. It covers where the fence may sit, the battery behind it, the plain fence around it and the warning signs on it.
"Battery-charged fence" means a fence that:
Livestock and boundary fence law in Arkansas
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Arkansas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A field kept for livestock in Arkansas has to be fenced. That one line opens the state fencing chapter, which Act 594 of 2023 rewrote. The same act repealed the old law on fencing districts.
All fields and grounds kept for livestock enclosures shall be enclosed
Ark. Code § 2-39-101, as amended by Act 594 of 2023
Also on agricultural fencing in Arkansas
- set in state lawArkansas law defines a fence as a structure acting as a boundary or barrier that limits people, livestock or vehicles moving into or out of an area. The 2023 act put that definition in place of the old description. The same act defined livestock for the whole chapter as cattle, bison, horses, sheep, goats, donkeys, mules and hogs. Ark. Code § 2-39-102, as amended by Act 594 of 2023Arkansas · Statute
- set in state lawArkansas puts no sizes on a fence that counts as good enough. People decide that by going out and looking at it. On a complaint to a justice of the peace, three neighbors who have no stake in the case and are not related to either side go look at the fence where the animals got through. They write down what they saw, and that account is evidence at trial on whether the fence was lawful. Ark. Code § 2-39-106, as amended by Act 594 of 2023Arkansas · Statute
Cities in Arkansas
6 cities with their own fence rules read from the city’s own code. Where a city says nothing on a topic, the state answer above is what applies.
Documents behind this page
5 documents, each read on the date shown. Nothing on this page rests on a summary of one.
- Arkansas Department of Labor and LicensingBuilding Codes, Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board
- Arkansas Department of Public SafetyState Fire Marshal's Office
- Arkansas General AssemblyAct 267 of the Regular Session of 2023, House Bill 1406, An Act Concerning the Regulation of Certain Battery-Charged Fences by Municipalities and Counties
- Arkansas Department of HealthSwimming Pool FAQs
- Arkansas General AssemblyAct 594 of the Regular Session of 2023, House Bill 1677, An Act to Amend the Law Regarding Livestock, Livestock Running at Large and Fencing
What this page does not cover
Everything above is state law. Fence height, setback, corner visibility and materials are set by city and county ordinance in almost every state, and a local rule can be far stricter than the statewide default. A parcel can also carry an easement, an overlay district, a fire hazard zone or a recorded HOA restriction, none of which appear in a statute.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, statutes are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean