Fence laws in Lakewood, California
What the Lakewood municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Lakewood sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Lakewood, 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
- Lakewood allows seven feet six inches of perimeter fencing in a side or rear yard, which is taller than almost anywhere else on this site, and the answer turns on which yard the fence is in, and whether the Design Review Board has approved extra height. The figure is 90 inches, for perimeter fence height in a side or rear yard.
- Permits
- Lakewood sends a property line wall or fence extension built from more than one material into planning review, alongside block walls, water heater replacements and solar upgrades.
- Pool barriers
- Lakewood requires a pool, spa or any other body of water eighteen inches or more in depth to be protected with fencing and gates before it is filled. The figure is 18 inches, for depth of water at which fencing and gates become required. It reaches any pool, spa or body of water eighteen inches or more deep only.
- 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
- Lakewood leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- California writes no clear view triangle into state law. It reaches the right of way of a state highway, whether or not the whole width is paved only.
- Retaining walls
- Lakewood 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 gate across the walkway to a Lakewood dwelling is at least three feet wide and no more than five, unless it is fully automated with remote control. It reaches gates in the access path to a dwelling unit only.
- 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 Lakewood?
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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 Lakewood 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 Lakewood
- 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 Lakewood?
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Lakewood answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence is in, and whether the Design Review Board has approved extra height.
Lakewood allows seven feet six inches of perimeter fencing in a side or rear yard, which is taller than almost anywhere else on this site. Within or next to the required front yard setback, normally the front twenty feet of the lot, it drops to forty two inches. Above those figures, the Design Review Board may approve a wall of up to ten feet, so the city has a published route to a height most codes do not contemplate at all.
Perimeter fencing height shall not exceed seven and one-half (7.5) feet in the side yards or rear yards and shall be no more than 42” within or adjacent to the required front yard setback area. (e.g., normally the front 20’ of lot) The DRB may approve walls up to ten feet high.
Administrative Manual for Residential Development
The answer turns on which yard the fence is in, and whether the Design Review Board has approved extra height.
- in a side or rear yard
- Seven feet six inches. 90 in
- within or adjacent to the required front yard setback, normally the front twenty feet
- Forty two inches. 42 in
- with Design Review Board approval
- A wall of up to ten feet. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Lakewood
- 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 Lakewood?
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Lakewood answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Lakewood sends a property line wall or fence extension built from more than one material into planning review, alongside block walls, water heater replacements and solar upgrades. The trigger is the mixture rather than the height: a wood extension added on top of an existing block wall is two materials and is therefore reviewed, while the same height in one material may not be. It is the closest thing on this site to a rule about how a fence has grown over time.
Also included are property line wall and fence extensions with more than one material.
Administrative Manual for Residential Development
Also on permits in Lakewood
- 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 Lakewood
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Lakewood answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Lakewood requires a pool, spa or any other body of water eighteen inches or more in depth to be protected with fencing and gates before it is filled. The threshold is low enough to reach an ornamental pond or a large spa, and the timing is what makes it unusual: most pool barrier rules on this site describe the barrier and say nothing about when it has to exist. This one puts the fence ahead of the water.
Pool Fencing and Gating. A pool, spa or other body of water that is 18” or more in depth shall be protected with fencing and gates prior to filling pursuant to LMC Section 8010.
Lakewood Municipal Code Section 8010
18 indepth of water at which fencing and gates become required
Also on pool barriers in Lakewood
- 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 Lakewood
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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 Lakewood 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 Lakewood
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Lakewood 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 Lakewood 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 Lakewood
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
California 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.
This one is California law, not Lakewood law. All California findings
“Encroachment” includes any tower, pole, pole line, pipe, pipe line, fence, billboard, stand or building, or any structure, object of any kind or character not particularly mentioned in this section, or special event, which is in, under, or over any portion of the highway.
Retaining wall rules in Lakewood
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Lakewood 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 Lakewood 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 Lakewood
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Lakewood answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A gate across the walkway to a Lakewood dwelling is at least three feet wide and no more than five, unless it is fully automated with remote control. Its latch, lever or handle has to open with one hand in a single motion and sit between three and four feet above the ground. Those are accessibility dimensions rather than security ones, and they apply to an ordinary garden gate on the path from the public sidewalk to a front door.
This gate shall be easily opened with a one-handed single motion latch, lever, or handle system that is between three (3) and four (4) feet above the ground.
Administrative Manual for Residential Development
Also on materials in Lakewood
- 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 Lakewood
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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 Lakewood 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 Lakewood
- 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 Lakewood 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 Lakewood, Department of Community Development, Building and PlanningAdministrative Manual for Residential Development
- 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 Lakewood 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