Fence laws in Fishers, Indiana
What the Fishers municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Fishers sets no rule of its own, the Indiana rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Fishers, Indiana, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Fences in Fishers may be built directly along a property line, with no consent from the adjoining owner required, so long as they do not encroach into the public right-of-way or into an easement that prohibits fencing, drainage and utility easements being the examples the ordinance gives, and the answer turns on whether the neighbors share the cost of the fence.
- How tall
- Fishers holds a fence in a required primary front yard of a residential district, and in a required front yard of any district except industrial, to four feet, and requires it to be fifty percent open, and the answer turns on the yard, the district, and how open the fence is. The figure is 4 feet, for fence in a primary front yard.
- Permits
- The purpose section of the article says plainly that walls and fences do not require a building permit, while making clear they still have to comply with everything else in the article.
- 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
- Fishers leaves the measuring rule to the local legislative body that adopts the zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- Fishers keeps a band clear rather than capping height, and the answer turns on whether the obstruction is built or planted. The figure is 35 feet, for longer measurement of the triangle leg.
- Retaining walls
- Fishers 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 Fishers?
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Fishers answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the neighbors share the cost of the fence.
Fences in Fishers may be built directly along a property line, with no consent from the adjoining owner required, so long as they do not encroach into the public right-of-way or into an easement that prohibits fencing, drainage and utility easements being the examples the ordinance gives. The good side rule is written the usual way and then given an unusual exemption. Walls and fences are built with the non-structural side facing outward toward the property line, meaning the posts and beams face in. But where a wall or fence sits on a property line and two or more owners share in its expense, that requirement does not apply at all. So paying together buys the right to face the fence whichever way the two owners agree, which is the only place in this set where cost sharing changes a design rule.
Walls and fences shall be constructed with the non-structural (e.g., posts, beams) facing outward (e.g., toward the property line). Walls or fences on a property line in which two (2) or more property owners share in the expense of the wall or fence, shall not be subject to this provision.
The answer turns on whether the neighbors share the cost of the fence.
- a fence one owner builds
- The structural side faces in.
- a shared fence on the line
- The orientation rule does not apply.
- a drainage or utility easement
- No fence in it.
Also on fences on the property line in Fishers
- set in state lawIndiana 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. IC 32-26-9-3Indiana · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Fishers?
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Fishers answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the district, and how open the fence is.
Fishers holds a fence in a required primary front yard of a residential district, and in a required front yard of any district except industrial, to four feet, and requires it to be fifty percent open. A required non-primary front yard on a one or two family lot takes six feet, and the table then offers two ways to get there: opaque, with two trees per ten feet and five shrubs per fifteen feet, or more than fifty percent open, with one tree per ten feet and three shrubs per ten feet. So solidity is paid for in planting. A required or established side or rear yard on a one or two family lot takes six feet with no openness or planting condition, and so does a perimeter wall or fence around a residential subdivision, and a side or rear yard in a mixed use, commercial or non-residential district. A fence enclosing an institutional industrial use may reach eight feet and may be open mesh.
Wall or fence height is measured from the topmost point of the fence to the grade of the ground adjacent to the wall or fence. The following standards shall apply, unless required or permitted in the UDO otherwise:
The answer turns on the yard, the district, and how open the fence is.
- a required primary front yard
- Four feet, half open. 4 ft
- a non-primary front yard on a house lot
- Six feet, paid for in planting or openness. 6 ft
- a side or rear yard
- Six feet, no conditions. 6 ft
- an institutional industrial use
- Eight feet, open mesh allowed. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Fishers
- 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 Fishers?
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Fishers answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The purpose section of the article says plainly that walls and fences do not require a building permit, while making clear they still have to comply with everything else in the article. That is an unusual thing to put in a purpose and intent section, and it settles for a homeowner the first question they are likely to ask. It also means the article is enforced after the fact rather than at a counter, which fits the way the standards are written, as a table of heights with planting and openness conditions rather than as a set of things an official approves. The same section states the aims the standards are meant to serve: visual harmony, protecting adjacent properties from the indiscriminate placement and unsightliness of fences and walls, and the safety, security and privacy of properties.
Walls and fences do not require a building permit , but they must comply with the requirements of this Article.
Also on permits in Fishers
- set in state lawIndiana 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. IC 22-13-2-2Indiana · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Fishers
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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 Fishers 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 Fishers
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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 Fishers 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 Fishers
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Fishers 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 Fishers 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 Fishers
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Fishers answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the obstruction is built or planted.
Fishers keeps a band clear rather than capping height. At every intersection a vision clearance triangle has to stay free of any obstruction to vision between three feet and eight feet above the established street grade. The triangle itself is measured two ways and the larger governs: twenty-five feet from the projected intersection of the right-of-way lines, or thirty-five feet from the back of curb or edge of pavement. At a curb cut the twenty-five foot legs run from the point where the back of curb, or the pavement edge where there is no curb, meets the right-of-way line. Nothing built may enter the triangle at all, with primary and accessory structures, fences and signs named together. Planting is treated differently and by maturity: ground cover, annuals, perennials and similar vegetation may go in the triangle where the plants will not exceed three feet at maturity.
A vision clearance triangle area shall be maintained at every intersection free from any kind of obstruction to vision between the heights of three (3) feet and eight (8) feet above the established street grade.
The answer turns on whether the obstruction is built or planted.
- a fence, sign or structure
- It may not enter the triangle.
- the size of the triangle
- Twenty-five feet from the right-of-way lines, or thirty-five from the curb. 35 ft
- low planting
- Allowed if it will not pass three feet at maturity. 3 ft
Also on corner visibility in Fishers
- 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 Fishers
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Fishers 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 Fishers 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 Fishers
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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 Fishers 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:
Livestock and boundary fence law in Fishers
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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 Fishers 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 Fishers
- 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
8 documents, of which 3 were published by Fishers itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Indiana General AssemblyIndiana Code, Title 32, Article 26, Chapter 9, Partition Fences, Section 3
- City of FishersFishers Unified Development Ordinance, Section 6.18.2, Walls and Fences
- Indiana General AssemblyIndiana Code, Title 22, Article 13, Chapter 2, Section 2
- City of FishersFishers Unified Development Ordinance, Section 6.18.1, Purpose and Intent
- 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
- City of FishersFishers Unified Development Ordinance, Section 6.20.2, Vision Clearance
- 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 Fishers 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