Fence laws in National City, California
What the National City municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where National City sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in National City, 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
- National City allows eight feet in setback areas generally, and four feet in a front setback or the exterior side setback of a corner lot, with residential property in a residential zone getting six in that exterior side setback. The figure is 4 feet, for fence height in the rear setback of a reversed corner lot. It reaches reversed corner lots abutting the front setback of a key lot only.
- Permits
- California does not write its own building code from scratch.
- 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
- National City writes a tolerance into its own height limits. The figure is 30 percent, for share of a fence that may stand up to six inches over the limit.
- 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
- A masonry wall in National City stops at eight feet, and the answer turns on whether the wall includes a retaining wall, and whether the fence is a protective fence in an interior setback. The figure is 8 feet, for maximum height of a masonry wall.
- Materials
- National City writes chain link as a specification rather than a ban.
- 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 National City?
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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 National City 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 National City
- 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 National City?
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National City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
National City allows eight feet in setback areas generally, and four feet in a front setback or the exterior side setback of a corner lot, with residential property in a residential zone getting six in that exterior side setback. One case is stricter than all of them: on a reversed corner lot whose rear setback abuts the front setback of the key lot behind it, nothing over four feet is permitted in that rear setback. The owner of the key lot behind keeps their outlook.
Fences, walls and hedges over four feet in height shall not be permitted in the rear setback area of a reversed corner lot where such reverse corner lot abuts a front setback of the key lot at the rear.
National City Land Use Code 18.43.050.A.2
4 ftfence height in the rear setback of a reversed corner lot
Also on fence height in National City
- 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 National City?
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California answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
California 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.
This one is California law, not National City 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:
Also on permits in National City
- 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 National City
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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 National City 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 National City
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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 National City 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 National City
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National City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
National City writes a tolerance into its own height limits. Up to thirty percent of the length of a fence may stand up to six inches over the limit. Both bounds matter: six inches caps how far over any point can be, and thirty percent caps how much of the run can use it. No other city read for this site publishes a tolerance at all, which means everywhere else a fence that rides up over a tree root is simply over the limit.
Up to 30 percent of the length of a fence may exceed the height limits specified in this section by up to six inches.
National City Land Use Code 18.43.050.A.5
30%share of a fence that may stand up to six inches over the limit
Also on how height is measured in National City
- 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 National City
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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 National City 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 National City
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National City answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the wall includes a retaining wall, and whether the fence is a protective fence in an interior setback.
A masonry wall in National City stops at eight feet. Where it includes a retaining wall, the eight feet are split: six for the masonry wall and two feet eight inches for the retaining portion. The code also states that retaining wall height contributes to the allowable height of fences and walls generally, so the wall underneath counts. The exception is a protective fence in an interior side or rear setback, which is measured from the top of the retaining wall instead.
Masonry walls shall not exceed a height of eight feet. Masonry walls that include a retaining wall shall not exceed a maximum height of six feet for the masonry wall and two feet eight inches for the retaining wall.
National City Land Use Code 18.43.050.A.3 and A.4
The answer turns on whether the wall includes a retaining wall, and whether the fence is a protective fence in an interior setback.
- a masonry wall with no retaining element
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a masonry wall that includes a retaining wall
- Six feet of masonry over two feet eight inches of retaining wall. 6 ft
- a protective fence in an interior side or rear setback
- Measured from the top of the retaining wall, so the wall below does not count against it.
Also on retaining walls in National City
- 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 National City
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National City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
National City writes chain link as a specification rather than a ban. Minimum nine-gauge wire, mesh of three and one half inches by five inches, and redwood slats measuring two and one half inches by five sixteenths of an inch, and it may then be used for screening in residential or industrial areas. The code separately requires wood fencing to use pressure treated posts set in concrete footings, and permits vinyl outright, which several cities on this site prohibit.
Chain link fences. Chain link fencing of minimum nine-gauge wire and three and one-half inch by five inch mesh with two and one-half inch by five-sixteenths inch redwood slats may be used in screening residential or industrial areas.
National City Land Use Code 18.43.040.A.5
Also on materials in National City
- 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
- depends, see the pageBarbed wire, electrified fencing, concertina and razor wire are prohibited in National City residential and commercial zones unless some law or regulation requires them. In industrial zones barbed wire above six feet is allowed, except in a front or exterior side yard. And in the Westside Specific Plan area, chain link, barbed wire and razor wire are all prohibited outright, which makes that neighborhood stricter than the rest of the city. National City Land Use Code 18.43.060.ANational City · Zoning code
- set in state lawNational City lets the Planning Division approve visual openings in a view-obscuring fence, for security surveillance, at no more than twenty four inches wide and no more than fifteen percent of the fence length along any one side. It then runs the rule the other way: on a recommendation from the chief of police, the city may require such openings. So a solid fence in National City can be ordered to have holes in it, which no other code read for this site provides for. National City Land Use Code 18.43.080.ANational City · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in National City
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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 National City 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 National City
- 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 National City 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 National City, Community Development Department, Planning DivisionNational City Land Use Code, Division 4, General Design and Development Regulations
- 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 National City 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