Fence laws in Noblesville, Indiana
What the Noblesville municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Noblesville sets no rule of its own, the Indiana rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Noblesville, Indiana, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Fences and walls in Noblesville may be permitted in any required yard or along the edge of any yard, which is as permissive as a placement rule gets, and the single condition attached is about sight rather than position: a driveway entrance onto a public or private street may not be shielded by the fence in a way that obstructs the view of a driver coming out of the driveway, and the answer turns on whether the fence would shield a driveway entrance.
- How tall
- A residential open or solid fence, latticework, screen or wall of up to seven feet may stand in a required side or rear yard in Noblesville, and a fence in any front yard is held to four, and the answer turns on the yard, the use, and whether the lot has access to the street. The figure is 7 feet, for residential side or rear fence.
- Permits
- No fence may be installed in Noblesville until a permit is obtained, and the application carries a site plan showing the location of the fence and its setbacks from the property lines.
- 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
- Noblesville leaves the measuring rule to the local legislative body that adopts the zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- The vision corner at a Noblesville corner lot is a triangular space kept free of any kind of obstruction to vision, naming buildings, structures, fences, signs, trees and shrubs together, between two and a half feet and ten feet above the established street grade, and the answer turns on which kinds of street meet at the corner. The figure is 15 feet, for triangle leg at a local intersection.
- Retaining walls
- Noblesville 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
- For non-residential uses Noblesville prohibits five things in one sentence: uncoated chain link fencing, slats in chain link fencing, visible barbed wire, visible razor wire, and concertina coils, and the answer turns on whether the property is residential or not.
- Livestock
- Indiana puts no number on a lawful fence at all.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Noblesville?
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Noblesville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence would shield a driveway entrance.
Fences and walls in Noblesville may be permitted in any required yard or along the edge of any yard, which is as permissive as a placement rule gets, and the single condition attached is about sight rather than position: a driveway entrance onto a public or private street may not be shielded by the fence in a way that obstructs the view of a driver coming out of the driveway. An alley is expressly outside that condition, so a fence may sit tight against an alley entrance. The same sentence appears twice, once for residential uses and once for non-residential. Nothing in the section asks for consent from the adjoining owner, sets a distance from the boundary, says which way the finished side faces, or allocates cost. Retaining walls are expressly excluded from these regulations and handled elsewhere in the ordinance.
They may be permitted in any required yard or along the edge of any yard, providing that driveway entrances onto a public or private street are not shielded by the fence or wall in such a way as to obstruct the view of a driver entering the road from the driveway. This regulation shall not apply to any alley.
Article 9, Part B, fences and walls
The answer turns on whether the fence would shield a driveway entrance.
- any required yard
- A fence is permitted there.
- a driveway onto a street
- The driver view may not be shielded.
- an alley
- The driveway rule does not apply.
Also on fences on the property line in Noblesville
- 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 Noblesville?
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Noblesville answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the use, and whether the lot has access to the street.
A residential open or solid fence, latticework, screen or wall of up to seven feet may stand in a required side or rear yard in Noblesville, and a fence in any front yard is held to four. Seven feet is a foot more than most cities allow behind a house. The same seven feet is available along any yard that abuts a street the lot has no access to, since such a yard is treated as a side or rear yard rather than a front. Non-residential land runs the same four feet at the front, with a ceiling of eight feet elsewhere, or the figure the zoning district sets if that is greater. A corner lot with a strip of homeowners association common land up to fifteen feet wide between it and the street has that strip treated as its front yard, which brings the four foot limit and an open fence requirement with it.
Residential Open or Solid fences, latticework, screens, or walls not more than seven (7) feet in height may be located in the required side or rear yard
Article 9, Part B, Fences and walls for residential uses
The answer turns on the yard, the use, and whether the lot has access to the street.
- a residential side or rear yard
- Seven feet. 7 ft
- any front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a non-residential side or rear yard
- Eight feet, or the district figure if greater. 8 ft
- a street the lot cannot reach
- Treated as a side or rear yard.
Also on fence height in Noblesville
- 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 Noblesville?
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Noblesville answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
No fence may be installed in Noblesville until a permit is obtained, and the application carries a site plan showing the location of the fence and its setbacks from the property lines. The site plan has to include all easements and infrastructure locations, wetlands and floodplains, which is a heavier submission than most cities ask for and puts the burden of finding the easements on the applicant rather than on the reviewer. The requirement is stated twice in identical terms, once in the residential provisions and once in the non-residential ones, so it reaches every fence in the city.
A site plan including the location of the fence and the setbacks from the property lines shall be submitted with the fence application. The site plan shall include all easements and infrastructure locations, wetlands, floodplains, etc. No fences shall be installed until a permit is obtained.
Article 9, Part B, fences and walls
Also on permits in Noblesville
- 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 Noblesville
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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 Noblesville 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 Noblesville
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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 Noblesville 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 Noblesville
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Noblesville 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 Noblesville 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 Noblesville
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Noblesville answers this, but the answer changes depending on which kinds of street meet at the corner.
The vision corner at a Noblesville corner lot is a triangular space kept free of any kind of obstruction to vision, naming buildings, structures, fences, signs, trees and shrubs together, between two and a half feet and ten feet above the established street grade. The grade is measured where the center lines of the two street pavements meet, not at the lot. The triangle scales with the roads: fifteen feet along each property line where two local streets meet, or where a local street meets an alley, and twenty-five feet where a local street meets a collector, an arterial or an expressway, or any combination of those. An alley is measured as a local street for this purpose only. Inside the Special Landscape District shown at Appendix G the requirement may be modified, case by case, with the approval of the Noblesville City Engineer.
A triangular space at the street corner of a Corner Lot, free from any kind of obstruction to vision including buildings, structures, fences, signs, trees, and shrubs between the heights of two and one-half (2.5) feet and ten feet above the established street grade.
Article 9, Part A, Section 8, Vision Corner Clearance
The answer turns on which kinds of street meet at the corner.
- two local streets, or a local street and an alley
- Fifteen feet along each line. 15 ft
- a local street meeting a collector or arterial
- Twenty-five feet along each line. 25 ft
- the Special Landscape District
- The City Engineer may modify it case by case.
Also on corner visibility in Noblesville
- 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 Noblesville
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Noblesville 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 Noblesville 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 Noblesville
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Noblesville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the property is residential or not.
For non-residential uses Noblesville prohibits five things in one sentence: uncoated chain link fencing, slats in chain link fencing, visible barbed wire, visible razor wire, and concertina coils. The word visible is doing work in two of the five, which suggests the concern is the street scene rather than the wire itself, and banning slats separately from uncoated chain link closes the usual way of turning a see through fence into a solid one. The residential provisions carry no materials list at all, naming open and solid fences, latticework, screens and walls only to set their heights, so a homeowner is constrained by height and position rather than by what the fence is made of.
The use of uncoated chain link fencing, slats in chain link fencing, visible barbed wire, visible razor wire, and concertina coils is prohibited.
Article 9, Part B, Fences and walls for non-residential uses
The answer turns on whether the property is residential or not.
- non-residential land
- None of the five.
- a residential lot
- No materials list at all.
Also on materials in Noblesville
- set in state lawIndiana 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. IC 32-26-9-3Indiana · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Noblesville
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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 Noblesville 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 Noblesville
- 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 Noblesville itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Indiana General AssemblyIndiana Code, Title 32, Article 26, Chapter 9, Partition Fences, Section 3
- City of NoblesvilleNoblesville Unified Development Ordinance, Article 9, General Regulations, fences and walls
- 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 Noblesville 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