Fence laws in Paramount, California
What the Paramount municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Paramount sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Paramount, California, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where a Paramount lot backs onto an alley, a fence along the rear line may not simply close it off.
- How tall
- In any Paramount residential zone a wall, fence or hedge of up to forty two inches may stand in a required front yard, and one of up to eight feet may stand anywhere on the lot to the rear of the rear line of that front yard, and the answer turns on the yard, and whether the lot backs an alley or has a side street driveway. The figure is 42 inches, for wall, fence or hedge in a required front yard.
- 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
- Paramount leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each county and city, through its zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- Every Paramount corner lot and reverse corner lot subject to yard requirements has to keep a triangle whose two short sides run fifteen feet each from the angle formed by the front lot line and the side line along the street, closed by a straight line between them. The figure is 15 feet, for each short side of the corner vision triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Paramount splits the retaining wall by which way the earth moved, and the answer turns on whether the retaining wall holds a cut or a fill. The figure is 42 inches, for protective fence above a wall retaining a fill.
- Materials
- Paramount names no approved material for a residential fence and prohibits a specific family of them by location rather than by 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 Paramount?
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Paramount answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a Paramount lot backs onto an alley, a fence along the rear line may not simply close it off. The eight foot allowance behind the front yard is granted on the condition that any such wall, fence or hedge on the rear line contains a gate affording access to the alley, so the owner keeps a way through to the back service route rather than sealing the lot.
Where lots rear upon an alley, any such wall, fence or hedge along the lot rear line shall contain a gate affording access to the alley.
Also on fences on the property line in Paramount
- 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 Paramount?
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Paramount answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, and whether the lot backs an alley or has a side street driveway.
In any Paramount residential zone a wall, fence or hedge of up to forty two inches may stand in a required front yard, and one of up to eight feet may stand anywhere on the lot to the rear of the rear line of that front yard. Eight feet is two feet more than most California cities allow without an application, and the section attaches no separate figure for a side yard, a rear yard or a corner lot street side. A separate landscaping rule keeps hedges, shrubs, flowers, trees, mailboxes and ornamental lighting to the same forty two inches in a required yard. Two conditions ride on the eight foot allowance: a fence along a rear line that backs an alley has to carry a gate to that alley, and a corner lot with a side street driveway has to keep a vision clear area beside it.
A fence, wall or hedge not exceeding eight feet in height, may be located anywhere on any lot to the rear of the rear line of the required front yard except:
The answer turns on the yard, and whether the lot backs an alley or has a side street driveway.
- a required front yard
- Forty two inches. 42 in
- anywhere to the rear of the required front yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a lot that backs an alley
- Eight feet, with a gate in the rear fence giving access to the alley.
Also on fence height in Paramount
- 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 Paramount?
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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 Paramount 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 Paramount
- 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 Paramount
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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 Paramount 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 Paramount
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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 Paramount 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 Paramount
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Paramount 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 Paramount 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.
Also on how height is measured in Paramount
- no rule, documents checkedParamount gives forty two inches and eight feet and never says what either is measured from. The fence section states both figures with no datum and no rule for a difference in grade between two lots, other than in the retaining wall subsections, where a cut wall is read from the ground on the high side of the property line. The vision clearance section uses established grade, but only inside the corner triangle. On level ground the numbers are clear; on a slope, away from a retaining wall, the text does not settle whose ground the reading starts from. 17.44.340Paramount · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Paramount
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Paramount answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every Paramount corner lot and reverse corner lot subject to yard requirements has to keep a triangle whose two short sides run fifteen feet each from the angle formed by the front lot line and the side line along the street, closed by a straight line between them. Inside it no tree is allowed at all, and no fence, shrub or other physical obstruction higher than forty two inches above the established grade. The same rule covers commercial and manufacturing lots at the intersection of major or secondary thoroughfares, with one exception: a building of two or more stories may put a bearing column in the corner angle provided it is no wider than twenty four inches in any direction. A separate clear area applies beside a side street driveway on a corner lot, defined by a diagonal line starting where the driveway edge meets the inside line of the required side yard and running away from the driveway at thirty degrees toward the side street property line.
within the area comprising such triangle no tree shall be allowed nor any fence, shrub or other physical obstruction higher than 42 inches above the established grade shall be permitted.
15 fteach short side of the corner vision triangle
Also on corner visibility in Paramount
- 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 Paramount
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Paramount answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the retaining wall holds a cut or a fill.
Paramount splits the retaining wall by which way the earth moved. Where a wall on the line between two lots protects a cut below the natural grade, a fence, wall or hedge of the full height otherwise allowed may sit on top, measured from the ground on the high side of the property line, so the cut costs nothing. Where the wall retains a fill, its own height counts toward the permissible height of whatever goes above it, and only a protective fence or wall of up to forty two inches may be put at the top. Any part of that fence above a six foot height has to be open work, which the section defines as evenly distributed solid portions making up no more than fifty percent of the face. The six foot figure named there sits alongside the eight foot general allowance in subsection B, and the section does not say how the two relate.
Where a retaining wall contains a fill, the height of the retaining wall built to retain the fill shall be considered as contributing to the permissible height of a fence, solid wall or hedge; provided, that in any event a protective fence or wall not more than 42 inches in height may be erected at the top of the retaining wall, and any portion of such fence above the six-foot maximum height shall be an open work fence.
The answer turns on whether the retaining wall holds a cut or a fill.
- a wall on the lot line protecting a cut below natural grade
- The full height otherwise allowed, read from the high side.
- a wall retaining a fill
- The wall counts toward the limit, and only forty two inches may go on top. 42 in
- the part of that fence above six feet
- Open work, no more than half solid. 50%
Also on retaining walls in Paramount
- 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 Paramount
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Paramount answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Paramount names no approved material for a residential fence and prohibits a specific family of them by location rather than by zone. Barbed wire, concertina wire, razor wire, cut glass and other sharp points may not be used as a fence or as part of a fence, wall or hedge along any property line or within any required side, rear or front yard. Because the ban follows the boundary and the required yards rather than the whole lot, it catches essentially every place a residential fence would go. The only other material rule is the definition of an open work fence, which is the form required above six feet on a fill retaining wall.
No barbed wire, concertina wire, razor wire, cut glass or other sharp points shall be used as a fence or part of a fence, wall or hedge along any property line or within any required side, rear or front yard.
Also on materials in Paramount
- 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 Paramount
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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 Paramount 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 Paramount
- 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 Paramount itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- California LegislatureCalifornia Civil Code Section 841, Good Neighbor Fence Act of 2013
- City of ParamountMunicipal Code, Title 17, Chapter 17.44, Section 17.44.340, Walls, fences and hedges in "R" zones
- 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 Paramount 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