Fence laws in Clermont, Florida
What the Clermont municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Clermont sets no rule of its own, the Florida rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Clermont, Florida, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Clermont has no statute splitting the cost of a fence on the boundary. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- How tall
- Clermont measures from the front building line rather than a setback: for residential uses no fence, wall or retaining wall may pass four feet between that line and the front lot line, or six feet between it and the rear property line, and the answer turns on the use, which side of the front building line the fence is on, and the district. The figure is 4 feet, for fence or wall in front of the building line.
- Permits
- Clermont gives its planning and development services department three grounds to refuse a fence permit outright: that the fence would obstruct visibility, that it would impede fire or police protection, or that it would seriously inhibit the free flow of light and air.
- Pool barriers
- Florida requires a pool barrier at least four feet high, measured on the outside. The figure is 4 feet, for residential swimming pool barrier, measured on the outside.
- Spite fences
- Clermont has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Clermont leaves decorative columns and pillars out of the height reading, allowing them a foot above the maximum for the fence or wall they stand in. The figure is 1 foot, for height a decorative column may add.
- Corner lots
- Clermont keeps fences away from an intersection by distance rather than by lowering them, and the answer turns on the class of the road and whether the fence would obstruct visibility. The figure is 30 feet, for clear distance from an intersection on a local road.
- Retaining walls
- Clermont folds the retaining wall into the ordinary fence heights, naming it alongside fences and walls in the four and six foot limits, so a retaining wall in front of the building line is held to four feet like anything else. The figure is 5 feet, for landscaping strip required in front of a wall.
- Materials
- Clermont names four acceptable material families: rot and termite resistive wood, wood chemically pressure treated against rot and termites, noncorrosive metal or galvanized wire fabric of eleven gauge on steel posts, and ornamental iron, concrete or masonry.
- Livestock
- Florida sets a legal fence at three feet high, made of barbed or other soft wire, with at least three strands pulled tight on posts, trees or other supports no more than twenty feet apart. The figure is 3 feet, for height of a legal fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Clermont?
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Clermont law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Florida has no law about splitting the cost of a fence on a boundary. Chapter 588 is about legal fences and livestock, and every section in it deals with fence strength, posted land and impounding animals. Chapter 704, which covers easements and rights of entry, says nothing about a boundary fence either. In Florida the split is whatever the two neighbors agree to.
This one is Florida law, not Clermont law. All Florida findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Fla. Stat. ch. 588The Florida Senate
- Fla. Stat. ch. 704The Florida Senate
How tall can a fence be in Clermont?
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Clermont answers this, but the answer changes depending on the use, which side of the front building line the fence is on, and the district.
Clermont measures from the front building line rather than a setback: for residential uses no fence, wall or retaining wall may pass four feet between that line and the front lot line, or six feet between it and the rear property line. On a corner or double frontage lot the four feet applies in front of the district setback line, and a six foot fence may run to the property line on the secondary street side provided it does not block the view from a neighboring driveway or an intersection. Business, commercial and industrial districts stop at six feet, with industrial land allowed a further twenty four inches of barbed wire for security. A subdivision entry feature may reach ten feet, beyond which the city council has to approve it.
For residential uses, no fence, wall, or retaining wall shall exceed four feet in height from the front building line to the front lot line or exceed six feet in height from the front building line to the rear property line.
The answer turns on the use, which side of the front building line the fence is on, and the district.
- between the front building line and the front lot line
- Four feet. 4 ft
- between the front building line and the rear property line
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a business, commercial or industrial district
- Six feet, plus twenty four inches of barbed wire on industrial land. 24 in
- a subdivision entry feature
- Ten feet without council approval. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Clermont
- no rule, documents checkedFlorida sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The only height in the fence chapter is the five foot floor that makes a fence a legal fence for holding livestock, which is a minimum for farm land and not a cap for a yard. The permit statute names no height either. Height comes from city and county ordinance. Fla. Stat. ch. 588Florida · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Clermont?
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Clermont answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Clermont gives its planning and development services department three grounds to refuse a fence permit outright: that the fence would obstruct visibility, that it would impede fire or police protection, or that it would seriously inhibit the free flow of light and air. The third is the unusual one, since most codes handle light and air through setbacks rather than as a reason to deny a fence. Temporary construction fencing is exempt from the section but still needs a temporary structure permit, and no utility easement may be enclosed unless access is provided so that no fence has to be cut or wall removed.
No building permit shall be issued for any fence or wall when it is determined by the planning and development services department that such fence or wall would obstruct visibility, would impede fire or police protection, or would seriously inhibit the free flow of light and air.
Also on permits in Clermont
- set in state lawFlorida runs one building code for the whole state and makes a permit the default for building work. The statute itself says nothing about fences. It does force a local government to skip the permit for work on a single family home worth under $7,500. The fence exemption by height is in the Florida Building Code, not in the statute. Fla. Stat. 553.79(1)(a)Florida · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Clermont
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Florida answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Florida requires a pool barrier at least four feet high, measured on the outside. The same section bars gaps or footholds that let a small child get under, through or over it. The barrier has to ring the pool itself and has to be separate from a yard fence, unless that yard fence runs along the pool and meets the same rules. Gates swing away from the pool and latch on their own.
This one is Florida law, not Clermont law. All Florida findings
The barrier must be at least 4 feet high on the outside.
4 ftresidential swimming pool barrier, measured on the outside
Spite fence laws in Clermont
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Clermont law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Florida has no spite fence law. The fence chapter sets no height that sets anything off and no rule about why a fence went up. Chapter 823, the public nuisance chapter, runs from bonfires to abandoned boats and never reaches a fence built to annoy a neighbor. A claim in Florida rests on common law nuisance instead, which is judge made rather than written by the legislature.
This one is Florida law, not Clermont law. All Florida findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Fla. Stat. ch. 588The Florida Senate
- Fla. Stat. ch. 823The Florida Senate
How fence height is measured in Clermont
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Clermont answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Clermont leaves decorative columns and pillars out of the height reading, allowing them a foot above the maximum for the fence or wall they stand in. The allowance is stated in the same subsection as the heights themselves and carries no spacing or width condition, which is unusual among Florida cities that generally limit how much of the run may be column.
Decorative columns and pillars may extend up to one foot above the maximum fence or wall height.
1 ftheight a decorative column may add
Also on how height is measured in Clermont
- set in state lawFlorida answers the measuring question outright in its oldest fence section. A general fence stands at least five feet and keeps its gaps under four inches for the first two feet up from the ground. Where the fence is built with a trench beside it, those five feet run from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the fence. A bottom point and a top point, both named, which is the part most state fence rules leave out. The rule is about holding livestock. A yard fence in a Florida city is sized by local land development rules adopted under section 163.3202, and those rules carry their own way of measuring. Fla. Stat. 588.01Florida · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Clermont
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Clermont answers this, but the answer changes depending on the class of the road and whether the fence would obstruct visibility.
Clermont keeps fences away from an intersection by distance rather than by lowering them. No wall or fence is permitted on a local road corner lot within thirty feet of the intersecting street rights of way, or within fifty feet on a collector or arterial road, and the prohibition is conditioned on the fence actually obstructing traffic visibility rather than applying flatly.
No walls or fences shall be permitted on local road corner lots within 30 feet of intersecting street rights-of-way and lots on collector and arterial roads within 50 feet of intersecting street rights-of-way if such a fence will obstruct traffic visibility.
The answer turns on the class of the road and whether the fence would obstruct visibility.
- a corner lot on a local road
- Nothing within thirty feet of the intersecting rights of way. 30 ft
- a lot on a collector or arterial road
- Fifty feet. 50 ft
Also on corner visibility in Clermont
- set in state lawFlorida has a state rule about blocking a driver from seeing what is coming, and it is written about signs. Chapter 479 bans a sign on the inside of a curve, or placed any way that could keep road users from seeing approaching vehicles, next to a state highway or a federal aid primary road. Section 337.406 adds that using a state road right of way in a way that gets in the way of traffic is unlawful. Neither one draws a triangle on a corner lot. That is left to local land development rules. Fla. Stat. 479.11Florida · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Clermont
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Clermont answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Clermont folds the retaining wall into the ordinary fence heights, naming it alongside fences and walls in the four and six foot limits, so a retaining wall in front of the building line is held to four feet like anything else. It then adds a requirement of its own for walls generally: a single wall or a tiered wall system has to leave at least five feet for landscaping in front of it, on ground no steeper than ten percent, so the wall cannot be built hard against the boundary of the space it retains.
Single walls and tiered wall systems must provide a minimum of five feet for landscaping in front of the wall. The five-foot landscape area shall not exceed ten percent grade.
5 ftlandscaping strip required in front of a wall
Also on retaining walls in Clermont
- set in state lawFlorida statute names a wall that holds back earth in one place, and it is about how many permits a town can charge for. When one wall runs across more than one lot, the local government has to issue a single permit for the whole job and cannot demand one for each lot the wall crosses. The rule is written for houses, duplexes and townhouses. It sets no height and it does not say how the wall has to be built. Fla. Stat. 553.79(1)(i)Florida · Statute
- left to the townThe height at which a wall that holds back earth needs a permit is not in Florida statute. It is in the Florida Building Code, which the Florida Building Commission rewrites every three years from the newest International Building Code and International Residential Code. Once the commission adopts it, that code applies across the state with no vote by any city or county, and a local government may only make it stricter. Fla. Stat. 553.73(7)(a)Florida · Statute
Fence materials allowed in Clermont
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Clermont answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Clermont names four acceptable material families: rot and termite resistive wood, wood chemically pressure treated against rot and termites, noncorrosive metal or galvanized wire fabric of eleven gauge on steel posts, and ornamental iron, concrete or masonry. Slatting of plastic or other material may not be pushed into a chain link fence, and barbed wire, razor wire and similar material are barred from residential and commercial districts. A wall has to carry a finished top or cap block, and any wall visible from a right of way or a neighbor has to be finished in stucco, split face block, brick, stone or something else that disguises the concrete.
Noncorrosive metal or galvanized wire fabric of 11 gauge mounted on steel posts.
Also on materials in Clermont
- set in state lawFlorida describes its legal fence by the wire it uses. The fence stands at least three feet tall with three or more strands of barbed or other soft wire on supports no more than twenty feet apart. Battens let the supports stand farther apart, and an electric fence built with high tensile wire gets the widest spacing of all. Fla. Stat. 588.011Florida · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Clermont
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Florida answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Florida sets a legal fence at three feet high, made of barbed or other soft wire, with at least three strands pulled tight on posts, trees or other supports no more than twenty feet apart. With battens the supports may stand up to sixty feet apart for a plain fence and one hundred fifty feet for an electric one built with high tensile wire. Any other material that meets about the same specs counts, and gates are built to the same standard.
This one is Florida law, not Clermont law. All Florida findings
Any fence or enclosure at least 3 feet in height made of barbed or other soft wire consisting of not less than three strands of wire stretched securely on posts, trees, or other supports, standing not more than 20 feet apart
3 ftheight of a legal fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Clermont
- set in state lawFlorida runs one livestock law over the whole state, and holding the animals in is the owner's job. An owner who lets livestock run loose or stray onto a public road pays for all the injury and property damage that follows. Section 588.25 leaves county laws in place where they already require livestock to be penned, and fills the gap where they do not. Fla. Stat. 588.15Florida · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, of which 1 was published by Clermont itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- The Florida Senate2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 588, Legal Fences and Livestock at Large
- The Florida Senate2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 704, Easements
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 553, Part IV, Florida Building Code
- City of ClermontCode of Ordinances, Land Development Code, Chapter 125 Zoning, Article V, Section 125-521, Fences and walls
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 515, Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act
- The Florida Senate2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 823, Public Nuisances
- The Florida Senate2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 479, Outdoor Advertising, Section 479.11, Specified signs prohibited
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 553, Part IV, Florida Building Code
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 553, Part IV, Florida Building Code
- Florida LegislatureThe 2025 Florida Statutes, Title XLV, Chapter 588, Legal Fences and Livestock at Large
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 Clermont publishes, plus the Florida rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Florida 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