Fence laws in Delray Beach, Florida
What the Delray Beach municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Delray Beach sets no rule of its own, the Florida rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Delray Beach, Florida, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where Delray Beach requires a fence or wall to be landscaped, it also moves the structure two feet back from the property line, and gives the reason in the same sentence: adequate area for the vegetation to mature. The figure is 2 feet, for setback from the line for a landscaped fence or wall.
- How tall
- Delray Beach allows six feet in a required front yard or street side yard, where most Florida cities allow three or four, and eight feet in a required interior side or rear yard, and the answer turns on the yard, and whether the fence creates a sight obstruction. The figure is 6 feet, for wall, fence or hedge in a front or street side yard.
- Permits
- An electric fence in Delray Beach needs an approved site plan showing where it goes and a building permit covering the fence and its electrical components, and the review has to be signed off by the Police Chief and the Fire Marshal or their designees.
- 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
- Delray Beach has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Delray Beach names both the datum and the side.
- Corner lots
- Delray Beach writes its visibility rule as a general prohibition rather than a fixed triangle in the fence section.
- Retaining walls
- Florida statute names a wall that holds back earth in one place, and it is about how many permits a town can charge for. It reaches a house, a duplex or a townhouse only.
- Materials
- No Delray Beach wall, fence or hedge may contain barbs, broken glass, nails or spikes, and none may be electrically charged except under the electric fence rules, and the answer turns on the yard, the material, and how opaque the fence is. The figure is 75 percent, for opacity above which hedging is required.
- 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 Delray Beach?
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Delray Beach answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where Delray Beach requires a fence or wall to be landscaped, it also moves the structure two feet back from the property line, and gives the reason in the same sentence: adequate area for the vegetation to mature. An electric fence carries its own setbacks from the rear and interior side lines, one foot behind a perimeter fence and two feet where that perimeter is less than fully opaque and the land next door is residential. Nothing may be erected in a public right of way or close enough to one to obstruct visibility or interfere with traffic, pedestrians or the provision of services.
Fences and walls which are required to be landscaped shall be set back a minimum of two feet from the property line to provide adequate area for vegetation to mature.
2 ftsetback from the line for a landscaped fence or wall
Also on fences on the property line in Delray Beach
- no rule, documents checkedFlorida 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. Fla. Stat. ch. 588Florida · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Delray Beach?
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Delray Beach answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, and whether the fence creates a sight obstruction.
Delray Beach allows six feet in a required front yard or street side yard, where most Florida cities allow three or four, and eight feet in a required interior side or rear yard. The generosity is conditional on sight lines, because the same section cuts any fence, hedge or wall back to three feet wherever it is found to create a sight obstruction near a right of way, and the corner lot triangles at section 4.6.14(A) apply on top.
Walls, fences, or hedges located in a required front yard or street side yard shall not exceed six feet in height. Walls, fences, or hedges located in a required interior side or rear yard shall not exceed eight feet in height.
The answer turns on the yard, and whether the fence creates a sight obstruction.
- a required front or street side yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a required interior side or rear yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- anywhere found to create a sight obstruction
- Three feet. 3 ft
Also on fence height in Delray Beach
- 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 Delray Beach?
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Delray Beach answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
An electric fence in Delray Beach needs an approved site plan showing where it goes and a building permit covering the fence and its electrical components, and the review has to be signed off by the Police Chief and the Fire Marshal or their designees. After that the fence is treated as an alarm system, registered and charged fees under chapter 112 of the Code of Ordinances. An emergency shut-off has to be reachable by emergency personnel from outside the perimeter, of a type, location and marking both the Police Chief and Fire Marshal approve, and shown on the site plans.
Approval of a site plan illustrating the fence location and issuance of a building permit for the fence and electrical components shall be obtained prior to the installation of an electric fence. Site plan and building permit review shall include approval by the Police Chief and the Fire Marshal or their designee.
Also on permits in Delray Beach
- 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 Delray Beach
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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 Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach
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Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach
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Delray Beach answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Delray Beach names both the datum and the side. Height is measured from the undisturbed, natural grade of the ground adjacent to the exterior of the fence, wall or hedge, so filling the lot does not raise what may be built and the reading is taken from the face the neighbor or the street sees rather than from inside.
For the purpose of this section, height is to be measured from the undisturbed (natural) grade of the ground adjacent to the exterior of the fence, wall or hedge.
Also on how height is measured in Delray Beach
- 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 Delray Beach
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Delray Beach answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Delray Beach writes its visibility rule as a general prohibition rather than a fixed triangle in the fence section. Nothing may be erected in a public right of way, or close to one in a way that obstructs visibility or interferes with the flow of traffic, pedestrian safety or the provision of services, and anything found to create a sight obstruction is held to three feet. The measured triangles for corner lots and points of access sit separately at section 4.6.14(A).
Where deemed to create a sight obstruction, fences, hedges and walls shall be maintained at a height not exceeding three feet. On corner lots and at points of access, additional restrictions requiring provision of adequate sight triangles are provided in Section 4.6.14(A).
Also on corner visibility in Delray Beach
- 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 Delray Beach
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Florida answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Florida 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.
This one is Florida law, not Delray Beach law. All Florida findings
If a retaining wall spans more than one lot or parcel, a local government that issues building permits must issue a permit for a retaining wall for the project as a whole and may not require a building permit for each lot or parcel upon which a retaining wall is installed on the property of a single-family or two-family residential dwelling or a townhouse.
Also on retaining walls in Delray Beach
- 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 Delray Beach
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Delray Beach answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the material, and how opaque the fence is.
No Delray Beach wall, fence or hedge may contain barbs, broken glass, nails or spikes, and none may be electrically charged except under the electric fence rules. Two feet of barbed wire may sit on a fence of six feet or more in a nonresidential district. In a front or street side yard chain link has to be black or green vinyl coated unless it is screened by hedging kept at the full height of the fence, and any fence more than seventy five percent opaque in those yards needs the same full height hedge. A masonry wall in those yards is screened by landscaping kept at half the height of the wall, and the plants have to be a type that reaches that height within two years.
Fencing that is greater than 75 percent opaque and located in front and street side yards shall also be screened by hedging which is to be maintained at the full height of the fence.
The answer turns on the yard, the material, and how opaque the fence is.
- chain link in a front or street side yard
- Black or green vinyl coated, or hedged to the full height of the fence.
- a fence over seventy five percent opaque in those yards
- Hedged to the full height of the fence. 75%
- a nonresidential fence of six feet or more
- Two feet of barbed wire may be added. 2 ft
Also on materials in Delray Beach
- 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 Delray Beach
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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 Delray Beach 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 Delray Beach
- 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 Delray Beach 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
- City of Delray BeachLand Development Regulations, Chapter 4, Article 4.6, Section 4.6.5, Walls, fences, and hedges
- The Florida LegislatureThe 2026 Florida Statutes, Chapter 553, Part IV, Florida Building Code
- 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 Delray Beach 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