Fence laws in Brentwood, California
What the Brentwood municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Brentwood sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Brentwood, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Brentwood states flatly that no structure may stand inside a public utility easement, in the same list as the fence height rules and with no exception offered.
- How tall
- Brentwood allows seven feet in a side or rear yard, and says in the same breath that the seven feet are the total whether the fence is solid or finished with lattice, and the answer turns on which yard the fence stands in. The figure is 7 feet, for fence height in a side or rear yard, lattice included.
- Permits
- California does not write its own building code from scratch.
- Pool barriers
- A pool fence in California stands at least sixty inches high. The figure is 60 inches, for minimum height of a pool enclosure.
- Spite fences
- The ground between the sidewalk and the street in Brentwood is the planter strip.
- Measured from what
- Brentwood leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- The Brentwood corner triangle is drawn from the street frontage curb lines, extended until they meet, with a line joining them fifty feet from that point. The figure is 50 feet, for each leg of the corner visibility triangle. It reaches corner lots only.
- Retaining walls
- Brentwood leaves retaining walls to Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, the California Building Standards Code, which tracks the International Building Code and the International Residential Code.
- Materials
- A recreational vehicle, travel trailer or boat stored on a Brentwood lot has to sit behind a solid six foot fence. The figure is 6 feet, for height of the solid fence required to screen stored vehicles.
- Livestock
- California calls a fence lawful when it is strong enough to keep livestock from getting in or out. The figure is 4 feet, for height of the top wire on a lawful wire fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Brentwood?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Brentwood answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Brentwood states flatly that no structure may stand inside a public utility easement, in the same list as the fence height rules and with no exception offered. Easements on a Brentwood lot commonly run along a rear or side boundary, which is exactly where a fence goes, so the rule reaches ordinary fences rather than only buildings. Woodland allows a fence inside an easement on conditions and Daly City takes an encroachment permit. Brentwood says no.
No structure shall be located within a public utility easement .
Common Concerns, Residential, City Ordinance Overview
Also on fences on the property line in Brentwood
- set in state lawTwo neighbors split the cost of a fence on the line in California. The law starts from the idea that both get the same benefit from it, so both owe the same share of building it, keeping it up and replacing it. A neighbor about to spend that money gives the other one thirty days written notice first. Either neighbor can show the even split is wrong, and a court can then order less than half or nothing at all. Civ. Code 841California · Statute
- set in state lawThe notice has to say six things: that the law starts from an even split, what is wrong with the fence now, what is planned instead, what it is expected to cost, how the cost gets shared, and when the work happens. Civ. Code 841(b)(1)California · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Brentwood?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Brentwood answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence stands in.
Brentwood allows seven feet in a side or rear yard, and says in the same breath that the seven feet are the total whether the fence is solid or finished with lattice. Adding a topper to a seven foot fence therefore gains nothing. A front yard fence, wall or hedge stops at forty two inches, and so does anything inside the corner visibility triangle.
Maximum fence height is 7 feet in side and rear yards, solid or including lattice. Fences (including walls, hedges etc.) in front yard not to exceed forty-two inches.
Brentwood Municipal Code 17.660.008
The answer turns on which yard the fence stands in.
- in a side or rear yard
- Seven feet, counting any lattice on top. 7 ft
- in a front yard, including walls and hedges
- Forty two inches. 42 in
Also on fence height in Brentwood
- no rule, documents checkedCalifornia sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. Cities and counties write that in their zoning codes and the answer changes a lot from one town to the next. The one height in state law is the ten feet in the spite fence rule, and that only matters when the fence was put up to annoy a neighbor. It is not a building limit. Civ. Code 841California · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Brentwood?
Compare permits across all 50 states
California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
California does not write its own building code from scratch. Section 17922 adopts Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations and requires it to ask for much the same things as the International Building Code and the International Residential Code, with state additions and cuts. So the permit rule for a fence starts out as outside code text that California then edits.
This one is California law, not Brentwood law. All California findings
The building standards and rules and regulations shall impose substantially the same requirements as are contained in the most recent editions of the following international or uniform industry codes as adopted by the organizations specified:
Also on permits in Brentwood
- set in state lawA California city or county can make the statewide building code stricter, but not quietly. Section 17958.7 makes the city council say in writing why each change is needed because of local weather, ground or land shape. That finding goes to the California Building Standards Commission, and the change does nothing until it is filed. The finding is a public record, which is why a local permit line can sit well below the statewide one. Health & Saf. Code 17958.7California · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Brentwood
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A pool fence in California stands at least sixty inches high. No more than two inches may be left between the ground and the bottom of it, and no gap in it may pass a four inch ball. The outside face has no handholds or footholds a child under five could climb. Gates open away from the pool and close and latch by themselves, with the latch set no lower than sixty inches above the ground.
This one is California law, not Brentwood law. All California findings
An enclosure shall have all of the following characteristics: (a) Any access gates through the enclosure open away from the swimming pool, and are self-closing with a self-latching device placed no lower than 60 inches above the ground. (b) A minimum height of 60 inches. (c) A maximum vertical clearance from the ground to the bottom of the enclosure of two inches. (d) Gaps or voids, if any, do not allow passage of a sphere equal to or greater than four inches in diameter. (e) An outside surface free of protrusions, cavities, or other physical characteristics that would serve as handholds or footholds that could enable a child below the age of five years to climb over.
60 inminimum height of a pool enclosure
Spite fence laws in Brentwood
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Brentwood answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The ground between the sidewalk and the street in Brentwood is the planter strip. The property owner maintains it and may not pave it, and every property is required to have at least one city approved tree standing in it. So the strip outside the fence is the owner’s responsibility without being the owner’s to build on, which is the same piece of ground Santa Clara, Visalia and Daly City all warn about from the property line side.
The area between the sidewalk & street is called the Planter Strip. It is maintained by the property owner and can not be paved.
Common Concerns, Residential, City Ordinance Overview
Also on spite fences in Brentwood
- set in state lawA fence over ten feet tall in California is a private nuisance when it was put up or kept there to annoy the neighbor and the extra height serves no purpose. Height on its own is not enough. The case turns on proving why the fence is there. The rule covers anything built like a fence, not only a fence. Civ. Code 841.4California · Statute
How fence height is measured in Brentwood
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Brentwood does not set this. It leaves it to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
California gives a fence height and never says what it is measured from. Civil Code section 841.4 makes a fence over ten feet a private nuisance when it is kept up to annoy a neighbor. It does not say whether the ten feet starts at bare dirt, at the finished yard, or at the high side of a slope. Government Code section 65850 is why the state stops there: it lets any county or city set the place, height and size of structures. So the number and the surface it starts from are both written into local zoning.
This one is California law, not Brentwood law. All California findings
Regulate all of the following: (1) The location, height, bulk, number of stories, and size of buildings and structures.
The code hands this to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Brentwood
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Brentwood answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The Brentwood corner triangle is drawn from the street frontage curb lines, extended until they meet, with a line joining them fifty feet from that point. Nothing over forty two inches stands inside it. Fifty feet along each side is the largest symmetrical corner triangle of any city read for this site. Separately, no fence, structure or landscape feature may restrict visibility at a driveway or a street intersection, which is a standard rather than a measurement.
On corner lot, the fence or wall height shall not exceed forty-two inches within a triangle formed by the street frontage curb lines extended to their intersection and a line connecting such lot lines measured 50 feet from their point of intersection.
Brentwood Municipal Code 17.660.008
50 fteach leg of the corner visibility triangle
Also on corner visibility in Brentwood
- set in state lawCalifornia writes no clear view triangle into state law. The Streets and Highways Code counts a fence as an encroachment once it stands in, under or over any part of a state highway right of way. Section 670 then makes putting one there without a written permit from the department a misdemeanor. That covers the public strip, not the corner of a private yard. Government Code section 65850 gives every city and county the power to set the height and place of structures, and that is where a corner triangle gets written in California. Cal. Sts. & Hy. Code 660California · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Brentwood
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Brentwood does not set this. It leaves it to Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, the California Building Standards Code, which tracks the International Building Code and the International Residential Code.
California has no rule of its own in statute for a wall that holds back earth. The rule is in Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, which section 17922 adopts by reference and requires to match the newest editions of a named list of outside codes, the International Building Code and the International Residential Code among them. The same section leaves setbacks, side yards, rear yards and property line rules entirely to cities and counties.
This one is California law, not Brentwood law. All California findings
The building standards and rules and regulations shall impose substantially the same requirements as are contained in the most recent editions of the following international or uniform industry codes as adopted by the organizations specified:
The code hands this to Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, the California Building Standards Code, which tracks the International Building Code and the International Residential Code, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Brentwood
Compare materials across all 50 states
Brentwood answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A recreational vehicle, travel trailer or boat stored on a Brentwood lot has to sit behind a solid six foot fence. The rule sets both a height and a construction: six feet, and solid rather than open, so a chain link or picket fence of the same height does not satisfy it. Garbage and recycling containers are separately required to be screened from view by a fence, an enclosure or landscaping except when out for collection.
RV, travel trailers and boats must be stored behind a solid 6 foot fence.
Brentwood Municipal Code 17.620.016
6 ftheight of the solid fence required to screen stored vehicles
Also on materials in Brentwood
- set in state lawCalifornia sets a wire standard for a lawful fence in grazing counties. A wire fence takes three tight barbed wires on solid posts set no more than a rod apart, with one wire at least four feet up. Any fence as strong and as tall as that one counts too. Cal. Food & Agric. Code 17121California · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Brentwood
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
California calls a fence lawful when it is strong enough to keep livestock from getting in or out. A wire fence gets real numbers: three tight barbed wires on posts set no more than one rod apart, with one of those wires at least four feet off the ground. Any other fence as tall, as strong and as good at holding animals counts too, and so does a cattle guard wide and deep enough to turn them.
This one is California law, not Brentwood law. All California findings
No wire fence is a good and substantial fence within the meaning of this article unless it has three tightly stretched barbed wires securely fastened to posts of reasonable strength, firmly set in the ground not more than one rod apart, one of which wires shall be at least four feet above the surface of the ground.
4 ftheight of the top wire on a lawful wire fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Brentwood
- depends, see the pageCalifornia answers this one county by county. Section 17123 names Siskiyou, Lassen and Modoc, plus parts of Trinity and Shasta, as land used mainly for grazing. Section 17124 lets the board of supervisors of any county put the same label on the county or part of it. Where the label applies, the land has to be fully fenced before the person on it may take in a stray animal or hold it for payment. Cal. Food & Agric. Code 17122California · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, of which 1 was published by Brentwood itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- City of Brentwood, Community Development Department, Community Enrichment ProgramCommon Concerns, Residential, City Ordinance Overview
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841.4, spite fences
- California LegislatureCalifornia Health and Safety Code Section 17922, adoption of building standards
- California LegislatureCalifornia Health and Safety Code Section 17958.7, local modification of building standards
- California LegislatureCalifornia Health and Safety Code Section 115923, enclosure requirements
- California LegislatureCalifornia Government Code, Title 7, Division 1, Chapter 4, Article 2, Section 65850
- California LegislatureCalifornia Streets and Highways Code, Division 1, Chapter 3, Section 660
- California LegislatureCalifornia Food and Agricultural Code, Division 9, Part 2, Chapter 3, Article 5
- California LegislatureCalifornia Food and Agricultural Code, Division 9, Part 2, Chapter 3, Article 5
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 Brentwood publishes, plus the California rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in California 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