Fence laws in Union City, California
What the Union 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 Union City sets no rule of its own, the California rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Union 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
- The eight foot allowance in Union City belongs to the situation rather than to the lot. The figure is 30 days, for time allowed to bring an eight foot fence back down to six. It reaches a rear or interior side yard abutting a named facility or arterial road only.
- Permits
- Nothing under seven feet needs a permit in Union City, measured from grade. The figure is 7 feet, for fence height below which no permit is required.
- 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
- Union City writes two rules about what happens at the top of a fence and at the end of one. The figure is 18 inches, for lattice that can be added above a six foot fence with approval.
- 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
- Union City 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
- Union City names the acceptable materials as natural ones, wood, masonry and earth materials, and then says metal and plastic are not included where the fence is intended to stand more than three feet above the ground. The figure is 3 feet, for height above which only natural materials are acceptable. It reaches fences intended to exceed three feet above the ground only.
- 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 Union 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 Union 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 Union 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 Union City?
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Union City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The eight foot allowance in Union City belongs to the situation rather than to the lot. It is granted where a rear or interior side yard abuts a flood control channel, a railroad, a park, a licensed residential care or health facility, a school, a childcare center, or one of nine arterial roads the handout names. When that neighbor is removed, relocated, or stops operating, the fence has thirty calendar days to come down to six feet. No other city read for this site puts a clock on a height allowance.
An eight (8) foot fence shall reduce the fence height to six (6) feet within thirty (30) calendar days of the removal, relocation, or termination of operations of the adjacent facility, school, or center
Union City Municipal Code Chapter 18.32, Residential Districts
30 daystime allowed to bring an eight foot fence back down to six
Also on fence height in Union 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
- depends, see the pageUnion City holds a front setback and a street side setback to three feet, and a rear or interior side setback to six. The street side can reach six feet, but only when all three conditions are met at once: ten feet back from the street side property line, thirty five feet back from the front property line, and behind the front face of the house. Missing any one of the three leaves the fence at three feet, however far back the other two put it. Union City Municipal Code Chapter 18.32, Residential DistrictsUnion City · Zoning code
Do I need a permit for a fence in Union City?
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Union City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Nothing under seven feet needs a permit in Union City, measured from grade. Over seven feet a building permit is required, and so is any gate on a multi-family lot that crosses a driveway, fire lane or sidewalk access, whatever its height. That second trigger is about access rather than structure: such a gate has to meet both the accessibility requirements and the Fire Department requirements, so it is reviewed by two bodies that never look at an ordinary fence.
No permit is required for walls, fences, or hedges under seven (7) feet in height as measured from grade.
Union City Municipal Code Chapter 18.32, Residential Districts
7 ftfence height below which no permit is required
Also on permits in Union City
- 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 Union 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 Union 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 Union 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 Union 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 Union City
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Union City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Union City writes two rules about what happens at the top of a fence and at the end of one. An eight foot fence meeting a shorter one has to step or slope down to the shorter fence, or to six feet, whichever is higher, so the change in height happens on the tall fence rather than at the property corner. And where six feet is the limit, an extra eighteen inches of lattice can be added, but it needs both Director approval and a building permit, which is more process than the fence underneath it required.
When an eight (8) foot fence adjoins a fence of a lower height, the eight (8) foot fence shall be designed to step or slope down to the height of the adjoining fence or six (6) feet whichever is greater in height.
Union City Municipal Code Chapter 18.32, Residential Districts
18 inlattice that can be added above a six foot fence with approval
Also on how height is measured in Union 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 Union 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 Union 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 Union City
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Union City 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 Union 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:
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 Union City
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Union City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Union City names the acceptable materials as natural ones, wood, masonry and earth materials, and then says metal and plastic are not included where the fence is intended to stand more than three feet above the ground. Wrought iron, welded steel and vinyl are ordinary residential choices across California and several cities on this site actively require iron in a front yard. Union City reaches the opposite result, and it does so through a materials list rather than a ban.
Acceptable materials are natural materials such as wood, masonry, and earth materials and do not include metal, plastic, or other similar materials where such fences and structures are intended to exceed three (3) feet above the surface of the ground.
Union City Municipal Code Chapter 18.32, Residential Districts
3 ftheight above which only natural materials are acceptable
Also on materials in Union 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
Livestock and boundary fence law in Union 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 Union 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 Union 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 Union 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 Union City, Economic and Community Development, Planning DivisionResidential Walls, Fences and Hedges, Information and Requirements
- 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 Union 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