Fence laws in Idaho
What Idaho statutes and statewide codes say about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line.
Fence laws in Idaho, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- When two Idaho neighbors share one enclosure and one of them needs a partition fence, the other has to build half of it once told in writing.
- How tall
- Idaho sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- Idaho runs a real statewide residential code.
- Pool barriers
- Idaho sets the pool barrier height by the size of the pool, which almost no other state does, and the answer turns on the surface area of the pool. The figure is 4 feet, for barrier around a public pool under 1,800 square feet. It reaches public pools, not a pool serving a single home only.
- Spite fences
- Idaho has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Idaho names the ground in its lawful fence section. The figure is 20 inches, for bottom board, rail, pole or wire of a lawful fence, measured above the ground. It reaches a lawful fence under the state fence law only.
- Corner lots
- Idaho names fences by name, but only where they cross onto the road. It reaches a highway or public right of way run by a county or highway district only.
- Retaining walls
- Idaho leaves retaining walls to the 2018 International Residential Code, adopted by the Idaho building code board. It reaches one and two family homes only.
- Materials
- Idaho gives barbed wire its own chapter inside the fence title, and what it controls is loose wire rather than whether a fence may use it.
- Livestock
- Idaho is an open range state.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Idaho?
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
When two Idaho neighbors share one enclosure and one of them needs a partition fence, the other has to build half of it once told in writing. The fence goes on the property line or as near it as practical. If the notified party does not finish that half within six months of the notice, the party who gave notice may build the whole fence, collect half the cost by law, and hold a lien on the other tract. A lien is a claim against the land that stays until the money is paid.
And if, after notice given in writing, either party fails to erect and complete, within six (6) months time thereafter, one-half (1/2) of such fence, the party giving the notice may proceed to erect the entire partition fence and collect by law one-half the costs of such fence from the other party, and he has a lien upon the land thus partitioned.
Also on fences on the property line in Idaho
- set in state lawIdaho splits a line fence by a plain rule. Standing on his own land and facing the neighbor, each owner takes the half on his left, builds it and keeps it in repair. The two may agree to a different split. An owner who leaves his land unfenced is not held to the duty. A party who makes the fence stronger on his own pays that extra cost alone, unless the neighbor later pastures hogs, sheep or goats against it. Idaho Code 35-104Idaho · Statute
- set in state lawNeighbors who cannot agree on the split go to court. Either party may ask a magistrate judge, on five days notice, to appoint three viewers. The viewers may question witnesses under oath and look at the property, then set the split in writing. That written decision is filed with the county recorder and binds both sides. Idaho Code 35-106Idaho · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Idaho?
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Idaho law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Idaho sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The heights that do appear in state law are floors for a lawful fence in livestock country, not caps on a yard fence. Section 35-101 sets a floor of four and one half feet, and section 35-102 gives board, rail and wire heights for each kind of fence. A limit on a yard fence comes from city and county zoning.
Documents read before writing that:
- Idaho Code 35-101Idaho State Legislature
- Idaho Code 35-102Idaho State Legislature
Do I need a permit for a fence in Idaho?
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Idaho runs a real statewide residential code. Section 39-4109 makes the version of the International Residential Code picked by the Idaho building code board, plus that board's own changes, the Idaho residential code. The board moves to a newer version through negotiated rulemaking, and the version already picked stays in force until it does.
The version of the International Residential Code adopted by the Idaho building code board, together with the amendments, revisions or modifications adopted by the Idaho building code board through the negotiated rulemaking process
Also on permits in Idaho
- set in state lawIdaho keeps farm buildings outside the building code. Barns, livestock shelters, poultry buildings, greenhouses, grain silos, stables and like storage buildings are exempt. Places people live in, plants where farm products get processed, and buildings open to public use are not. A county may still issue a farm building permit, but only to check road setbacks and utility easements, and only at what it actually costs. Idaho Code 39-4116Idaho · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Idaho
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Idaho answers this, but the answer changes depending on the surface area of the pool.
Idaho sets the pool barrier height by the size of the pool, which almost no other state does. A public pool under one thousand eight hundred square feet needs a four foot barrier around it. A public pool that size or bigger needs eight feet, the tallest figure in this record. Both rules reach public pools only, so a pool behind a house is outside them and falls to the local building code instead.
A fence or barrier a minimum of eight (8) feet high to exclude unauthorized persons from the pool area must enclose each public pool with one thousand eight hundred (1,800) square feet of surface area, or greater.
The answer turns on the surface area of the pool.
- a public pool with less than 1,800 square feet of surface area
- The barrier around it stands at least four feet high and keeps people out of the pool area. 4 ft
- a public pool with 1,800 square feet of surface area or more
- The barrier doubles to at least eight feet, the tallest pool barrier figure in this record. 8 ft
Spite fence laws in Idaho
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Idaho law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Idaho has no spite fence law. The fences chapter runs from section 35-101 through 35-112 and covers lawful fence specs, partition fences, cost splits, viewers, surveys and gates, with nothing about spite and no height that sets anything off. The general nuisance chapter defines public and private nuisance without naming fences at all.
Documents read before writing that:
- Idaho Code tit. 35, ch. 1Idaho State Legislature
- Idaho Code tit. 52, ch. 1Idaho State Legislature
- Idaho Code 52-101Idaho State Legislature
How fence height is measured in Idaho
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Idaho names the ground in its lawful fence section. A lawful fence has to be at least four and one half feet high, and the bottom board, rail, pole or wire has to sit no more than twenty inches above the ground. The bottom of the fence is tied to the ground in plain words. The four and one half feet is still a bare number, so a fence running down a slope is left open. That section is about keeping stock in. A yard fence is sized under the Local Land Use Planning Act, where section 67-6511 lets the local governing board set height rules district by district.
A lawful fence, except as hereinafter provided, must be not less than four and one-half (4 1/2) feet high, and the bottom board, rail, pole or wire must not be more than twenty (20") inches above the ground, and the space between the top and bottom board, rail, pole or wire must be well divided.
20 inbottom board, rail, pole or wire of a lawful fence, measured above the ground
Fence rules for corner lots in Idaho
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Idaho names fences by name, but only where they cross onto the road. Title 40, chapter 23 lets a county or highway district order the removal of anything pushing onto a highway or public right of way, and it lists gates, fences and buildings as examples. If the thing actually blocks the road or makes it unsafe, the district may take it out with no notice at all. Nothing in the chapter measures a wedge at an intersection or caps a fence height near a corner, so the triangle itself comes from city and county ordinances under Title 67, chapter 65.
If any highway or public right-of-way under the jurisdiction of a county or highway district is encroached upon by gates, fences, buildings, or otherwise, the appropriate county or highway district may require the encroachment to be removed.
Retaining wall rules in Idaho
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Idaho does not set this. It leaves it to the 2018 International Residential Code, adopted by the Idaho building code board.
Idaho prints no retaining wall rule in its own text. The state building code rules adopt Parts I, II, III and IX of the 2018 International Residential Code for one and two family homes, then list every change Idaho makes to it. Those changes reach the pool depth line and add flag poles to the list of work that needs no permit. They leave the model code's retaining wall line alone, so the answer for a wall that holds back earth is whatever the model code says.
International Residential Code, 2018 Edition. Parts I, II, III, and IX of the 2018 Edition for one (1)- and two (2)- family dwellings, with the following amendments:
The code hands this to the 2018 International Residential Code, adopted by the Idaho building code board, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Idaho
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Idaho gives barbed wire its own chapter inside the fence title, and what it controls is loose wire rather than whether a fence may use it. Leaving barbed wire down or strewn on the ground where livestock can be hurt on it is against the law.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation, who, having barbed wire or barbed wire fences, to allow the same to be left down or strewn around on the ground in such a manner that livestock are liable to be injured thereby
Livestock and boundary fence law in Idaho
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Idaho answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Idaho is an open range state. A person who owns or controls a farm animal grazing on open range has no duty to keep it off a highway crossing that range, and does not pay when a vehicle hits it. Open range means unfenced land outside cities, villages and herd districts where livestock graze by custom, license, lease or permit. So keeping livestock out falls to the neighboring land rather than to the stock owner.
No person owning, or controlling the possession of, any domestic animal running on open range, shall have the duty to keep such animal off any highway on such range, and shall not be liable for damage to any vehicle or for injury to any person riding therein, caused by a collision between the vehicle and the animal.
Also on agricultural fencing in Idaho
- set in state lawIdaho defines the lawful fence that the open range and herd district rules lean on. It has to stand at least four and one half feet high. The bottom board, rail, pole or wire sits no more than twenty inches off the ground, and the space between top and bottom has to be well divided. Idaho Code 35-101Idaho · Statute
- set in state lawIdaho spells out the wire version of a lawful fence. Posts stand no more than twenty four feet apart, with three solid stays spaced evenly between them. The fence takes at least three barbed wires, or four coiled spring wires of number nine gauge or heavier, fastened to every post and stay. Idaho Code 35-102Idaho · Statute
- set in state lawA majority of the property owners in an area can petition the county commissioners for a herd district, which bars the named livestock from running loose inside it. Everything outside those districts, and outside cities and villages, stays open range. Taxable property owners inside a herd district pay to build and keep up the legal fences and cattle guards along the border with open range. Idaho Code 25-2402(3)Idaho · Statute
Cities in Idaho
7 cities with their own fence rules read from the city’s own code. Where a city says nothing on a topic, the state answer above is what applies.
Documents behind this page
16 documents, each read on the date shown. Nothing on this page rests on a summary of one.
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-103, Erection of partition fences
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-104, Care of fences by adjoining owners
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-106, Disagreement between owners, viewers
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-101, Lawful fences in general
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Section 35-102, Lawful fences described
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 39, Chapter 41, Section 39-4109, Application of codes
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 39, Chapter 41, Section 39-4116
- Idaho Office of the Administrative Rules CoordinatorIDAPA 16.02.14, Construction and Operation of Public Swimming Pools, Section 300, Fence and Barriers
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 1, Fences, full section list
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 52, Chapter 1, Nuisances in General, full section list
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 52, Chapter 1, Section 52-101, Nuisance defined
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 40, Chapter 23, Section 40-2319, Encroachments, removal, notice, penalty for failure to remove, removal by county or highway district, abatement
- Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, Idaho Building Code BoardIdaho Administrative Code, IDAPA 24.39.30, Rules of Building Safety (Building Code Rules)
- Idaho LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 3, Barbed Wire
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 25, Chapter 21, Section 25-2118, Animals on open range, no duty to keep from highway
- Idaho State LegislatureIdaho Statutes, Title 25, Chapter 24, Section 25-2402, Petition and requirements for district
What this page does not cover
Everything above is state law. Fence height, setback, corner visibility and materials are set by city and county ordinance in almost every state, and a local rule can be far stricter than the statewide default. A parcel can also carry an easement, an overlay district, a fire hazard zone or a recorded HOA restriction, none of which appear in a statute.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, statutes are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean