Fence laws in Hawthorne, California
What the Hawthorne municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Hawthorne sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Hawthorne, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Two neighbors split the cost of a fence on the line in California.
- How tall
- A wall, fence or hedge of up to six feet may stand on any part of a Hawthorne residential lot, and the answer turns on the classification, the yard, and whether the police and the Planning Commission have approved more. The figure is 6 feet, for wall, fence or hedge on a residential lot.
- Permits
- Hawthorne opens its fence chapter with a permit requirement that carries no height threshold and no exemption for a replacement: no fence or wall may be constructed in any zone classification without first obtaining a building permit.
- Pool barriers
- Hawthorne puts its pool barrier in the zoning code rather than leaving it to the building code, and sets the trigger at depth. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of the self-latching device on a gate.
- Spite fences
- A 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. The figure is 10 feet, for spite fence threshold, with malice required.
- Measured from what
- Hawthorne measures a fence sitting directly on the ground as the vertical distance from the top board, rail, brick, block or wire down to the base of the fence at the ground, so the top of the material rather than a post cap or a decorative finial sets the reading.
- Corner lots
- The corner rule in Hawthorne sits among the general requirements that open the fence chapter, so it applies before any of the classification standards that follow. The figure is 3.5 feet, for fence, wall or hedge inside the corner triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Hawthorne splits the retaining wall question by which way the earth was moved, which very few codes do, and the answer turns on whether the retaining wall holds a cut or a fill. The figure is 6 feet, for fence above a retaining wall holding a fill.
- Materials
- Hawthorne writes its front yard rule as a transparency standard rather than a height one, and the answer turns on the classification, and whether the fence is in the front yard. The figure is 95 percent, for openness required above the solid base.
- 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 Hawthorne?
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Two 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.
This one is California law, not Hawthorne law. All California findings
Adjoining landowners are presumed to share an equal benefit from any fence dividing their properties and, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties in a written agreement, shall be presumed to be equally responsible for the reasonable costs of construction, maintenance, or necessary replacement of the fence.
Also on fences on the property line in Hawthorne
- 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 Hawthorne?
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Hawthorne answers this, but the answer changes depending on the classification, the yard, and whether the police and the Planning Commission have approved more.
A wall, fence or hedge of up to six feet may stand on any part of a Hawthorne residential lot. Away from the front yard and any street frontage that rises to ten feet where the purpose is to prevent criminal activity, which needs a recommendation from the Hawthorne police department and a fence conditional use permit from the Planning Commission. The front yard is handled separately and by transparency rather than by a height figure, with only the first eighteen inches above the sidewalk allowed to be solid. On a common line with residentially classified land a commercial or industrial property has to install a solid or view-obscuring wall of brick or decorative block between six and ten feet. Nothing may pass three and a half feet inside the corner triangle.
A wall, fence, or hedge not more than six feet in height may be located and maintained on any part of the lot, except that a wall, fence, or hedge on any portion of the lot other than the front yard or along a street frontage may exceed six feet in height, up to a maximum of 10 feet, in order to prevent criminal activity, based on the recommendation of the City of Hawthorne police department and subject to approval of a fence conditional use permit by the Planning Commission
The answer turns on the classification, the yard, and whether the police and the Planning Commission have approved more.
- anywhere on a residential lot
- Six feet. 6 ft
- away from the front yard and street frontage, to prevent crime
- Ten feet, with a police recommendation and a conditional use permit. 10 ft
- a commercial or industrial line shared with residential land
- A required solid wall of six to ten feet. 6 ft
- inside the corner triangle
- Three and a half feet. 3.5 ft
Also on fence height in Hawthorne
- 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 Hawthorne?
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Hawthorne answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Hawthorne opens its fence chapter with a permit requirement that carries no height threshold and no exemption for a replacement: no fence or wall may be constructed in any zone classification without first obtaining a building permit. A residential front yard fence is reviewed and approved by the Planning Department before construction on top of that, and extra height to prevent crime needs a conditional use permit from the Planning Commission. The chapter does not reach a fence the state requires around a public utility installation, except in the residential classifications, or a chain link fence around school grounds and public playgrounds.
No fence or wall shall be constructed in any zone classification without first obtaining a building permit therefor.
17.10b.010.A, 17.10b.020.A.6 and 17.10b.050
Also on permits in Hawthorne
- set in state lawCalifornia 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. Health & Saf. Code 17922California · Statute
- 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 Hawthorne
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Hawthorne answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Hawthorne puts its pool barrier in the zoning code rather than leaving it to the building code, and sets the trigger at depth. A swimming pool, pond, spa or hot tub more than three feet deep has to be enclosed by a structure, fence or wall of six feet, with the wall of a building allowed to serve as part of the enclosure. Every gate or door to the outside needs a self-closing device and a self-latching device set no less than four feet above the ground.
Any swimming pool, pond, spa or hot tub having a depth greater than three feet shall be enclosed by a structure and/or fence or wall six feet in height.
4 ftminimum height of the self-latching device on a gate
Also on pool barriers in Hawthorne
- set in state lawA 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. Health & Saf. Code 115923California · Statute
Spite fence laws in Hawthorne
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A 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.
This one is California law, not Hawthorne law. All California findings
Any fence or other structure in the nature of a fence unnecessarily exceeding 10 feet in height maliciously erected or maintained for the purpose of annoying the owner or occupant of adjoining property is a private nuisance.
10 ftspite fence threshold, with malice required
How fence height is measured in Hawthorne
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Hawthorne answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Hawthorne measures a fence sitting directly on the ground as the vertical distance from the top board, rail, brick, block or wire down to the base of the fence at the ground, so the top of the material rather than a post cap or a decorative finial sets the reading. The list of materials is printed twice in a row in the code as published, which changes nothing about the rule but is visible in the text. The rule only reaches a fence located directly on the ground, and the separate retaining wall section takes over where the ground itself has been cut or filled.
Where a wall, fence or hedge is located directly on the ground, the height of the fence shall be the vertical distance from the top board, rail, brick, block or wire board, rail, brick, block or wire to the base of the fence at the ground.
Also on how height is measured in Hawthorne
- left to the townCalifornia 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. Cal. Gov. Code 65850(c)(1)California · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Hawthorne
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Hawthorne answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The corner rule in Hawthorne sits among the general requirements that open the fence chapter, so it applies before any of the classification standards that follow. Nothing in the form of a fence, wall or hedge may pass three and a half feet inside the triangular area, and the geometry of that area is set in section 17.06e.090 rather than in the fence chapter itself.
No fence, wall or hedge shall be permitted to exceed the maximum height of three and one-half feet in a triangular area as set forth in Section 17.06e.090.
3.5 ftfence, wall or hedge inside the corner triangle
Also on corner visibility in Hawthorne
- 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 Hawthorne
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Hawthorne answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the retaining wall holds a cut or a fill.
Hawthorne splits the retaining wall question by which way the earth was moved, which very few codes do. A wall protecting a cut below the natural grade, sitting on the line between two lots, may be topped by a fence, wall or hedge of the same height that would have been allowed there if the retaining wall were not present, so the cut costs the owner nothing. A wall holding a fill is treated the other way: its own height does not count toward the permitted height of what sits on top, but the fence above it may not exceed six feet whatever the zone would otherwise allow.
Where a retaining wall protecting a cut below the natural grade is located on the line separating lots or parcels, such retaining wall may be topped by a fence, wall or hedge of the same height that would otherwise be permitted at the location if no retaining wall existed.
The answer turns on whether the retaining wall holds a cut or a fill.
- a retaining wall protecting a cut on the property line
- The full height that would have been allowed without the wall.
- a retaining wall holding a fill
- The wall does not count toward the limit, and the fence above stops at six feet. 6 ft
Also on retaining walls in Hawthorne
- left to the townCalifornia 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. Health & Saf. Code 17922(a)California · Statute
Fence materials allowed in Hawthorne
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Hawthorne answers this, but the answer changes depending on the classification, and whether the fence is in the front yard.
Hawthorne writes its front yard rule as a transparency standard rather than a height one. Above the first eighteen inches, which may be solid and view obscuring, any wall, fence or hedge has to be more than ninety five percent open to view, vertical elements may not exceed three quarters of an inch in width or depth, and no solid or view obscuring stretch wider than eighteen inches measured horizontally is allowed. The permitted front yard materials are wrought iron, wood, decorative block such as slump stone or split face, brick, stone or stone veneer, or stucco matching the building, with chain link, wire mesh and precision block excluded for creating an industrial look. Pilasters or columns are allowed at intervals of no more than eight feet, and decorative block, brick, stone and stucco walls have to be capped. Commercial and industrial land may use chain link and precision block, and may carry no more than three strands of barbed wire above a fence of at least six feet, set at forty five degrees leaning inward and within the ten foot ceiling. Barbed wire is otherwise prohibited and no fence may be charged with electricity.
Any wall, fence, or hedge above 18 inches in height shall be more than 95% open to view. Vertical elements shall not be over three-quarters of an inch in width or depth. Furthermore, no interval greater than 18 inches, measured horizontally, may be solid or view obscuring.
17.10b.010.D, .E and 17.10b.020.A.1 to A.5, B.2
The answer turns on the classification, and whether the fence is in the front yard.
- a residential front yard
- More than ninety five percent open above eighteen inches, and no chain link or wire mesh. 95%
- commercial and industrial land
- Chain link and precision block are allowed.
- a commercial or industrial fence of at least six feet
- Three strands of barbed wire at forty five degrees, leaning inward. 3 strands
Also on materials in Hawthorne
- 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 Hawthorne
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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 Hawthorne 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 Hawthorne
- 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 Hawthorne itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841.4, spite fences
- City of HawthorneMunicipal Code, Title 17, Chapter 17.10b, 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 Hawthorne 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