Fence laws in Long Beach, California
What the Long Beach municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Long Beach sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Long Beach, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A fence or wall on a shared property line in Long Beach needs a written agreement between the two owners before the permit counter will take the application, and both signatures have to be notarized. It reaches a fence or wall built on a common property line only.
- How tall
- Long Beach leaves fence height to a resolution of the City Council designating the area. The figure is 4 feet, for front yard fence height inside a designated special fence height area. It reaches a front yard setback inside a special fence height area only.
- Permits
- Not needing a building permit in Long Beach does not mean nobody looks at the fence.
- 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
- Long Beach measures a fence from two different places and which one applies depends on what is on the far side, and the answer turns on whether the far side of the fence is a public right of way or another private lot. It reaches residential fences and garden walls only.
- Corner lots
- Long Beach holds a corner cutoff area to three feet, and then makes an exception for fences somebody can see through. The figure is 3 feet, for a solid fence in a corner cutoff area. It reaches a corner cutoff area only.
- Retaining walls
- Long Beach 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
- California sets a wire standard for a lawful fence in grazing counties. The figure is 3 strands, for barbed wires in a lawful wire fence. It reaches lawful fences in grazing counties 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 Long Beach?
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Long Beach answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence or wall on a shared property line in Long Beach needs a written agreement between the two owners before the permit counter will take the application, and both signatures have to be notarized. California law already says the two neighbors share the cost of a boundary fence. Long Beach turns that into a filing requirement: the agreement is form FORM-013 and it goes in with the permit paperwork. A homeowner who has not spoken to the neighbor cannot get the permit.
please complete the Common Property Line Wall Fence Agreement and sign the document
FORM-013, Common Property Line Wall Fence Agreement
Also on fences on the property line in Long Beach
- 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 Long Beach?
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Long Beach does not set this. It leaves it to a resolution of the City Council designating the area.
The Long Beach front yard limit is three feet, and the city carries two named routes to a fourth. Inside a special fence height area, drawn by resolution of the City Council rather than written into the code, the front yard limit rises to four feet, but the extra foot has to be wrought iron or chain link rather than solid. A separate rule lets a front yard fence go over three feet on lots in high crime areas. Both make the answer depend on the address, and neither is findable from the height table alone.
provided the additional foot of height is wrought iron or chain link
LBMC 21.43.020, as reproduced by the city
4 ftfront yard fence height inside a designated special fence height area
The code hands this to a resolution of the City Council designating the area, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on fence height in Long Beach
- 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 Long Beach?
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Long Beach answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Not needing a building permit in Long Beach does not mean nobody looks at the fence. The Planning Bureau reviews and approves the location, the height and the material in every case, which is a different question from whether the structure stands up. So the honest answer to whether a Long Beach fence needs approval is yes, and the building permit is only the part that sometimes does not apply.
In all cases, the Planning Bureau's review and approval is required to approve the location, height and material used to construct the fence or wall
Constructing and Installing Fences and Walls
Also on permits in Long Beach
- 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
- depends, see the pageLong Beach sets the permit threshold by what the fence is built from rather than by one height. Wood, chain link and wrought iron need no building permit up to six feet six inches. Concrete, masonry and brick need one above four feet, because a heavy wall is a structural question rather than a screening one. Over either line the project needs engineered drawings. And in every case, whether or not a building permit applies, the Planning Bureau still has to approve the location, the height and the material. Constructing and Installing Fences and WallsLong Beach · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Long Beach
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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 Long Beach 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 Long Beach
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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 Long Beach 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 Long Beach
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Long Beach answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the far side of the fence is a public right of way or another private lot.
Long Beach measures a fence from two different places and which one applies depends on what is on the far side. A fence along the public right of way is measured from the ground on the street side, so the city gets the strict reading where the sidewalk is lower than the yard. A fence between two private lots is measured from the average of the ground on both sides, which splits the difference on a slope instead of letting either neighbor pick. The city also says flood hazard zone heights and averaged lot elevations do not apply to fences, closing the usual workaround.
the average grade of both sides of the fence (for fences between 2 private properties)
LBMC 21.43.020, as reproduced by the city
The answer turns on whether the far side of the fence is a public right of way or another private lot.
- the fence runs along a public right of way
- Measured from the ground on the right of way side, which is the stricter reading where the street sits lower than the yard.
- the fence runs between two private properties
- Measured from the average of the ground on both sides, so a slope is split rather than being read from whichever side suits.
Also on how height is measured in Long Beach
- 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 Long Beach
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Long Beach answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Long Beach holds a corner cutoff area to three feet, and then makes an exception for fences somebody can see through. Chain link and wrought iron are allowed above three feet inside the cutoff, because the point of the rule is the view rather than the height. That is the opposite of Sacramento, which names wrought iron and tubular steel specifically in order to say they get no exemption inside its driveway triangle.
chain link and wrought iron fences above three feet
LBMC 21.43.020, as reproduced by the city
3 fta solid fence in a corner cutoff area
Also on corner visibility in Long Beach
- 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 Long Beach
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Long Beach 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 Long Beach 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 Long Beach
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
California 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.
This one is California law, not Long Beach 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.
3 strandsbarbed wires in a lawful wire fence
Livestock and boundary fence law in Long Beach
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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 Long Beach 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 Long Beach
- 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
11 documents, of which 2 were published by Long Beach itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- City of Long Beach, Development ServicesConstructing and Installing Fences and Walls
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841.4, spite fences
- City of Long Beach, Development ServicesInformation Bulletin BU-041, Residential Fence and Garden Walls
- 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 Long Beach 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