Fence laws in Menifee, California
What the Menifee municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Menifee sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Menifee, 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
- Menifee sets fence height by where the fence stands rather than by one number for the yard, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands inside or beyond the minimum setback, and which boundary it runs along. The figure is 36 inches, for fence height inside the front or street setback.
- Permits
- Menifee separates two approvals that most codes run together. The figure is 3 feet, for retaining wall height below which no development review is needed.
- Pool barriers
- The Menifee fence chapter states the pool barrier rule itself rather than leaving it to the building code alone. The figure is 5 feet, for minimum height of a pool barrier.
- 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
- Menifee measures from the finished grade of the property to the highest point of the element, and the words "highest point" are doing real work.
- Corner lots
- Menifee states a visibility rule and gives it no dimensions.
- Retaining walls
- Menifee lists four separate things that each make a retaining wall need a building permit, and only the first is about height, and the answer turns on height, the slope behind the wall, any surcharge, and whether a solid fence is attached to it. The figure is 4 feet, for retaining wall height from the bottom of the footing.
- Materials
- Menifee bans barbed wire, razor wire, concertina wire, corrugated metal, corrugated plastic, tarps and electrified wire of any kind in every zone.
- 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 Menifee?
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 Menifee 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 Menifee
- 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 Menifee?
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Menifee answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands inside or beyond the minimum setback, and which boundary it runs along.
Menifee sets fence height by where the fence stands rather than by one number for the yard. In the front or street setback the limit is 36 inches. Past the minimum setback it becomes 6 feet, and side and rear boundaries are 6 feet throughout. The corner street side is also 6 feet, but only with a landscape planter strip at least 5 feet wide between the public sidewalk and the wall, so the corner allowance costs 5 feet of yard to use.
Front/Street 36" 6' 36" 6' 36" 6' 36" 6'
Menifee Development Code Table 9.185.040-1
The answer turns on whether the fence stands inside or beyond the minimum setback, and which boundary it runs along.
- inside the front or street setback
- Thirty six inches, in every zone group the table covers. 36 in
- beyond the minimum setback
- Six feet. 6 ft
- along a corner street side
- Six feet, with a landscape planter strip at least five feet wide between the sidewalk and the wall. 5 ft
Also on fence height in Menifee
- 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 Menifee?
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Menifee answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Menifee separates two approvals that most codes run together. A residential privacy fence built to the standards of the chapter is exempt from development review, and so is a retaining wall under three feet. The code then says in the same breath that a building permit may still be required, which is what sends somebody to the Building and Safety handout after they have already been told the fence is exempt.
The following walls and fences shall be exempt from development review (a building permit may be required).
Menifee Development Code 9.185.030
3 ftretaining wall height below which no development review is needed
Also on permits in Menifee
- 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 Menifee
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Menifee answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The Menifee fence chapter states the pool barrier rule itself rather than leaving it to the building code alone. A pool, spa or similar feature has to be enclosed by a wall or fence of no less than five feet, and the code names the California Building Code as where the figure comes from. Putting it in the zoning chapter matters because it makes a barrier a fence question in Menifee as well as a building one.
Swimming pools, spas, and similar features shall be enclosed by walls or fences no less than 5 feet in height per the California Building Code.
Menifee Development Code 9.185.020.F
5 ftminimum height of a pool barrier
Also on pool barriers in Menifee
- 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 Menifee
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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 Menifee 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 Menifee
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Menifee answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Menifee measures from the finished grade of the property to the highest point of the element, and the words "highest point" are doing real work. A post cap, a lattice topper or a decorative finial counts toward the limit, because the measurement runs to the top of the tallest part rather than to the top of the fence panel. The same rule covers hedges, which are held to the height allowed for a wall in that zone.
The height of all walls, fences, and architectural screening elements shall be measured from the finished grade of the property to the highest point of the element.
Menifee Development Code 9.185.040.G
Also on how height is measured in Menifee
- 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 Menifee
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Menifee answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Menifee states a visibility rule and gives it no dimensions. Nothing may interfere with intersection visibility or line of sight, and the fence chapter sets out no triangle, no distance along the curb and no reduced height at a corner. Most cities on this site print a number such as 25 or 40 feet. In Menifee the rule exists and the measurement does not, so the corner gets settled during review rather than off a page.
No wall, fence, or landscaping element shall interfere with intersection visibility or line of sight or other safety issue.
Menifee Development Code 9.185.040.B
Also on corner visibility in Menifee
- 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 Menifee
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Menifee answers this, but the answer changes depending on height, the slope behind the wall, any surcharge, and whether a solid fence is attached to it.
Menifee lists four separate things that each make a retaining wall need a building permit, and only the first is about height. Over four feet from the bottom of the footing needs one. So does a back slope of two to one or steeper, so does any surcharge, and so does a solid fence attached to or directly next to the wall. That last trigger has no height attached at all, and it is the one that catches ordinary yards: a low garden wall with a fence on top is a permit even though the wall alone would not be.
Solid fences are attached (or directly adjacent) to the proposed retaining wall.
When Does a Retaining Wall Need a Permit?
The answer turns on height, the slope behind the wall, any surcharge, and whether a solid fence is attached to it.
- the wall is over four feet from the bottom of the footing
- A permit is required. 4 ft
- a solid fence is attached to the wall or sits directly next to it
- A permit is required whatever the height of the wall.
- the ground behind the wall slopes at two to one or steeper, or carries a surcharge
- A permit is required whatever the height of the wall.
Also on retaining walls in Menifee
- 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 Menifee
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Menifee answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Menifee bans barbed wire, razor wire, concertina wire, corrugated metal, corrugated plastic, tarps and electrified wire of any kind in every zone. Corrugated metal and tarps are the unusual entries: most codes on this site stop at the wire list, and Menifee is naming the cheap temporary screen somebody staples across a chain link fence. Agricultural zones are the one exception, and only for securing livestock or horses.
Barbed, razor, concertina, corrugated metal and plastic, tarps, and electrified wire of any kind or configuration is prohibited in all Zones
Menifee Development Code 9.185.040.E.1
Also on materials in Menifee
- 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
- set in state lawChain link is prohibited along any public right of way in Menifee regardless of setback, and the code adds that where chain link is used elsewhere it may not be visible from the right of way. Setting it back further does not help, because the test is visibility rather than distance. Temporary construction fencing is the single carve out, and agricultural zones sit outside the rule. Menifee Development Code 9.185.040.E.3Menifee · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Menifee
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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 Menifee 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 Menifee
- 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 Menifee 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 Menifee, Community Development DepartmentMenifee Development Code, Article 4, Site Development Regulations and Performance Standards
- 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
- City of Menifee, Building and Safety DepartmentWhen Does a Retaining Wall Need a Permit?
- 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 Menifee 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