Fence laws in Mountain View, California
What the Mountain View municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Mountain View sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Mountain View, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Mountain View states three things about the boundary in one paragraph.
- How tall
- Mountain View sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- Where a homeowners association governs the property, Mountain View requires its approval before a city permit application is even submitted, and points to the CC&Rs, the original approved plans or the development Master Plan as where the association standards live. It reaches properties governed by a homeowners association 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
- Mountain View leaves spite fences to the free mediation service the city points to, run by Project Sentinel, alongside California Civil Code 841.
- Measured from what
- Mountain View measures from adjacent grade to the top of the fence and says plainly that decorative lattice and posts are included.
- 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
- Mountain View 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
- Mountain View describes what fences are typically made of rather than banning anything.
- 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 Mountain View?
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Mountain View answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Mountain View states three things about the boundary in one paragraph. A fence or wall is not necessarily on the shared line. The only way to determine the line is a survey by a licensed civil engineer or land surveyor. And a survey is not required to install a fence or wall. The last two sit awkwardly together on purpose: the city is describing what it knows and what it will ask for, and those are not the same thing. Property lines also do not always begin at the back edge of the sidewalk.
A fence or wall is not necessarily located on a shared property line. The only way to determine a property line is by conducting a land survey by a licensed civil engineer or land surveyor. A survey is not required to install a fence or wall.
Also on fences on the property line in Mountain View
- 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 Mountain View?
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Mountain View law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
California 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.
This one is California law, not Mountain View law. All California findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Civ. Code 841California Legislature
- Civ. Code 841.4California Legislature
Do I need a permit for a fence in Mountain View?
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Mountain View answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a homeowners association governs the property, Mountain View requires its approval before a city permit application is even submitted, and points to the CC&Rs, the original approved plans or the development Master Plan as where the association standards live. The fence then has to satisfy both sets of rules. The city also treats any property with an association as multi-family for permit purposes, so a single family house inside one loses the wood fence exemption.
Homeowners Association (HOA) approval is required for a new fence or modification to an existing fence prior to submitting for a City permit.
Also on permits in Mountain View
- 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 pageMountain View asks what the fence is made of before it asks how tall it is. On a single family lot, a wood fence of six feet or less needs no permit and any non-wood fence needs one whatever its height, as does any retaining wall. Multi-family, commercial and industrial property always needs a permit, and so does any property with a homeowners association. Anything over six feet needs one everywhere. Fences or WallsMountain View · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Mountain View
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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 Mountain View 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 Mountain View
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Mountain View does not set this. It leaves it to the free mediation service the city points to, run by Project Sentinel, alongside California Civil Code 841.
Mountain View points at the California Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013 for how adjoining owners share the cost of a boundary fence, and then names a free and confidential mediation service, Mountain View Mediation Services, run for the city by Project Sentinel. A fence argument in Mountain View therefore has a third route that is neither the permit counter nor a lawsuit. The city runs no rule of its own on the substance of such disputes.
The Mountain View Mediation Services is a free and confidential program provided by Project Sentinel to assist residents/property owners in disputes.
The code hands this to the free mediation service the city points to, run by Project Sentinel, alongside California Civil Code 841, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on spite fences in Mountain View
- set in state lawA 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. Civ. Code 841.4California · Statute
How fence height is measured in Mountain View
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Mountain View answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Mountain View measures from adjacent grade to the top of the fence and says plainly that decorative lattice and posts are included. Naming posts is the unusual part. A post cap standing proud of the panels counts toward the total, so a six foot fence with four inch caps is over six feet by the city’s own measurement and, being wood, has just lost its permit exemption.
All fences and walls are measured from adjacent grade to the top of the fence, inclusive of decorative lattice and posts.
Also on how height is measured in Mountain View
- 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 Mountain View
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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 Mountain View 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 Mountain View
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Mountain View 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 Mountain View 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 Mountain View
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Mountain View answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Mountain View describes what fences are typically made of rather than banning anything. Residential fences are wood, vinyl, or metal and iron rods, and masonry walls are brick, concrete masonry units with stucco, or rock. Commercial and industrial fences are expected to be commercial grade. Nothing on the page is prohibited, which matters because the permit rule already separates wood from everything else: the material question in Mountain View is answered by the permit counter rather than by a ban.
For residential properties , fences are typically constructed of wood, vinyl, or metal/iron rods.
Also on materials in Mountain View
- 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 Mountain View
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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 Mountain View 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 Mountain View
- 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 Mountain View itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- City of Mountain View, Community Development Department, Development ServicesFences or Walls
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841.4, spite fences
- 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 Mountain View 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