Fence laws in Evansville, Indiana
What the Evansville municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Evansville sets no rule of its own, the Indiana rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Evansville, Indiana, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Indiana splits a fence on the line by length, not in half.
- How tall
- Evansville gives three figures and they apply in required yard setbacks, and the answer turns on the yard, the kind of property and whether the lot is a corner. The figure is 4 feet, for fence in a required front yard.
- Permits
- Indiana has one building and fire safety code for the whole state, written by the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission.
- Pool barriers
- Indiana puts this on the store, not on the pool owner, which no other state in this record does. The figure is 48 inches, for wall height at which an above ground pool must be sold with a removable or locking ladder. It reaches the store selling an above ground pool for a home, not the owner of a pool already put up only.
- Spite fences
- Indiana has a spite fence law with a chapter to itself. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a maliciously built fence is considered a nuisance.
- Measured from what
- Evansville leaves the measuring rule to the local legislative body that adopts the zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- The whole of the Evansville corner rule is a single clause inside the height list: three feet in all required front yards on corner lots, and four feet in all other required front yards, and the answer turns on whether the lot is a corner. The figure is 3 feet, for fence in a corner lot front yard.
- Retaining walls
- Evansville leaves retaining walls to the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, whose 2020 Indiana Residential Code at 675 IAC 14-4.4 adopts the 2018 International Residential Code by reference. It reaches one and two family homes only.
- Materials
- Indiana describes a lawful fence on the line by type instead of banning any material. It reaches fences on the line between two owners only.
- Livestock
- Indiana puts no number on a lawful fence at all.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Evansville?
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Indiana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Indiana splits a fence on the line by length, not in half. Each owner pays for the stretch of fence that runs along their own part of the line, and that holds whether the owner owns the land outright or holds it for life. Since 2003 the rule reaches only fences where at least one of the two properties is farm land. An owner who will not pay gets twenty days notice, and after that the township trustee can build it and charge for it.
This one is Indiana law, not Evansville law. All Indiana findings
A partition fence shall be built, rebuilt, and kept in repair at the cost of the property owners whose properties are enclosed or separated by the fences proportionately according to the number of rods or proportion of the fence the property owner owns along the line of the fence, whether the property owner’s title is a fee simple or a life estate.
Also on fences on the property line in Evansville
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence section says nothing about the boundary itself. It states heights along a side or rear lot line, which implies a fence may stand on the line, but it never says so, never asks for the adjoining owner to consent, sets no distance from the line, gives no rule about which way the finished side faces and does not allocate the cost or the upkeep of a shared fence. The accessory structures section nearby is more specific about position, requiring a residential accessory structure in a rear or side yard to sit at least two feet from any lot line and barring any structure from an easement or from the right of entry of a regulated drain, but neither of those provisions is written about a fence. 18.130.060, Fences, walls and hedgesEvansville · Zoning code
How tall can a fence be in Evansville?
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Evansville answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the kind of property and whether the lot is a corner.
Evansville gives three figures and they apply in required yard setbacks. Four feet in a required front yard, or three where the lot is a corner. Six feet along a side or rear lot line of residential property. Eight feet along a side or rear lot line of nonresidential property. Hedges are governed by the same sentence as fences and walls, so a planted screen is held to the same numbers. Two other figures sit outside that. A six foot impassable fence has to surround every swimming pool, its accessories and its entries, and the rule reaches any pool over two feet deep at any point while expressly not reaching a lake. And a junkyard, salvage yard, storage yard, outside storage area, commercial vehicle or equipment parking lot, scrap yard or reduction operation has to be completely enclosed by an opaque fence of at least eight feet.
The height of fences, walls, or hedges in required yard setbacks may not exceed the following:
18.130.060(A), with (B) and (C)
The answer turns on the yard, the kind of property and whether the lot is a corner.
- a required front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a residential side or rear lot line
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a nonresidential side or rear lot line
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a swimming pool over two feet deep
- A six foot impassable fence round it. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Evansville
- no rule, documents checkedIndiana sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The six foot figure in state law is what turns a spite fence into a nuisance case, not a cap on height. The fences article covers fencing groups, fences on the line and spite fences, and the statewide building code does not reach fences at all. Height comes from local zoning. IC 32-26Indiana · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Evansville?
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Indiana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Indiana has one building and fire safety code for the whole state, written by the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission. The commission made the 2018 International Residential Code the Indiana Residential Code. Indiana cut out the part of that model code listing work that needs no permit and put a section on additions and repairs there instead, so the familiar fence exemption is not part of Indiana law. A fence permit is a city or county matter.
This one is Indiana law, not Evansville law. All Indiana findings
Except as provided in section 3.5 of this chapter, the commission shall adopt rules under IC 4-22-2 to adopt a statewide code of fire safety laws and building laws.
Pool fence requirements in Evansville
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Indiana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Indiana puts this on the store, not on the pool owner, which no other state in this record does. A store selling an above ground pool with walls at least forty eight inches high has to sell it with a ladder or steps that either come off or lock. The pool wall is the barrier and the ladder is the gate. The rule covers the sale, so it says nothing about a pool already standing in a yard, and nothing else in Indiana law sets a fence height around one.
This one is Indiana law, not Evansville law. All Indiana findings
A pool retailer who sells an above ground swimming pool that has walls that are at least forty-eight (48) inches high shall ensure that the above ground swimming pool is sold with an access ladder or steps that may be: (1) removed; or (2) secured and locked; when the above ground swimming pool is not in use.
48 inwall height at which an above ground pool must be sold with a removable or locking ladder
Spite fence laws in Evansville
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Indiana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Indiana has a spite fence law with a chapter to itself. A fence, or anything built like one, that goes over six feet for no reason and was put up or kept up to annoy a neighbor counts as a nuisance. The neighbor can sue for money, ask a court to have it taken down, and use the other remedies a court has for a nuisance.
This one is Indiana law, not Evansville law. All Indiana findings
A structure in the nature of a fence unnecessarily exceeding six (6) feet in height, maliciously: (1) erected; or (2) maintained; for the purpose of annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property, is considered a nuisance.
6 ftheight above which a maliciously built fence is considered a nuisance
How fence height is measured in Evansville
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Evansville does not set this. It leaves it to the local legislative body that adopts the zoning ordinance.
Indiana never says where a fence height starts. The zoning law lets the local council set the place, height, area and size of a structure, and leaves the details to that council. State law does print fence heights: four feet for a picket fence on the line, four and a half feet for a straight rail fence, five feet for a worm rail fence, and anything over six feet for a spite fence. Not one of them says whether those feet are read from bare dirt or from a finished yard.
This one is Indiana law, not Evansville law. All Indiana findings
requirements for structures, such as location, height, area, bulk, and floor space;
The code hands this to the local legislative body that adopts the zoning ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Evansville
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Evansville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the lot is a corner.
The whole of the Evansville corner rule is a single clause inside the height list: three feet in all required front yards on corner lots, and four feet in all other required front yards. There is no sight triangle in the chapter, no distance from the intersection, no height band above the road and no separate treatment for a hedge or a tree, so the one foot difference does all the work. It applies to the required front yard of a corner lot, which in Evansville means both street frontages get a front yard setback where the lot is bounded on two opposite sides by streets. Elsewhere in the chapter a corner lot has its own minimum side yard on the street side, ten feet in the residential districts, which pushes a side yard fence back from the second street without lowering it.
Three feet in all required front yards on corner lots, and four feet in all other required front yards;
18.130.060(A)(1), with 18.130.010 Table A
The answer turns on whether the lot is a corner.
- a corner lot front yard
- Three feet. 3 ft
- any other front yard
- Four feet.
- a sight triangle
- The chapter states none.
Also on corner visibility in Evansville
- set in state lawIndiana really does set a corner visibility rule in state law, and it sits in the property title rather than a zoning one. A hedge or live fence along a highway has to be cut to five feet once a year. Where one meets a highway crossing, a bend where the view may be blocked, or railroad land, it has to be held at five feet all year. That reaches one hundred feet from the crossing, or fifty feet for other growth. The chapter skips crossings inside a city or town, skips a solid building on a corner, and for hedges reaches only where a state highway crosses another state, county or township road. IC 32-26-4-1Indiana · Statute
Retaining wall rules in Evansville
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Evansville does not set this. It leaves it to the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, whose 2020 Indiana Residential Code at 675 IAC 14-4.4 adopts the 2018 International Residential Code by reference.
Indiana law prints no rule about a wall that holds back dirt. It tells the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission to write one building and fire safety code for the whole state instead, and the commission did. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code adopts the 2018 International Residential Code, so the rules for such a wall come from that model code.
This one is Indiana law, not Evansville law. All Indiana findings
Except as provided in section 3.5 of this chapter, the commission shall adopt rules under IC 4-22-2 to adopt a statewide code of fire safety laws and building laws.
The code hands this to the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, whose 2020 Indiana Residential Code at 675 IAC 14-4.4 adopts the 2018 International Residential Code by reference, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Evansville
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Indiana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Indiana describes a lawful fence on the line by type instead of banning any material. It has to be tight and strong enough to hold cattle, hogs, horses, mules and sheep. The list that follows is board and wire, plain wire, board, picket, rail and worm rail fences, each at its own height.
This one is Indiana law, not Evansville law. All Indiana findings
A lawful partition fence is any one (1) of the following that is sufficiently tight and strong to hold cattle, hogs, horses, mules, and sheep:
Also on materials in Evansville
- no rule, documents checkedSection 18.130.060 names no permitted material and no prohibited one. Barbed wire, razor wire, electrified fencing, chain link, scrap material and plywood all go unmentioned, and nothing in the section says which side of a fence has to be finished or what it may be built from. The only material-adjacent requirement in the whole section is about opacity rather than substance, and it applies to a specific kind of site: a junkyard, salvage yard, storage yard, outside storage area, commercial vehicle or equipment parking lot, scrap yard or reduction operation has to be enclosed by an opaque fence of at least eight feet, and that requirement is mandatory for a storage area holding inoperable vehicles or equipment where it abuts a residential area or is visible from a public thoroughfare. A pool fence has to be impassable, which is the one word describing a quality of the fence anywhere in the section. 18.130.060, Fences, walls and hedgesEvansville · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Evansville
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Indiana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Indiana puts no number on a lawful fence at all. No height, no wire count, no post spacing. The statute says a lawful fence is whatever farmers normally use to close in land, and it names a cattle guard, a hedge and a ditch as examples. It also counts anything else that people who know fences will testify is enough. With no number written down, a court decides it case by case.
This one is Indiana law, not Evansville law. All Indiana findings
As used in this chapter, "lawful fence" means any structure typically used by husbandmen for the enclosure of property.
Also on agricultural fencing in Evansville
- depends, see the pageIndiana lets each county flip the rule township by township. Where the county commissioners have passed an order letting animals roam loose in unfenced public areas, the landowner has to have had a lawful fence to collect for damage. Where there is no such order, the landowner collects without proving any fence. Section 32-26-2-14 cuts the other way: if a court finds the broken fence was not a lawful fence, the animal goes back to its owner and the landowner pays that owner costs and damages. IC 32-26-2-2Indiana · Statute
Documents behind this page
6 documents, of which 1 was published by Evansville itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Indiana General AssemblyIndiana Code, Title 32, Article 26, Chapter 9, Partition Fences, Section 3
- City of EvansvilleEvansville Municipal Code, Chapter 18.130, Development Standards, Section 18.130.060, Fences, walls and hedges
- Indiana General AssemblyIndiana Code, Title 22, Article 13, Chapter 2, Section 2
- Indiana General AssemblyIndiana Code, Title 22, Article 12, Chapter 10, Above Ground Swimming Pools at Class 2 Structures
- Indiana General AssemblyIndiana Code, Title 36, Article 7, Chapter 4, Section 601, Zoning ordinance; powers and duties of legislative body
- Indiana General AssemblyIndiana Code 2025, Title 32, Article 26, Chapter 9, Partition Fences
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 Evansville publishes, plus the Indiana rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Indiana 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