Fence laws in Shreveport, Louisiana
What the Shreveport municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Shreveport sets no rule of its own, the Louisiana rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Shreveport, Louisiana, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Shreveport states no setback from a lot line and instead states a containment rule, which answers the question people actually argue about. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a property line, with the whole fence required to be inside it.
- How tall
- Shreveport sorts the answer by how much can be seen through the fence, and the answer turns on the yard, the district and whether the fence is open or solid. The figure is 6 feet, for maximum height of an open fence in a front, corner side or reverse corner side yard.
- Permits
- The first line of the fence section is the permit rule and it is as wide as this project sees: all fences, including repair of existing fences, require a building permit.
- Pool barriers
- Louisiana sets no statewide pool fence height.
- Spite fences
- Shreveport has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Height is measured from the adjacent ground to the highest point of the fence, and a decorative post may go six inches over whatever the maximum is. The figure is 6 inches, for extra height a decorative post may take above the maximum.
- Corner lots
- Inside the sight triangle, every structure including a closed fence or wall, and every planting, is held to three feet, and the answer turns on whether the fence is closed or semi-open. The figure is 3 feet, for maximum height of a closed fence, wall or planting in the sight triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Shreveport leaves retaining walls to the International Residential Code, not including Part I-Administration. It reaches one and two family homes and townhouses only.
- Materials
- Barbed wire, razor wire, spiked posts and anything similar are allowed only on a lot used for a utility or something supporting a utility, in any district, or in the R-A, C-3, C-4, I-MU, I-1 and I-2 districts, and wherever they are allowed they have to start at least six feet above the adjacent ground, and the answer turns on the material, the district and what the fence is protecting. The figure is 6 feet, for height above the adjacent ground at which barbed or razor wire may start.
- 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 Shreveport?
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Shreveport answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Shreveport states no setback from a lot line and instead states a containment rule, which answers the question people actually argue about. A fence or wall, including all posts, bases and other structural parts, has to be located completely within the boundaries of the lot it belongs to. Naming the bases closes the argument that a footing may cross the line because it is underground. Read with the rest of the section that puts a fence on the boundary in practice rather than on it exactly, since the structure has to stop at the line. The finished side rule then makes an exception that points the other way: a fence finished on only one side has to face the finished side away from its own lot, except where it is built on a property line dividing two single-family residential lots, where neither neighbor is made to look at the frame.
A fence or wall, including all posts, bases, and other structural parts must be located completely within the boundaries of the lot on which it is located.
0 ftsetback stated from a property line, with the whole fence required to be inside it
Also on fences on the property line in Shreveport
- 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 Shreveport?
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Shreveport answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the district and whether the fence is open or solid.
Shreveport sorts the answer by how much can be seen through the fence. In a residential front, corner side or reverse corner side yard, an open fence may be six feet. Any other kind of fence, or a wall or a hedge, is allowed in the front yard but only to three feet, and in the corner side and reverse corner side yards to six. In the interior side and rear yards any type goes to eight. Non-residential land reads the same way, six feet open in the front and corner side yard and eight in the interior side and rear, with the C-UC, C-UV and D-1 districts that have a build-to line allowed a solid six feet across the front. A public recreation area may be enclosed on every boundary with an open fence to eight feet, and a tennis court may be fenced to national standards for the sport instead.
In the front, corner side, and reverse corner side yards, an open fence is permitted up to a maximum height of six feet. Any other type of fence (any non-open fence), wall, or hedge is permitted in the front yard but is limited to a maximum height of three feet.
The answer turns on the yard, the district and whether the fence is open or solid.
- an open fence out front
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a solid fence out front
- Three feet. 3 ft
- an interior side or rear yard
- Eight feet, any type. 8 ft
- a public recreation area
- Eight feet of open fence on every boundary.
Also on fence height in Shreveport
- 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 Shreveport?
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Shreveport answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The first line of the fence section is the permit rule and it is as wide as this project sees: all fences, including repair of existing fences, require a building permit. There is no exemption by height, none by material, and none for a fence that already exists, which is what the words including repair of existing fences are there to close. The paragraph after it removes the usual obstacle to getting one, saying a principal building or structure is not required before a fence or wall may be built unless the Code specifically says so, so a fence may go up on a vacant lot. Where a fence is required as a condition of a use or a site element, those requirements control over the general ones, and so do any extra fence rules in the use standards of Article 6 or the landscape standards of Article 10.
All fences, including repair of existing fences, require a building permit.
Also on permits in Shreveport
- 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 Shreveport
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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 Shreveport 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 Shreveport
- 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 Shreveport
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Shreveport 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 Shreveport 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 Shreveport
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Shreveport answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Height is measured from the adjacent ground to the highest point of the fence, and a decorative post may go six inches over whatever the maximum is. Two more rules handle the ground not being flat. A corner side or reverse corner side fence may pass six feet purely to keep an even fence line, and only where the grade falls away from the highest point at which the fence is being installed, with the total capped at eight feet. So the allowance pays for a level top on a sloping lot and cannot be used to gain height on a flat one. Barbed and razor wire are placed by the same datum, having to sit at least six feet above the adjacent ground. What is left unsaid is whose ground counts where two lots meet at different levels, since the phrase adjacent ground does not pick a side.
Height is measured from the adjacent ground to the highest point, except that decorative posts of a fence or wall may exceed the maximum height by six inches.
6 inextra height a decorative post may take above the maximum
Also on how height is measured in Shreveport
- 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 Shreveport
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Shreveport answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is closed or semi-open.
Inside the sight triangle, every structure including a closed fence or wall, and every planting, is held to three feet. Then comes the sentence that makes the rule workable: a semi-open fence that complies with all the fence requirements and does not impair the sight triangle is permitted, with no height stated for it at all. So an open fence at the corner is judged on whether it can be seen through rather than on how tall it is, which fits a city whose front yard rule already turns on openness. The fence section repeats the point from its own side, saying no solid fence permitted or required anywhere in the Code may be built within the sight triangle. What Article 7 never does is give the triangle a size, leaving its shape to the definition elsewhere in the Code.
All structures, including a closed fence or wall, and all plantings are limited to a maximum height of three feet within the sight triangle. A semi-open fence that complies with all fence requirements that does not impair the sight triangle is permitted.
The answer turns on whether the fence is closed or semi-open.
- a closed fence or wall
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a semi-open fence
- Allowed, if it does not impair the view.
- a fence required by another section
- Still not solid, and still not in the triangle.
- the size of the triangle
- Article 7 does not give it.
Also on corner visibility in Shreveport
- 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 Shreveport
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Shreveport 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 Shreveport 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 Shreveport
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Shreveport answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material, the district and what the fence is protecting.
Barbed wire, razor wire, spiked posts and anything similar are allowed only on a lot used for a utility or something supporting a utility, in any district, or in the R-A, C-3, C-4, I-MU, I-1 and I-2 districts, and wherever they are allowed they have to start at least six feet above the adjacent ground. No fence may be electrified at all unless it is a battery-charged fence, and the Code then writes out the whole state law test rather than pointing at it. The fence has to tie into a monitored alarm that can summon law enforcement, sit on land not zoned exclusively residential, run off a commercial storage battery of no more than twelve volts direct current, use an energizer meeting International Electrotechnical Commission standard 60335-2-76, stand inside a non-electric perimeter fence at least five feet tall, reach the higher of ten feet or two feet above that perimeter, and carry warning signs at most forty feet apart reading WARNING-ELECTRIC FENCE.
Barbed wire, razor wire, spiked posts, or fences of similar material are only permitted on a lot used for a utility or supporting use for a utility in any district, or in the R-A, C-3, C-4, I-MU, I-1, or I-2 District.
The answer turns on the material, the district and what the fence is protecting.
- barbed or razor wire where allowed
- Six feet up, and only in six districts or at a utility. 6 ft
- an ordinary electric fence
- Prohibited.
- a battery-charged fence
- Seven conditions from state law. 40 ft
- a fence finished on one side
- The finished side faces away from the lot.
Also on materials in Shreveport
- 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 Shreveport
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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 Shreveport 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 Shreveport
- 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
14 documents, of which 1 was published by Shreveport 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 ShreveportShreveport Unified Development Code, Article 7, On-Site Development Standards
- 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
- 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 Shreveport 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