Fence laws in Sunrise, Florida
What the Sunrise municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Sunrise sets no rule of its own, the Florida rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Sunrise, Florida, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A Sunrise fence turns its finished side to the neighboring property or the right of way, and the code adds a rule about the owner’s own lot that most cities leave out: no fence may be built so as to block access between the front and rear yards of a dwelling.
- How tall
- Four feet in a Sunrise residential front yard, and the front yard fence also has to stand at least three feet clear of the sidewalk, and the answer turns on the yard, how far along the side line the fence runs, and whether it is a fence or a hedge. The figure is 4 feet, for fence or wall in a residential front yard.
- Permits
- A Sunrise fence inside a utility or canal easement has to either provide access for maintenance and repair or accept the risk of removal when that work is needed.
- 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
- Sunrise has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Where a Sunrise hedge sits on a berm, the height is not read from the top of the berm but from the predominant grade of the yards around it, and the berm and hedge pattern has to carry on without a break. The figure is 10 feet, for height of the required visual and sound buffer wall.
- Corner lots
- On a Sunrise corner lot nothing may stand more than thirty inches above the surrounding grade within twenty five feet of where the front and side street right of way lines meet, extended. The figure is 30 inches, for height allowed inside the corner triangle.
- 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 Sunrise fence may be wood, but not plywood, or PVC, molded polyethylene composite, decorative metal or a similar material, and the answer turns on the material, and whether the dwelling is single family detached.
- 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 Sunrise?
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Sunrise answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Sunrise fence turns its finished side to the neighboring property or the right of way, and the code adds a rule about the owner’s own lot that most cities leave out: no fence may be built so as to block access between the front and rear yards of a dwelling. Fences and walls are barred from a designated landscape easement shown on an approved site plan unless the site plan approved them, and they may not be built on any part of a berm on the same terms.
No fence shall be constructed so as to prohibit access between the front and rear yards of a dwelling.
16-191(b), (d)(1), (d)(4) and (d)(7)
Also on fences on the property line in Sunrise
- 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 Sunrise?
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Sunrise answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, how far along the side line the fence runs, and whether it is a fence or a hedge.
Four feet in a Sunrise residential front yard, and the front yard fence also has to stand at least three feet clear of the sidewalk. A side yard runs at four feet from the front lot line to the building line and six feet for the rest of its length, and a rear yard gets six. A hedge is held to six feet, or four inside the front yard setback, and may be kept at six feet on top of a berm. The buffer wall between a commercial, office or industrial use and a residential district is the tall one at ten feet.
Front yards: Maximum height of four (4) feet and separated from the sidewalk by at least three (3) feet.
The answer turns on the yard, how far along the side line the fence runs, and whether it is a fence or a hedge.
- a front yard
- Four feet, three feet clear of the sidewalk. 4 ft
- a side yard between the front lot line and the building line
- Four feet. 4 ft
- the rest of a side yard, or a rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a hedge
- Six feet, or four inside the front yard setback. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Sunrise
- 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 Sunrise?
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Sunrise answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Sunrise fence inside a utility or canal easement has to either provide access for maintenance and repair or accept the risk of removal when that work is needed. Where the thing in the easement is a development entrance feature, wall, fence or landscaping, the price is higher: the owner signs a hold harmless agreement with the city so that replacement is not required at all. In a residential development with a landscape buffer or easement, maintaining the land and everything on it falls to the homeowners association.
Any development entrance feature, wall, fence or landscaping built on a utility easement shall require the owner to enter into a hold harmless agreement with the city such that replacement is not required.
16-191(d)(5), (d)(6) and (d)(9)
Also on permits in Sunrise
- 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 Sunrise
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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 Sunrise 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 Sunrise
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Sunrise 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 Sunrise 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 Sunrise
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Sunrise answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a Sunrise hedge sits on a berm, the height is not read from the top of the berm but from the predominant grade of the yards around it, and the berm and hedge pattern has to carry on without a break. Fences and walls get no berm at all unless the site plan specifically approved one. The buffer wall between industry and housing is measured differently again, being set at ten feet by section 16-192 with a required ten foot setback from the sidewalk and a twenty foot landscape buffer where the wall falls short of ten.
If a hedge is constructed on a berm, the maximum height shall be measured from the predominant grade of the adjacent yards and a continuity of berm and hedge pattern shall be maintained.
10 ftheight of the required visual and sound buffer wall
Also on how height is measured in Sunrise
- 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 Sunrise
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Sunrise answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
On a Sunrise corner lot nothing may stand more than thirty inches above the surrounding grade within twenty five feet of where the front and side street right of way lines meet, extended. The same rule catches a hedge grown to that height as a fence built to it, and the hedge subsection says plainly that sight distance restrictions control over every other criterion in the section.
On a corner lot, no fences, walls or hedges shall be erected or maintained to a height exceeding thirty (30) inches above the surrounding grade within twenty-five (25) feet of the intersection of the front and side street right-of-way lines extended.
30 inheight allowed inside the corner triangle
Also on corner visibility in Sunrise
- 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 Sunrise
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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 Sunrise 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 Sunrise
- 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 Sunrise
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Sunrise answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material, and whether the dwelling is single family detached.
A Sunrise fence may be wood, but not plywood, or PVC, molded polyethylene composite, decorative metal or a similar material. Chain link is confined to single family detached dwellings, has to be vinyl coated in green, black or bronze, and may not carry slats, with bare metal and galvanized prohibited. Barbed wire is prohibited on a fence anywhere. The exterior finish or color has to come from the department’s approved fence paint, stain and color palette.
Chain link fences are allowed on single family detached dwellings only. All chain link fences must be vinyl coated with green, black or bronze vinyl coating.
The answer turns on the material, and whether the dwelling is single family detached.
- a single family detached dwelling
- Chain link is allowed, vinyl coated and without slats.
- any other residential property
- No chain link.
- any fence in the city
- No plywood, no barbed wire, and a color from the approved palette.
Also on materials in Sunrise
- 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 Sunrise
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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 Sunrise 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 Sunrise
- 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 Sunrise 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 SunriseLand Development Code, Chapter 16, Article X, Section 16-191, Fences and hedges in residential districts
- 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 Sunrise 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