Fence laws in Colorado
What Colorado statutes and statewide codes say about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line.
Fence laws in Colorado, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Colorado splits the cost of a fence on the line between farm and ranch neighbors. The figure is 50 percent, for share of a boundary fence each adjoining owner has a duty to build.
- How tall
- Colorado sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- Colorado sets no statewide fence permit rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Pool barriers
- A fence around a pool open to the public in Colorado stands at least sixty inches high, with gates that close and latch by themselves and a latch at least fifty four inches up. The figure is 60 inches, for minimum fence height around a public swimming pool.
- Spite fences
- Colorado has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Colorado leaves the measuring rule to the governing body of each municipality.
- Corner lots
- No Colorado law draws a clear view triangle on a corner lot. The figure is 500 feet, for distance from the center of an intersection within which a permit for an advertising device is refused when it would cut the view. It reaches outdoor advertising signs that need a state permit along a highway, not a fence on a corner lot only.
- Retaining walls
- Colorado leaves retaining walls to each board of county commissioners, and separately each city and town, which adopt building codes on their own.
- Materials
- Colorado defines a lawful fence as a well built three barbed wire fence on solid posts about twenty feet apart, good enough to turn ordinary horses and cattle, with gates as good as the fence. The figure is 3 strands, for barbed wires in a lawful fence. It reaches lawful fences under the livestock trespass article only.
- Livestock
- A lawful fence in Colorado is a well built three barbed wire fence on strong posts set about twenty feet apart, good enough to turn back ordinary horses and cattle. The figure is 3 strands, for barbed wires in a lawful fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Colorado?
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Colorado answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Colorado splits the cost of a fence on the line between farm and ranch neighbors. Where farm or grazing land of two or more people touches, each owner builds half of the line fence, and it has to meet the state lawful fence standard. A person who already has a lawful fence on the line is owed half its cash value by the neighbor who moves in next to it. This rule covers farm and grazing land only, not a fence at a house.
Where the agriculture or grazing lands of two or more persons adjoin, whether or not such lands are farmed or grazed, it is the duty of the owner of each tract to build one-half of the line fence, such fence to be a lawful fence as described in section 35-46-101.
50%share of a boundary fence each adjoining owner has a duty to build
How tall can a fence be in Colorado?
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Colorado law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Colorado sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The city sets it. The state fence law only describes a lawful fence for farm and grazing land and gives no top height for a fence at a house, and state law gives cities and towns the power over fences on the line.
Documents read before writing that:
- C.R.S. 35-46-101 to 35-46-115Colorado General Assembly
- C.R.S. 31-15-601Colorado General Assembly
Do I need a permit for a fence in Colorado?
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Colorado law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Whether a fence needs a permit in Colorado is a county or city question. The state adopts no building code for houses at all, so there is no statewide permit rule and nothing statewide to be exempt from. State law says a board of county commissioners may adopt a building code, which leaves the choice to each county, and cities and towns get their own power over building rules and over fences on the line.
Documents read before writing that:
- C.R.S. 30-28-201Colorado General Assembly
- C.R.S. 31-15-601Colorado General Assembly
Pool fence requirements in Colorado
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Colorado answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence around a pool open to the public in Colorado stands at least sixty inches high, with gates that close and latch by themselves and a latch at least fifty four inches up. Section 3.24 of the state swimming pool rule requires the fence so people reach the pool only through controlled ways in, and a building or other structure can do the job of the fence. A stricter local code or ordinance takes the place of this rule.
Every swimming pool in a non-restricted public place shall be fenced to prevent unauthorized access to the pool except through controlled entrances.
60 inminimum fence height around a public swimming pool
Spite fence laws in Colorado
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Colorado law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Colorado has no state law about a fence built to annoy a neighbor. The fence law in Title 35 and the property laws in Title 38 have no spite fence rule and no height that turns a fence into one. A limit of that kind comes from a local ordinance.
Documents read before writing that:
- C.R.S. 35-46-101 to 35-46-115Colorado General Assembly
- C.R.S. Title 38Colorado General Assembly
How fence height is measured in Colorado
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Colorado does not set this. It leaves it to the governing body of each municipality.
Colorado has no fence height of its own, so it never says where one would be measured from. Section 31-23-301 lets the city council set the height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures, and it even covers the height of trees. The state fence law describes a lawful fence by its three barbed wires and its posts about twenty feet apart, and gives no height at all. So the city picks the number and the surface it starts from.
the governing body of each municipality is empowered to regulate and restrict the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts, and other open spaces, the density of population, the height and location of trees and other vegetation
The code hands this to the governing body of each municipality, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Colorado
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Colorado answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
No Colorado law draws a clear view triangle on a corner lot. Counties and towns write that under Titles 30 and 31. The state once had a general rule against blocking the view along a highway, and the legislature repealed it in 1981. What is left is narrower. Section 43-1-411 refuses a permit for an outdoor advertising sign within five hundred feet of the center of an intersection when it would badly cut the view of traffic on the crossing road or of an oncoming train. That is a sign rule on state highways.
Along the highway within five hundred feet of the center point of an intersection of such highway at grade with another highway or with a railroad in such manner as materially to obstruct or reduce the existing view of traffic on the other highway or railroad trains approaching the intersection and within five hundred feet of such center point;
500 ftdistance from the center of an intersection within which a permit for an advertising device is refused when it would cut the view
Retaining wall rules in Colorado
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Colorado does not set this. It leaves it to each board of county commissioners, and separately each city and town, which adopt building codes on their own.
Colorado has no state rule for a wall that holds back earth, because it adopts no building code for houses at all. State law says a board of county commissioners may adopt a building code for the parts of the county outside any city or town, and cities and towns get their own separate power over building rules. So there is no state height at which a wall of that kind needs a permit and no state standard for building one. Each county, city and town sets it.
A board of county commissioners is authorized to adopt ordinances and a building code consistent with the uniform building code, 1988 edition, as promulgated by the international conference of building officials and as revised from time to time, in all or part of the county, and not embraced within the limits of any incorporated city or town.
The code hands this to each board of county commissioners, and separately each city and town, which adopt building codes on their own, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Colorado
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Colorado answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Colorado defines a lawful fence as a well built three barbed wire fence on solid posts about twenty feet apart, good enough to turn ordinary horses and cattle, with gates as good as the fence. Any other fence that works as well counts the same.
"Lawful fence" is a well-constructed three barbed wire fence with substantial posts set at a distance of approximately twenty feet apart, and sufficient to turn ordinary horses and cattle, with all gates equally as good as the fence, or any other fence of like efficiency.
3 strandsbarbed wires in a lawful fence
Livestock and boundary fence law in Colorado
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Colorado answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A lawful fence in Colorado is a well built three barbed wire fence on strong posts set about twenty feet apart, good enough to turn back ordinary horses and cattle. Every gate has to be as good as the fence. Any other fence that works just as well counts the same.
"Lawful fence" is a well-constructed three barbed wire fence with substantial posts set at a distance of approximately twenty feet apart, and sufficient to turn ordinary horses and cattle, with all gates equally as good as the fence, or any other fence of like efficiency.
3 strandsbarbed wires in a lawful fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Colorado
- set in state lawColorado is a fence out state. The landowner who wants livestock kept off builds the fence, not the animal owner. Money for a livestock trespass goes only to a person whose crops were behind a lawful fence at the time, kept in good repair, and whose fence the animals broke through. Without that fence, nothing is owed. C.R.S. 35-46-102Colorado · Statute
Cities in Colorado
19 cities with their own fence rules read from the city’s own code. Where a city says nothing on a topic, the state answer above is what applies.
Documents behind this page
6 documents, each read on the date shown. Nothing on this page rests on a summary of one.
- Colorado General AssemblyColorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 35, Article 46, Section 35-46-112
- Colorado General AssemblyColorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 31, Article 15, Part 6, Building and Fire Regulations
- Colorado General AssemblyColorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 30, Article 28, Part 2, Building Codes
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Water Quality Control DivisionCode of Colorado Regulations, Swimming Pools and Mineral Baths, Section 3.24, effective December 15, 2020
- Colorado General AssemblyColorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 38, Property, Real and Personal
- Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal ServicesColorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 43, Transportation
What this page does not cover
Everything above is state law. Fence height, setback, corner visibility and materials are set by city and county ordinance in almost every state, and a local rule can be far stricter than the statewide default. A parcel can also carry an easement, an overlay district, a fire hazard zone or a recorded HOA restriction, none of which appear in a statute.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, statutes are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean