Fence laws in Los Angeles, California
What the Los Angeles municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Los Angeles sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Los Angeles, 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
- In most Los Angeles residential areas a front yard fence stops at three feet six inches, and the answer turns on which yard the fence stands in, and the size and location of the lot. The figure is 42 inches, for a fence in a front yard in most residential areas. It reaches most residential areas of Los Angeles only.
- Permits
- Going over the height limit in Los Angeles is not a building permit question, it is a planning one. The figure is 8 feet, for the ceiling a Zoning Administrator can approve in a required yard. It reaches a fence or wall over the limit in a required front, side or rear yard, in the A and R zones only.
- 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
- Los Angeles leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- Los Angeles singles out the reversed corner lot, the one whose back yard runs along the side street and backs onto the front of the house next door. It reaches the side lot line along the street of a reversed corner lot, in the A and R zones only.
- Retaining walls
- Los Angeles 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 hedge is a fence in Los Angeles.
- 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 Los Angeles?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles
- 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 Los Angeles?
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Los Angeles answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence stands in, and the size and location of the lot.
In most Los Angeles residential areas a front yard fence stops at three feet six inches. Side and rear yards get six feet. Eight feet is possible in a side or rear yard, but it turns on the size and the location of the lot rather than being there for the asking, and Building and Safety says so rather than giving one number. The front figure is the one that catches people out, because six feet is what most of the internet says and in an LA front yard it is nearly twice the limit.
Depending on lot size and location, the height limit may be increased to 8
The answer turns on which yard the fence stands in, and the size and location of the lot.
- the fence is in the front yard
- Three feet six inches, in most residential areas. 42 in
- the fence is in a side or rear yard
- Six feet as standard, and up to eight where the size and the location of the lot allow it. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Los Angeles
- 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
- left to the townLos Angeles carries a layer above the citywide numbers that most cities have nothing like. A block can sit inside a Fence Height District under LAMC 13.10, or inside a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, and either one replaces the ordinary limit for that block. The Bureau of Engineering will not issue a permit for a front yard fence in one of those without a variance from City Planning first. So the citywide figure is a starting point, and the address decides whether it is the real one. LAMC 13.10, Fence Height DistrictsLos Angeles · Agency guidance
Do I need a permit for a fence in Los Angeles?
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Los Angeles answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Going over the height limit in Los Angeles is not a building permit question, it is a planning one. A fence up to eight feet in a required yard needs a Class 1 Conditional Use Permit decided by a Zoning Administrator, and that process carries a public hearing with notice to the neighbours on either side and to the certified neighborhood council. A fence in the public right of way needs a separate revocable permit from Public Works on top of it.
authorizes a Zoning Administrator to approve applications for fences and walls up to eight feet high located within the required front, side, or rear yard of any lot
LAMC 12.24 X.7, as quoted by City Planning
8 ftthe ceiling a Zoning Administrator can approve in a required yard
Also on permits in Los Angeles
- 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 Los Angeles
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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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles
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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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles
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Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles
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Los Angeles answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Los Angeles singles out the reversed corner lot, the one whose back yard runs along the side street and backs onto the front of the house next door. A fence on the street side lot line of that lot is restricted in the residential and agricultural zones, and getting one approved takes the same Zoning Administrator process an over height fence takes. It is the shape of the lot that triggers it rather than a sight triangle measured in feet.
on the side lot line along the street of a reversed corner lot in the A and R Zones as prohibited by LAMC Section 12.21 C.1(g)
LAMC 12.21 C.1(g), as quoted by City Planning
Also on corner visibility in Los Angeles
- 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 Los Angeles
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Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles
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Los Angeles answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A hedge is a fence in Los Angeles. The zoning code defines the words fence and wall to take in latticework, screen walls, hedges and thick growths of shrubs or trees, so a row of shrubs in a front yard is held to the same three feet six inches a wood fence is. Planting instead of building does not get around the height limit here. Plenty of California cities do the reverse and exempt plants outright, so this is a rule worth knowing before putting in a privacy hedge.
shall include latticework, ornamental fences, screen walls, hedges or thick growths of shrubs or trees
LAMC 12.22 C.20(f), as quoted by City Planning
Also on materials in Los Angeles
- 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 Los Angeles
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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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles
- 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 Los Angeles 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
- Los Angeles Department of Building and SafetyWhat is the allowable fence height?
- Los Angeles Bureau of EngineeringPermit Manual, Revocable R Permits, Technical Procedure 04, Front Yard Fences, Walls and Gates
- 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
- Los Angeles City PlanningFences and Walls Up to 8 Feet in Height, Class 1 Conditional Use Permit, form CP13-2075.1
- 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 Los Angeles 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