Fence laws in New Orleans, Louisiana
What the New Orleans municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where New Orleans sets no rule of its own, the Louisiana rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in New Orleans, Louisiana, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- No setback is required from any boundary, and the answer turns on what district sits on the other side of the line. The figure is 0 feet, for setback required from a property line for a fence.
- How tall
- A fence or wall may stand in any yard and go to eight feet, which is more than most cities allow anywhere and far more than most allow out front, and the answer turns on the district, the yard and whether the lot is in a historic district or a lakefront area. The figure is 8 feet, for maximum height of a fence or wall in any yard.
- Permits
- The permit line is drawn at exactly the same place as the height limit, which makes it easy to remember and slightly strange to read, and the answer turns on the height and whether the lot is in a national historic district.
- Pool barriers
- Louisiana sets no statewide pool fence height.
- Spite fences
- New Orleans has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- New Orleans answers the sloping lot question and answers it the hard way round. The figure is 10 feet, for total fence height that may never be exceeded whatever the grade difference.
- Corner lots
- The site clearance area is the triangle on a corner lot measured twenty feet from where two streets meet, taken along the curb line, or along the edge of the pavement where there is no curb. The figure is 24 inches, for height nothing in the site clearance area may exceed.
- Retaining walls
- New Orleans leaves retaining walls to the International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration. It reaches one and two family homes and townhouses only.
- Materials
- The fence section names materials exactly once, and only for the Lake Vista area of the S-LRS2 and S-LRD1 districts, where a fence or wall has to be built of iron, wood, wire, brick, stone, or a combination of them, and the answer turns on which part of the city the fence is in.
- Livestock
- Louisiana has no single answer for the whole state, and the answer turns on whether the ward has voted in a local option election to put the stock law in force.
Who owns the fence between two properties in New Orleans?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
New Orleans answers this, but the answer changes depending on what district sits on the other side of the line.
No setback is required from any boundary. The general rule says a fence or wall may be located in any yard, and the measuring rule then talks about fences along common property lines as a normal thing rather than an exception, so the ordinance plainly expects a fence on the line. What the boundary does instead is set the height. A fence along the line between an industrial district and a residential, commercial or mixed use district may go to ten feet, which is two feet more than anywhere else in the city, because the fence there is doing a screening job. And where two lots meet at different levels, the line is also where the height is read from, taken at the higher grade on either side of it. The only distance in the section belongs to the lakefront areas, which switch at the front building line rather than at a lot line.
a fence or wall may be erected along a boundary between a residential, commercial, or mixed use district and an industrial district to a height not exceeding ten (10) feet.
The answer turns on what district sits on the other side of the line.
- any ordinary lot line
- On the line, no setback. 0 ft
- a line with an industrial district
- Ten feet allowed.
- a line with a grade difference
- The higher side sets the height.
- a Lake Vista side yard
- The front building line is the switch.
Also on fences on the property line in New Orleans
- set in state lawLouisiana treats a fence on the property line as shared by both neighbors unless somebody proves otherwise. When the land on both sides is fenced in, one owner can make the neighbor pay a share of building and repairing that shared fence. When the land next door is not fenced in, that right to split the cost exists only where a parish or city rule creates it. La. Civ. Code Art. 685Louisiana · Statute
- set in state lawThe Louisiana Civil Code gives a landowner the plain right to fence in their own land. The article states that right in one line. It sets no height, no material and no setback, so those details come from parish and city law. La. Civ. Code Art. 684Louisiana · Statute
How tall can a fence be in New Orleans?
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New Orleans answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the yard and whether the lot is in a historic district or a lakefront area.
A fence or wall may stand in any yard and go to eight feet, which is more than most cities allow anywhere and far more than most allow out front. Inside a national historic district the limit drops to seven. A front yard fence has to be an open fence whatever its height, so the eight feet buys height and not privacy. Along a boundary between an industrial district and a residential, commercial or mixed use one, the limit rises to ten feet. Two lakefront neighborhoods are carved out and held much tighter: in the Lake Vista area of the S-LRS2 and S-LRD1 districts, and in the Lake Terrace area of the S-RS district, a front yard fence is eighteen inches, the side yard forward of the front building line is eighteen inches, and the side yard behind it and the rear yard are five feet.
a fence or wall may be located in any yard but may not exceed eight (8) feet in height, except within national historic districts, where a fence or wall may not exceed seven (7) feet in height. Fences in front yards shall be open fences.
The answer turns on the district, the yard and whether the lot is in a historic district or a lakefront area.
- any yard, most of the city
- Eight feet, open in front. 8 ft
- a national historic district
- Seven feet. 7 ft
- against an industrial district
- Ten feet. 10 ft
- a Lake Vista or Lake Terrace front yard
- Eighteen inches. 18 in
Also on fence height in New Orleans
- no rule, documents checkedLouisiana sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The Civil Code article on shared fences, the law that adopts the state construction code, and the law on pool fence rules were all read, and none of them caps a fence height. Height is set by parish and city rule. La. Civ. Code Art. 685Louisiana · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in New Orleans?
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New Orleans answers this, but the answer changes depending on the height and whether the lot is in a national historic district.
The permit line is drawn at exactly the same place as the height limit, which makes it easy to remember and slightly strange to read. A building permit is required for any fence or wall over eight feet, and over seven feet inside a national historic district. Since eight feet and seven feet are also the maximums in those two places, the permit is what a fence needs when the general rule does not allow it on its own, which in practice means a fence along an industrial boundary going to ten, or a fence built taller on a lot where the grade on the higher side lets it. Below that line the ordinance asks for nothing. A fence in one of the historic districts is separately subject to the historic district regulations, which is where design review sits.
A building permit is required for all fences and walls exceeding eight (8) feet in height, except within national historic districts, where a building permit is required for all fences and walls exceeding seven (7) feet in height.
The answer turns on the height and whether the lot is in a national historic district.
- a fence up to eight feet
- No permit named.
- over eight feet
- A building permit.
- over seven feet in a historic district
- A building permit.
- a fence in a historic district
- The historic district regulations also apply.
Also on permits in New Orleans
- set in state lawLouisiana adopts national model codes as the state construction code. For houses it adopts the International Residential Code, but leaves out Part I, on how the code is run, and Part VIII, on electrical work. Part I is where the permit rules live, so a permit question in Louisiana is answered by the parish or city that enforces the code, not by this law. La. R.S. 40:1730.28(A)(3)(a)Louisiana · Statute
Pool fence requirements in New Orleans
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Louisiana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Louisiana sets no statewide pool fence height. State law instead lets a parish or a city pass its own pool fence rule, and says that rule has to set a smallest height for the fence or wall and require gates that lock or hold people out. The law does not reach a parish or city that already had a pool fencing rule, or one with a home rule charter.
This one is Louisiana law, not New Orleans law. All Louisiana findings
The ordinance shall provide for minimum heights for fences or walls enclosing the pool and locking or limited access gates.
Also on pool barriers in New Orleans
- set in state lawThe Louisiana health code sets a barrier rule for public pools in Class A and Class B. The barrier has to be at least 4 feet tall, with nothing on the outside to grab or step on. The gate has to close and latch by itself, with the latch at least 45 inches above the ground and hardware for a lock. This covers public pools rather than a pool behind a house. LAC 51:XXIV.705Louisiana · Agency guidance
Spite fence laws in New Orleans
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New Orleans law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Louisiana has no spite fence law. The Civil Code articles on fencing in land and on shared fences were read, along with the article on the limits of owning property, and none of them mention spite, malice, or blocking a neighbor's light or view. A neighbor hurt by work on nearby land falls back on the general rule in Article 667, which turns on the damage done and on reasonable care, not on why a fence went up.
This one is Louisiana law, not New Orleans law. All Louisiana findings
Documents read before writing that:
- La. Civ. Code Art. 667Louisiana State Legislature
- La. Civ. Code Art. 685Louisiana State Legislature
How fence height is measured in New Orleans
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New Orleans answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New Orleans answers the sloping lot question and answers it the hard way round. Along a common property line in a required side or rear yard, height is measured from grade, and where the grade differs between the two properties it is measured from the highest grade at the property line on either side. So the neighbor standing higher sets the number, and the owner on the low side cannot use the drop to build something that reads as eight feet from his own yard and twelve from the other one. That choice would run away on a steep line, so the same paragraph caps the total at ten feet however the grades fall. The ordinance prints a figure for the case, Figure 21-4, which is a sign that the drafters expected people to argue about it. The corner rule uses a second datum, the grade of the street.
The height of fences or walls along common property lines in required side or rear yards shall be measured from grade. When grade differs between abutting properties, the height of the fence or wall shall be measured from the highest grade at the property line on either side of the property. In no case shall the total fence height exceed ten (10) feet.
10 fttotal fence height that may never be exceeded whatever the grade difference
Also on how height is measured in New Orleans
- left to the townLouisiana never says where a fence height is measured from. State law lets every city set the height, number of stories and size of a structure. The Civil Code says only that a landowner may fence in land, and that a fence on a boundary is treated as shared. Neither one gives a height, and neither says what surface a height is read from. A parish or city rule is the only place an answer could appear. La. R.S. 33:4721Louisiana · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in New Orleans
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New Orleans answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The site clearance area is the triangle on a corner lot measured twenty feet from where two streets meet, taken along the curb line, or along the edge of the pavement where there is no curb. Nothing in it may exceed twenty four inches: not a sign, a wall, a fence, a hedge, a shrub, any other accessory structure, or landscaping. Twenty four inches is one of the lowest limits in this project and there is no exception for an open fence, which is notable in a city whose front yard fences are required to be open anyway. A tree may stay if there is no foliage within thirty six inches of the ground. The closing sentence handles a raised lot: where the lot sits higher than the street, the fence or hedge has to come down so the triangle is still clear to twenty four inches above the grade of the street rather than above the yard.
The site clearance area shall not be obstructed by any sign, wall, fence, hedge, shrub, or other accessory structure or landscape that exceeds twenty-four (24) inches in height.
24 inheight nothing in the site clearance area may exceed
Also on corner visibility in New Orleans
- set in state lawLouisiana treats this as keeping the road itself clear. State law lets the Department of Transportation and Development go to court to stop anything being put up inside the limits of a highway. It can also pull out something already there, at the owner's cost, after a short notice. A fence built onto the road strip is caught by that. Nothing in the chapter draws a triangle at a corner or sets a height near an intersection, so a clear view triangle in Louisiana comes from the parish or the city. La. R.S. 48:347Louisiana · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in New Orleans
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New Orleans does not set this. It leaves it to the International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration.
Louisiana adopts the International Residential Code as part of the state construction code and leaves out two parts of it, Part I on how the code is run and Part VIII on electrical work. The law prints no rule of its own about a wall that holds back dirt, and the long list of Louisiana changes never mentions one. Because the dropped part is the part with the permit rules in it, the height at which such a wall needs a permit comes from the parish or city, while the building rules for the wall itself come from the model code.
This one is Louisiana law, not New Orleans law. All Louisiana findings
International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration and VIII-Electrical. The applicable standards referenced in that code are included for regulation of construction within this state.
The code hands this to the International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in New Orleans
Compare materials across all 50 states
New Orleans answers this, but the answer changes depending on which part of the city the fence is in.
The fence section names materials exactly once, and only for the Lake Vista area of the S-LRS2 and S-LRD1 districts, where a fence or wall has to be built of iron, wood, wire, brick, stone, or a combination of them. That is a closed list for one neighborhood and it leaves out vinyl, composite and concrete panel. Everywhere else in the city Article 21 names no permitted material and prohibits none. Barbed wire does not appear in the article. Razor wire does not appear. An electric fence does not appear. There is no rule that the finished side has to face outward. What replaces a materials list in the rest of the city is a single word in the height rule, since a front yard fence has to be an open fence, which decides what it can be made of without listing anything. Historic district fences are judged by the historic district regulations.
Fences and walls in the Lake Vista area of the S-LRS2 and S-LRD1 Districts shall be constructed of the following materials: iron, wood, wire, brick, stone, or any combination thereof.
The answer turns on which part of the city the fence is in.
- Lake Vista
- Iron, wood, wire, brick or stone.
- a front yard anywhere
- It has to be an open fence.
- barbed, razor or electric wire
- Not named in the article either way.
- a historic district
- The historic district regulations decide.
Also on materials in New Orleans
- set in state lawLouisiana sets one statewide standard for a battery charged fence, which is an electric fence wired into a burglar alarm. A parish or city may write rules for one, but those rules have to hold it to the state list. It sits behind a fence or wall at least five feet tall that carries no charge. It stops at ten feet, or two feet above that outer fence. Warning signs go up at least every forty feet. A parish or city may not ban one outright, and farm and animal fences that carry a charge are left out of the section. La. R.S. 33:1376Louisiana · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in New Orleans
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Louisiana answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the ward has voted in a local option election to put the stock law in force.
Louisiana has no single answer for the whole state. Each ward of each parish votes on its own stock law, and the rule only applies in a ward once a majority of its voters have said so. A ward can hold that vote at any time, but no more than once a year. Where the stock law is on, it is illegal to let livestock go loose on the public roads of that ward. A separate list of named highways is covered everywhere in the state and is left out of the ward vote.
This one is Louisiana law, not New Orleans law. All Louisiana findings
The provisions of this Part shall not apply to those highways provided for in R.S. 3:2803 or be enforced in any ward of any parish of this state unless and until so ordered and authorized by a majority in number of the voters of said ward voting in an election held in said ward as hereinafter provided for in R.S. 3:3011.
The answer turns on whether the ward has voted in a local option election to put the stock law in force.
- the ward has voted to put the stock law in force
- The owner of livestock may not knowingly or carelessly let the animals go loose on the public roads of that ward.
- the ward has not voted to put the stock law in force
- The rule is not enforced in that ward, and only the highways on the separate statewide list stay covered.
Also on agricultural fencing in New Orleans
- no rule, documents checkedLouisiana never says what a fence has to be to count as a lawful fence. The Civil Code articles give a landowner the right to fence and a way to split the cost of a shared fence, and neither one names a height, a wire count, a board count or a post spacing. The stock law defines livestock, owner and public highway, and defines no fence at all. Its ban turns on animals being loose rather than on any fence standard. La. Civ. Code Art. 684Louisiana · Statute
Documents behind this page
15 documents, of which 2 were published by New Orleans itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Civil Code, Article 685, Common fences
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Civil Code, Article 684, Enclosures
- City of New OrleansNew Orleans Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, Article 21, Site Improvements, Section 21.6.N, Fences and Walls
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 40, Section 1730.28, Mandatory adoption of certain nationally recognized codes and standards as the state uniform construction code; adoption by reference
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 33, Section 4875.1, Exercise of police power; enclosure of residential and commercial swimming pools
- Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Public HealthLouisiana Administrative Code, Title 51, Public Health - Sanitary Code, Part XXIV, Chapter 7, Section 705, Barriers
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Civil Code, Article 667, Limitations on use of property
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 33, Section 4721, Grant of power to municipalities
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 48, Section 347, Removal of obstacles or hazards from highway or vicinity; campaign signs
- City of New OrleansNew Orleans Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, Article 21, Site Improvements
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 33, Section 1376, Ordinances; battery-charged fences; parishes and municipalities
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 3, Part VII, Local Regulation of Livestock on Public Highways
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Civil Code, Article 685, Common fences
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 3, Part VII, Definitions
- Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Revised Statutes, Title 3, Part VII, Livestock at large on highways unlawful
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 New Orleans publishes, plus the Louisiana rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Louisiana 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