Fence laws in Doral, Florida
What the Doral municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Doral sets no rule of its own, the Florida rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Doral, Florida, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Every side of a Doral concrete block wall is stuccoed and painted, and every side of a decorative masonry wall is painted. The figure is 30 days, for time a neighbor has to answer the access request.
- How tall
- Six feet is the flat limit on a Doral residential lot, stated in a single sentence with no split between front and back, and the answer turns on the zoning district, the setback, and what the lot abuts. The figure is 6 feet, for fence or wall in a residential district.
- Permits
- Doral requires a permit for all walls and fences and, in the same sentence, states the two things that can displace the ordinary limits: approval through a public hearing, and a taller screening buffer required at the rear of a double frontage lot under chapter 12 of the Land Development Code.
- 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
- Doral has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Doral measures from the average elevation of the finished building site and spells out the arithmetic rather than leaving it to judgment: elevations are taken along both sides of the fence line at five foot intervals, added, and divided by the number of readings. The figure is 5 feet, for interval between elevation readings along the fence line.
- Corner lots
- Nothing in Doral may stand above two and a half feet inside the safe sight distance triangle, or within ten feet of the edge of a driveway leading to a public right of way, and the answer turns on the functional classification of the through street. The figure is 260 feet, for required visibility to the left at an arterial.
- 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
- Chain link in a Doral residential district is allowed only behind the front building line, with two carve outs: agricultural land in the general use district, and a fence around a residential community maintained by a condominium or homeowners association or a special taxing district, and the answer turns on the district, and how the property is used. The figure is 16 inches, for length of the angle extension carrying barbed wire.
- 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 Doral?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Doral answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every side of a Doral concrete block wall is stuccoed and painted, and every side of a decorative masonry wall is painted. Where the wall goes on a shared property line, the owner has to get consent from the neighbors for access to finish the far side. The code then writes out the fallback in full: proof that the request went by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the address on the most current county tax roll, and came back undeliverable or went unanswered for thirty days. On that showing the far side may be left unfinished. Walls, fences and hedges may otherwise sit on the property line but may not extend past it or past the official right of way line.
If a wall is to be placed on a shared property line, consent for access must be obtained from the adjoining property owners prior to finishing the opposite side of the wall.
30 daystime a neighbor has to answer the access request
Also on fences on the property line in Doral
- 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 Doral?
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Doral answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zoning district, the setback, and what the lot abuts.
Six feet is the flat limit on a Doral residential lot, stated in a single sentence with no split between front and back. The general use district allows six feet of fence and seven of hedge inside a front or side street setback and eight feet elsewhere, with the planning and zoning director able to approve a taller hedge as a windbreak for groves. In the business, office and industrial districts a wire fence may reach eight feet anywhere, while a wall or hedge is held to four feet inside the front or side street setback and eight beyond it. A tennis court fence may reach fourteen feet. Where a residential district abuts another district, the residential owner may build on the common line to whatever that other district allows.
Notwithstanding any provisions in this chapter to the contrary, where a residential district abuts another district, a fence, wall or hedge on the residential district property may be erected, or maintained on the common property line of the height permitted in the abutting district.
74-219, 74-222, 74-223 and 74-224
The answer turns on the zoning district, the setback, and what the lot abuts.
- a residential district
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a front or side street setback in the general use district
- Six feet of fence, seven of hedge. 7 ft
- a wall or hedge in a business, office or industrial front setback
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a tennis court fence meeting accessory use setbacks
- Fourteen feet. 14 ft
Also on fence height in Doral
- 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 Doral?
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Doral answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Doral requires a permit for all walls and fences and, in the same sentence, states the two things that can displace the ordinary limits: approval through a public hearing, and a taller screening buffer required at the rear of a double frontage lot under chapter 12 of the Land Development Code. A chain link fence that was lawful before the current restrictions took effect is expressly kept out of the nonconforming provisions rather than being made nonconforming by them.
Permits shall be required for all walls and fences, and except as may be approved as a result of public hearings, walls, fences, which obscure or obstruct vision, and hedges shall be restricted to the height, location and type as indicated hereinafter
Also on permits in Doral
- 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 Doral
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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 Doral 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 Doral
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Doral 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 Doral 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 Doral
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Doral answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Doral measures from the average elevation of the finished building site and spells out the arithmetic rather than leaving it to judgment: elevations are taken along both sides of the fence line at five foot intervals, added, and divided by the number of readings. Virgin land may not be raised or lowered to change the answer unless the whole site is graded level or brought up to the county flood criteria elevation.
Average elevation shall be determined by taking elevations along both sides of the wall, hedge or fence line, at five-foot intervals and totaling the same and then dividing the total by the number of stations at which the elevations were taken.
5 ftinterval between elevation readings along the fence line
Also on how height is measured in Doral
- 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 Doral
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Doral answers this, but the answer changes depending on the functional classification of the through street.
Nothing in Doral may stand above two and a half feet inside the safe sight distance triangle, or within ten feet of the edge of a driveway leading to a public right of way. The triangle is sized from the class of the through street: two hundred and sixty feet to the left and forty to the right on an arterial with a right of way of eighty feet or more, one hundred and ninety and forty on a collector, and nothing at all on a local street of fifty feet or less, where the triangle lies inside the public right of way. Depth on the minor street is seven feet. Interpreting the table, and waiving it, is done in writing by the director of public works.
Fences, walls, bus shelters or hedges shall not exceed 2.5 feet in height within the safe sight distance triangle, as defined in subsection (b) of this section. The height of fences, walls, bus shelters and hedges shall not exceed 2.5 feet in height within ten feet of the edge of driveway leading to a public right-of-way.
The answer turns on the functional classification of the through street.
- an arterial through street of eighty feet or more
- Two hundred and sixty feet left, forty right. 260 ft
- a collector through street
- One hundred and ninety feet left, forty right. 190 ft
- a local street with a right of way of fifty feet or less
- No triangle, because it lies within the public right of way.
Also on corner visibility in Doral
- 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 Doral
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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 Doral 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 Doral
- 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 Doral
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Doral answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, and how the property is used.
Chain link in a Doral residential district is allowed only behind the front building line, with two carve outs: agricultural land in the general use district, and a fence around a residential community maintained by a condominium or homeowners association or a special taxing district. On commercial property chain link is prohibited unless it is fully screened from the right of way, and on industrial property none of it may be visible from a section or half section roadway. Barbed wire is confined to the business and industrial districts, on an angle extension of no more than sixteen inches atop a fence of at least six feet, no more than three strands, and never projecting over a right of way or over land in different ownership.
Barbed wire fences shall be permitted in the business and industrial districts where such barbed wire is placed on an angle extension of not more than 16 inches on top of walls or fences at least six feet in height. This extension shall contain no more than three strands of barbed wire and shall not extend over official rights-of-way or over property under different ownership.
The answer turns on the district, and how the property is used.
- a residential district
- Chain link only behind the front building line.
- commercial property
- No chain link unless it is fully screened from the right of way.
- the business and industrial districts
- Barbed wire on a sixteen inch angle extension, three strands, above six feet. 16 in
Also on materials in Doral
- 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 Doral
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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 Doral 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 Doral
- 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 Doral 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 DoralLand Development Code, Chapter 74, Article V, Fences, Walls, Docks, Bus Shelters 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 Doral 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