Fence laws in Sacramento, California
What the Sacramento municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Sacramento sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Sacramento, 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
- A fence in a Sacramento front yard setback stops at four feet. The figure is 4 feet, for a fence in the front yard setback area. It reaches the front yard setback area 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
- Sacramento draws the driveway triangle from the back of the sidewalk rather than from the curb or the property line, and it says which edge that means: the one furthest from the middle of the street. The figure is 10 feet, for how far out each of the two points defining the triangle sits.
- Corner lots
- Sacramento regulates the view out of a driveway, not just the view at a street corner, and most cities do not. The figure is 42 inches, for anything standing in the driveway visibility triangle on a local street. It reaches the triangle beside a driveway on a local street only.
- Retaining walls
- Sacramento 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
- Sacramento bans a category rather than a product list.
- 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 Sacramento?
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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 Sacramento 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 Sacramento
- 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 Sacramento?
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Sacramento answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence in a Sacramento front yard setback stops at four feet. The street side yard setback, which is the one running along the side street on a corner lot, is held to the same four. That is a foot more than most large California cities allow in front and it is still well short of the six feet most general answers give, so a standard six foot panel fence put across a Sacramento front yard is two feet over.
Front yard fence located in the setback area
Sacramento City Code 17.620.110
4 fta fence in the front yard setback area
Also on fence height in Sacramento
- 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
- set in state lawThe street side yard on a corner lot is treated as a second front in Sacramento and capped at the same four feet. A corner lot therefore carries the four foot limit along two of its boundaries rather than one, which is the part corner owners are most often caught by: the long side fence facing the side street cannot be built to the six feet an interior side fence gets. Sacramento City Code 17.620.110Sacramento · Zoning code
Do I need a permit for a fence in Sacramento?
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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 Sacramento 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 Sacramento
- 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 Sacramento
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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 Sacramento 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 Sacramento
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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 Sacramento 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 Sacramento
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Sacramento answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Sacramento draws the driveway triangle from the back of the sidewalk rather than from the curb or the property line, and it says which edge that means: the one furthest from the middle of the street. The two points that close the triangle each sit ten feet out, one along the sidewalk from the driveway edge and one along the driveway from the sidewalk. Naming the datum this precisely is rare, and it is the difference between a rule that can be measured with a tape and one that cannot.
The back of the sidewalk is the edge of the sidewalk furthest from the street centerline.
Sacramento City Code 17.620.100(C)
10 fthow far out each of the two points defining the triangle sits
Also on how height is measured in Sacramento
- 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 Sacramento
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Sacramento answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Sacramento regulates the view out of a driveway, not just the view at a street corner, and most cities do not. On a local street a fence may not stand over three feet six inches inside the triangle beside where the driveway meets the curb. Wrought iron and tubular steel get no exemption from this one, which they do get elsewhere in the fence rules. The triangle is built from the edge of the driveway, the back of the sidewalk, and a line between two points ten feet out along each of those.
a wall or fence, including those constructed with tubular steel or wrought iron, may not exceed 3.5 feet in height within the triangular areas next to the intersection of the driveway and the front-yard or the street side-yard curb
Sacramento City Code 17.620.100(C)
42 inanything standing in the driveway visibility triangle on a local street
Also on corner visibility in Sacramento
- 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 Sacramento
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Sacramento 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 Sacramento 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 Sacramento
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Sacramento answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Sacramento bans a category rather than a product list. Anything cast off or second hand that was not made to be a fence in the first place is a prohibited material, which catches salvaged doors, pallets and sheet metal without having to name them. The approved list is wood, chain link, stone, rock, concrete block, masonry brick and decorative wrought iron, with anything else needing the Urban Design Manager to sign off. Fences also have to be kept in good repair, and a deteriorated one is a violation on its own.
replace with approved permanent material such as wood, chain link, stone, rock, concrete block, masonry brick, brick or decorative wrought iron or other material approved by the Urban Design Manager
Sacramento City Code 15.156.020
Also on materials in Sacramento
- 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 lawA fence that has fallen into disrepair is itself a code violation in Sacramento, separate from anything about height or material. Fences, walls, trellises and gates all have to be kept in good condition, and the correction is to repair, replace or take down whatever has deteriorated. A leaning or rotted fence can therefore draw a notice even where it was perfectly legal when it went up. Sacramento City Code 15.156.020(C)Sacramento · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Sacramento
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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 Sacramento 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 Sacramento
- 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 Sacramento 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 Sacramento, Community Development, Code ComplianceMost Common Code Violations on Private Property
- 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
- City of Sacramento, Community Development, PlanningWall and Fence Regulations Near Driveways, form CDD-0148
- 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 Sacramento 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