Fence laws in Livermore, California
What the Livermore municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Livermore sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Livermore, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- An accessory structure in Livermore may not be structurally attached to a property line fence, and may not be designed to drain onto other property. It reaches accessory structures only.
- How tall
- Livermore allows six feet to the sides and rear of a residence and three feet in front. The figure is 6 feet, for fence height to the sides and rear of a residence.
- Permits
- No permit is required in Livermore for a fence up to seven feet, and the city says in the same breath that setbacks and height limits still apply. The figure is 7 feet, for fence height below which no permit is required.
- 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
- 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
- An accessory structure in Livermore that stands outside the primary dwelling frontage but within fifty feet of a street right of way has to sit behind a conforming six foot fence, with detached garages excepted. The figure is 50 feet, for distance from a street right of way within which the screening fence is required. It reaches accessory structures within fifty feet of a street right of way only.
- 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
- Livermore 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
- Livermore defines a solid fence as one that blocks ninety percent of light and air, and then uses that fence as a measuring point. The figure is 90 percent, for share of light and air a solid fence blocks, by definition.
- 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 Livermore?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Livermore answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
An accessory structure in Livermore may not be structurally attached to a property line fence, and may not be designed to drain onto other property. The first half is the useful one. Leaning a shed against the boundary fence, or hanging a roof from it, turns a neighbor’s fence into part of somebody else’s building, and the code stops it in six words rather than leaving it to a civil dispute.
An accessory structure shall be located and designed to not drain onto other property, and shall not be structurally attached to a property line fence.
Livermore Development Code 4.02.030
Also on fences on the property line in Livermore
- 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 Livermore?
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Livermore answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Livermore allows six feet to the sides and rear of a residence and three feet in front. The city then names three situations where that changes: corner lots, lots backing onto a major street with Portola Avenue given as the example, and homes inside the South Livermore Valley Specific Plan. So the two headline figures hold for an interior lot away from an arterial, and three named circumstances take a reader somewhere else.
Typically, a fence of not more than 6 feet in height is allowed to the sides and rear of a residence. Fences in the front of a home are limited to 3 feet in height.
Livermore Development Code Section 4
6 ftfence height to the sides and rear of a residence
Also on fence height in Livermore
- 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 Livermore?
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Livermore answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
No permit is required in Livermore for a fence up to seven feet, and the city says in the same breath that setbacks and height limits still apply. The two numbers leave a gap: the zoning limit is six feet and the permit starts at seven, so a fence between them is over the limit and under the permit at the same time. San Mateo leaves the same gap. Redwood City closes it by matching the two figures.
Although permits are not required for fences up to 7 feet tall, there are required setbacks and height limitations for fences.
Permits and Applications Frequently Asked Questions
7 ftfence height below which no permit is required
Also on permits in Livermore
- 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 Livermore
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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 Livermore 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 Livermore
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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 Livermore 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 Livermore
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Livermore answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
An accessory structure in Livermore that stands outside the primary dwelling frontage but within fifty feet of a street right of way has to sit behind a conforming six foot fence, with detached garages excepted. The fence is being used as screening required by the code rather than as something the owner chose, so on those lots a six foot fence is not a maximum the owner may build up to. It is a condition of putting the shed there at all.
Accessory structures not within a primary dwelling frontage but located within 50 feet of a street right-of-way shall be located behind a conforming six-foot fence, except for detached garages.
Livermore Development Code 4.02.030
50 ftdistance from a street right of way within which the screening fence is required
Also on how height is measured in Livermore
- 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 Livermore
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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 Livermore 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 Livermore
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Livermore 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 Livermore 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 Livermore
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Livermore answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Livermore defines a solid fence as one that blocks ninety percent of light and air, and then uses that fence as a measuring point. A building within fifty feet of a major street and behind such a fence is set back six feet, plus another foot for every foot it rises above six, measured from the wall or fence rather than from the ground. The fence stops being the thing regulated and becomes the starting point everything else is measured from.
Within 50 feet of a major street and behind sound wall or solid fence (blocks 90% of light and air)
Livermore Development Code 4.02.030
90%share of light and air a solid fence blocks, by definition
Also on materials in Livermore
- 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 Livermore
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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 Livermore 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 Livermore
- 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
12 documents, of which 3 were published by Livermore itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- City of Livermore, Community Development DepartmentLivermore Development Code, Section 4.02.030, Development Standards
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841.4, spite fences
- City of Livermore, Community Development Department, Planning DivisionPlanning Frequently Asked Questions
- 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
- City of Livermore, Community Development Department, Permit CenterPermits and Applications Frequently Asked Questions
- 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 Livermore 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