Fence laws in Margate, Florida
What the Margate municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Margate sets no rule of its own, the Florida rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Margate, Florida, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A Margate gate has to operate entirely on the property it is installed on unless an easement allows otherwise, and no gate may operate on a right of way at all. The figure is 5 feet, for setback for a perimeter fence from a right of way.
- How tall
- Six feet is the Margate limit for a single family attached or detached home, rising to eight along a side or rear line that faces a nonresidential use directly, across an alley, or across a canal right of way under eighty feet wide, and the answer turns on the housing type, the setback, and what the line faces. The figure is 6 feet, for wall or fence at a single family home.
- Permits
- Margate treats the two kinds of easement differently, and the answer turns on which kind of easement the fence sits in.
- Pool barriers
- Every Margate pool is surrounded by a safety barrier, either a screened patio or an approved wall or fence material, enclosing the pool or the premises entirely so nobody can walk in. The figure is 7.5 feet, for distance a pool keeps from a side lot line.
- Spite fences
- Margate has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Margate reads every wall and fence from the grade of the property it stands on, stated in the same sentence that introduces the height table, so the limits and the datum arrive together.
- Corner lots
- Florida has a state rule about blocking a driver from seeing what is coming, and it is written about signs. It reaches signs next to a state highway, an interstate or a federal aid primary road only.
- 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
- A Margate fence may be aluminum, chain link, stuccoed block or precast concrete, molded polyethylene composite, PVC, weather proofed wood, or something the Development Services Director finds similar, and the answer turns on the district, the development, and in some cases the individual lot.
- 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 Margate?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Margate answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Margate gate has to operate entirely on the property it is installed on unless an easement allows otherwise, and no gate may operate on a right of way at all. A perimeter fence on land developed after the code was adopted sits at least five feet back from any adjacent right of way or access easement, with lots in existing residential subdivisions exempt. A hedge is planted no closer than two feet inside the line and kept from growing past it. The finished side faces out, with an exception where an existing fence or wall next door makes that impossible.
Gate operation. Gates must operate entirely on the property in which they are installed unless there is an easement that allows access to the adjoining property. Gates are prohibited from operating on any right-of-way.
40.702(A)(1)b, d and e, and (B)(2)
5 ftsetback for a perimeter fence from a right of way
Also on fences on the property line in Margate
- 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 Margate?
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Margate answers this, but the answer changes depending on the housing type, the setback, and what the line faces.
Six feet is the Margate limit for a single family attached or detached home, rising to eight along a side or rear line that faces a nonresidential use directly, across an alley, or across a canal right of way under eighty feet wide. Multifamily gets four feet in the front setback and six elsewhere, with the same eight foot allowance against nonresidential land. Nonresidential property gets eight feet, and where it is developed or substantially improved against a residential use it has to build an eight foot wall of stuccoed block or precast concrete along that line. A hedge may reach six feet away from a front or corner setback, four feet in a multifamily front or corner setback unless it is ninety percent see-through, and ten feet in a side or rear setback facing nonresidential land or a right of way over a hundred feet wide.
A property developed with a permitted residential use may install a wall or fence to a height not to exceed eight (8) feet along any side or rear property line that is adjacent to or separated by a canal right-of-way less than eighty (80) feet in width, or an alley from a nonresidential use.
The answer turns on the housing type, the setback, and what the line faces.
- a single family home
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a residential line facing a nonresidential use
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a multifamily front setback
- Four feet. 4 ft
- nonresidential property
- Eight feet, and a required wall where it abuts housing. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Margate
- 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 Margate?
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Margate answers this, but the answer changes depending on which kind of easement the fence sits in.
Margate treats the two kinds of easement differently. For a recorded utility easement the owner files a notarized affidavit acknowledging that the utility will not be responsible in any way for repairs or replacement, that removal and replacement needed to use the easement is at the owner’s expense, and that the owner takes full responsibility for damage to the utility’s facilities during construction. For a recorded drainage, canal or lake maintenance easement the owner instead has to obtain written permission from the easement holder. A hedge in either one is handled the same way. Where a subdivision has an approved uniform wall plan, no certificate of occupancy issues until the portion of that wall on the developing lot is finished.
When a wall or fence is proposed to be installed in a recorded utility easement the property owner shall provide a notarized affidavit acknowledging that the utility provider will not be responsible in any way for repairs to, or replacement of, any portion of it and that any removal and replacement of this construction necessary for the use of this easement will be done at the property owner’s expense.
The answer turns on which kind of easement the fence sits in.
- a recorded utility easement
- A notarized affidavit taking on every cost and risk.
- a recorded drainage, canal or lake maintenance easement
- Written permission from the easement holder.
Also on permits in Margate
- 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 Margate
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Margate answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every Margate pool is surrounded by a safety barrier, either a screened patio or an approved wall or fence material, enclosing the pool or the premises entirely so nobody can walk in. The pool itself keeps seven and a half feet from any side line and five from the rear, measured from the pool structure, and may not sit in a utility or drainage easement or within five feet of a canal retaining wall or, where there is none, the waterway. Gates carry a positive lock so they close and fasten by themselves, at a height set by the Florida Building Code, and a barrier on a frontage facing a navigable waterway follows that code as well. An above ground pool follows all the same rules.
Swimming pools shall not be located less than seven and one-half (7½) feet from any side and five (5) feet from rear lot line, measured from the pool structure, providing that no pool or pool enclosure shall be placed within a utility or drainage easement, or closer than five (5) feet to any canal retaining wall, or waterway if no such retaining wall exists.
7.5 ftdistance a pool keeps from a side lot line
Also on pool barriers in Margate
- set in state lawFlorida 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. Fla. Stat. 515.29(1)(a)Florida · Statute
Spite fence laws in Margate
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Margate 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 Margate 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 Margate
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Margate answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Margate reads every wall and fence from the grade of the property it stands on, stated in the same sentence that introduces the height table, so the limits and the datum arrive together. The one place the code measures from something else is the vacant lot fence, which is read from ground level or from the level of an existing berm, so a berm there does not add four feet on top.
All walls and fences shall be measured from the grade of the property in which they are located and only installed to the following maximum height limits:
Also on how height is measured in Margate
- 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 Margate
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Florida answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Florida 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.
This one is Florida law, not Margate law. All Florida findings
Which is placed on the inside of a curve or in any manner that may prevent persons using the highway from obtaining an unobstructed view of approaching vehicles and which is adjacent to the right-of-way of any highway on the State Highway System, interstate highway system, or federal-aid primary highway system.
Retaining wall rules in Margate
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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 Margate 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 Margate
- 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 Margate
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Margate answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the development, and in some cases the individual lot.
A Margate fence may be aluminum, chain link, stuccoed block or precast concrete, molded polyethylene composite, PVC, weather proofed wood, or something the Development Services Director finds similar. Barbed, razor and similar wire, broken glass, plywood and sheet metal are prohibited. Chain link is out of the Corridor, Gateway and City Center districts except to secure an active construction site. Subdivision and common development walls have to be uniform in design, material, pattern and color along the whole development, drawn from a list of five. Then the code narrows to individual properties: along eight named stretches of road and on a schedule of lots given by folio number and address, only white PVC privacy fencing of the pictured design may go on the side and rear lines.
Permitted materials. Aluminum, chain link, concrete block covered with stucco or pre-cast concrete, molded polyethylene composite, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), weather proofed wood, or other material deemed similar by the Development Services Director. Barbed, razor or similar type wire, broken glass, plywood and sheet metal are prohibited.
The answer turns on the district, the development, and in some cases the individual lot.
- an ordinary lot
- One of the listed materials, and no wire, glass, plywood or sheet metal.
- the Corridor, Gateway and City Center districts
- No chain link except to secure an active construction site.
- a lot on the named roads or the folio schedule
- White PVC privacy fencing only, on the side and rear lines.
Also on materials in Margate
- 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 Margate
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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 Margate 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 Margate
- 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 Margate 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 MargateCode of Ordinances, Chapter 40 Land Development Code, Article 7, Section 40.702, Fences, Walls 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 Margate 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