Fence laws in Gaithersburg, Maryland
What the Gaithersburg municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Gaithersburg sets no rule of its own, the Maryland rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Gaithersburg, Maryland, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The setback and building restriction line requirements of the zoning chapter do not apply to fences or walls, stated in one sentence in the exclusions from measurements section. The figure is 0 feet, for setback a fence or wall has to keep from a lot line.
- How tall
- No fence or screen wall may be more than three feet in any front yard, or along any public or private road in the front yard, and no more than six feet in a rear or side yard, and the answer turns on the yard, and whether the city manager has made a finding. The figure is 3 feet, for maximum height of a fence or screen wall in a front yard.
- Permits
- It is unlawful to erect any fence or wall in the city without first obtaining a building permit under the building permit section of the chapter.
- Pool barriers
- Maryland has statewide pool and spa standards that adopt the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code.
- Spite fences
- Gaithersburg 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 surface of the ground next to the fence or wall to the topmost point of the fence, post, supporting column or wall, and where the ground on the two sides differs in level the measurement is taken from the higher side.
- Corner lots
- On a corner lot nothing may be more than three feet for twenty five feet from the intersection, measured from the surface of the ground next to the fence rather than from the curb or the road. The figure is 25 feet, for distance from the intersection within which the three foot corner limit applies.
- Retaining walls
- Gaithersburg leaves retaining walls to the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2021 International Building Code. It reaches one and two family homes under the International Residential Code, and other buildings under the International Building Code only.
- Materials
- Maryland says what a battery charged fence security system has to look like, which is an electric fence wired into a burglar alarm. The figure is 5 feet, for minimum height of the nonelectric fence or wall in front of a battery-charged fence security system. It reaches battery charged fence security systems on land that is not zoned for homes only only.
- Livestock
- Gaithersburg leaves the lawful fence specification to each county.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Gaithersburg?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Gaithersburg answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The setback and building restriction line requirements of the zoning chapter do not apply to fences or walls, stated in one sentence in the exclusions from measurements section. So a fence may stand on any lot line with no distance to keep. The accessory structure section confirms it from the other direction, listing fences among the things its standards do not apply to, next to ground mounted solar, flagpoles, playground equipment without a footer, and sheds that need no footer. That matters, because those standards would otherwise put a small accessory structure two feet from a lot line and a larger one ten feet back. What limits a fence on the line is height instead of distance: no fence or wall more than six feet may be erected between different lots, parcels or tracts of land without the city manager approving it.
The setback or building restriction line requirements of this Chapter do not apply to fences or walls.
0 ftsetback a fence or wall has to keep from a lot line
Also on fences on the property line in Gaithersburg
- set in state lawMaryland has no state rule splitting the cost of a fence on the line. It gives the whole subject to the counties. A county may set rules for how a fence is built and kept up, set a way for neighbors to enforce their rights over a fence, and let an owner who is not the one at fault put a lien on the property for repairs. Neither the property article nor the farming article mentions fences at all. Md. Code, Local Gov’t § 10-318Maryland · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Gaithersburg?
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Gaithersburg answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, and whether the city manager has made a finding.
No fence or screen wall may be more than three feet in any front yard, or along any public or private road in the front yard, and no more than six feet in a rear or side yard. Three feet out front is at the low end for this project and it applies in every zone. The city manager or a designee may permit a greater height, but only upon finding that the taller fence will not be a hazard to vehicular or pedestrian traffic, so the test is traffic safety rather than privacy or appearance. A separate limit governs the line between neighbors: no fence or wall more than six feet may be erected between different lots, parcels or tracts of land, and going higher there takes the city manager finding it will not be detrimental to the public health, safety and general welfare. So the two waivers have two different tests.
No fence or screen wall shall be of greater height than three (3) feet in any front yard or along any public or private road in the front yard and six (6) feet in the rear or side yard.
The answer turns on the yard, and whether the city manager has made a finding.
- a front yard or along a road
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a rear or side yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- higher, facing the street
- The city manager, on a traffic hazard finding.
- higher, between two lots
- The city manager, on a health and safety finding.
Also on fence height in Gaithersburg
- no rule, documents checkedMaryland sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be, and its own laws assume the limit comes from somewhere else. The Land Use Article lets a town pass a local law allowing a fence taller than the height state, regional or county zoning would otherwise require, which only makes sense if those local rules are where the limit lives. The Local Government Article separately gives counties power over how a fence is built. Height in Maryland is county and town zoning. Md. Code, Land Use § 25-303Maryland · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Gaithersburg?
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Gaithersburg answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
It is unlawful to erect any fence or wall in the city without first obtaining a building permit under the building permit section of the chapter. There is no exemption by height and none by material, so a three foot picket fence takes the same permit as a six foot board fence. The word first is doing work, because it rules out getting the permit after the fence is up. Two discretionary decisions sit above that, both belonging to the city manager or a designee. A fence taller than the front yard or road frontage limit may be permitted on a finding that it will not be a hazard to vehicular or pedestrian traffic. A fence taller than six feet between two lots may be permitted on a finding that it will not be detrimental to the public health, safety and general welfare. Neither of those doors is open at a corner.
It shall be unlawful to erect any f ence or wall in the city without first having obtained a building permit pursuant to Section 24-12.13
Also on permits in Gaithersburg
- set in state lawMaryland adopts the 2021 International Building Code, the 2021 International Residential Code for one and two family homes, and the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code as the code for the whole state. Maryland did not change the list of work that needs no permit, so the model code list applies as written. That list is model code text and is not published on a Maryland state site, so no fence height figure is quoted here. COMAR 09.12.51.04Maryland · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Gaithersburg
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Maryland answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Maryland has statewide pool and spa standards that adopt the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code. They apply to a pool whose permit application reached the local office on or after December 31, 2023. Maryland wrote its own barrier heights only for the public pool classes, and left the barrier rules for every other pool as the model code wrote them. So the height for a pool at a house lives in that model code and not in Maryland text.
This one is Maryland law, not Gaithersburg law. All Maryland findings
The 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC), International Code Council, is incorporated by reference.
Spite fence laws in Gaithersburg
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Gaithersburg law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Maryland has no spite fence law. The property, farming, local government and land use articles were all searched, and none of them has a rule about a fence raised out of spite, or a height that triggers one. The only fence powers in Maryland law are the ones given to counties and towns, so a limit on a spite fence in Maryland is a local rule.
This one is Maryland law, not Gaithersburg law. All Maryland findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Md. Code, Local Gov’t § 10-318Maryland General Assembly
- Md. Code, Land Use § 25-303Maryland General Assembly
How fence height is measured in Gaithersburg
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Gaithersburg answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Height is measured from the surface of the ground next to the fence or wall to the topmost point of the fence, post, supporting column or wall, and where the ground on the two sides differs in level the measurement is taken from the higher side. Naming the post and the supporting column matters, because it stops an owner claiming the decorative cap on a pillar is not part of the fence. Taking the higher side stops the owner on the low ground building something that reads as six feet to him and nine to his neighbor. What the rule never addresses is a fence standing on a berm or on top of a retaining wall, which is a real gap given that the corner rule expressly contemplates retaining walls made necessary by a change in street grade.
The measurement of height must be made from the surface of the ground next to the f ence or wall to the topmost point of the fence, post, supporting column, or wall. Where the ground on either side of the same fence or wall differs in level, the measurements must be made from the surface of the higher ground.
Also on how height is measured in Gaithersburg
- left to the townMaryland gives fence height to local government twice and never says what it is measured from. The Land Use Article lets a legislative body set the height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures. Another section lets a town inside the regional district pass a law allowing a fence taller than the limit state, regional or county zoning would otherwise set, which treats that height as a number somebody else already wrote. Neither section says whether the number is read from natural ground or from a finished yard. Md. Code, Land Use 4-102Maryland · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Gaithersburg
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Gaithersburg answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
On a corner lot nothing may be more than three feet for twenty five feet from the intersection, measured from the surface of the ground next to the fence rather than from the curb or the road. Two features make this rule unusual. Retaining walls are let through by name where a change in street grade, width or alignment has made them necessary, which is the code recognizing that the city has sometimes cut the road below the lot and the owner has no choice. And the subsection ends with a flat sentence: a waiver cannot be granted to this provision. Everywhere else in the fence section the city manager may allow a greater height on a finding, and here that door is closed, which makes the corner rule the one hard number in Gaithersburg.
On a corner lot, no fence or screen wa ll shall be permitted greater than three (3) feet measured from the surface of the ground next to the fence or screen wall for a distance of twenty-five (25) f eet from the intersection; except, that retaining walls shall be permitted where changes in street grade, width or alignment have made such structures necessary. A waiver cannot be granted to this provision.
25 ftdistance from the intersection within which the three foot corner limit applies
Also on corner visibility in Gaithersburg
- set in state lawMaryland keeps this short. State law says a person may not put anything blocking a state highway, or any improvement, on that highway unless the State Highway Administration has issued a permit for it. A fence set onto the state road strip needs that permit. There is no sight distance figure and no corner triangle in the subtitle, and the height and placement of a fence on a private lot is left to county and town zoning, so the triangle in Maryland is written locally. Md. Code, Transp. 8-646Maryland · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Gaithersburg
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Gaithersburg does not set this. It leaves it to the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2021 International Building Code.
Maryland adopts three model codes as its own, among them the 2021 International Residential Code for one and two family homes. Maryland then lists its changes to those codes, and that list never mentions a wall that holds back dirt. So the rule for such a wall comes from the model code, and Maryland prints no number of its own. The same chapter puts running and enforcing the standards on each local office.
This one is Maryland law, not Gaithersburg law. All Maryland findings
A. In this chapter, the following documents are incorporated by reference: (1) 2021 International Building Code (International Code Council); (2) 2021 International Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings (International Code Council); and (3) 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (International Code Council).
The code hands this to the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2021 International Building Code, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Gaithersburg
Compare materials across all 50 states
Maryland answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Maryland says what a battery charged fence security system has to look like, which is an electric fence wired into a burglar alarm. It runs on a battery of no more than 12 volts and stands behind a fence or wall at least 5 feet tall that carries no charge. It sits on land not zoned for homes only, stops at 10 feet, and carries warning signs every 30 feet. A local government may inspect one and fine an owner up to $500 for a fence that does not match, but it may not ban one or add its own rules for putting one up. Deer fencing and livestock fencing are left out of the section.
This one is Maryland law, not Gaithersburg law. All Maryland findings
(3) is located: (i) behind a nonelectric perimeter fence or wall that is at least 5 feet tall; and (ii) on property that is not zoned as residential use only; (4) is not taller than 10 feet or 2 feet taller than the height of the perimeter fence or wall, whichever is taller; and
5 ftminimum height of the nonelectric fence or wall in front of a battery-charged fence security system
Also on materials in Gaithersburg
- no rule, documents checkedSection 24-6.3 is three subsections long and none of them is about what a fence is made of. No material is permitted by name and none is prohibited. Barbed wire does not appear. Razor wire does not appear. An electric fence does not appear. Wood, vinyl, chain link and masonry are not mentioned. There is no rule that the finished side has to face outward, and no opacity or transparency test anywhere, which is notable because the front yard limit of three feet is low enough that many cities would trade height for openness and Gaithersburg does not. The only distinction the section draws at all is between a fence and a screen wall, and it applies the same numbers to both. Whatever a fence is made of, it goes through the building permit, where the building code rather than the zoning chapter decides how it is built. Section 24-6.3Gaithersburg · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Gaithersburg
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Gaithersburg does not set this. It leaves it to each county.
Maryland writes no statewide rule for how a farm fence is built. It gives each county three powers instead. A county can set the rules for building and keeping up a fence. It can set a way for neighbors to enforce their fence rights against each other. And it can let an owner who repairs a shared fence put a lien on the property for the cost. So the height, the wire count and the post spacing come from county law.
This one is Maryland law, not Gaithersburg law. All Maryland findings
A county may: (1) regulate the construction and maintenance of fences; (2) provide for a procedure to enforce the rights of parties with reference to a fence; and (3) provide for a lien for repairs to a fence made by an owner who is not in default.
The code hands this to each county, which is not published in the code itself.
Documents behind this page
8 documents, of which 1 was published by Gaithersburg itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Maryland General AssemblyAnnotated Code of Maryland, Local Government Article, Section 10-318
- City of GaithersburgGaithersburg Code of Ordinances, Chapter 24, Zoning, as amended by CTAM-9739-2024
- Maryland General AssemblyAnnotated Code of Maryland, Land Use Article, Section 25-303
- Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and IndustryCode of Maryland Regulations, Title 09, Subtitle 12, Chapter 51, Maryland Building Performance Standards, Regulation .04 Incorporation by Reference
- Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and IndustryCode of Maryland Regulations, Title 09, Subtitle 12, Chapter 56, Maryland Swimming Pool and Spa Standards, Regulation .03 Incorporation by Reference
- Maryland General AssemblyAnnotated Code of Maryland, Land Use Article, Section 4-102
- Maryland General AssemblyAnnotated Code of Maryland, Transportation Article, Title 8, Subtitle 6, Section 8-646, Permit required for work on highway
- Maryland General AssemblyAnnotated Code of Maryland, Business Regulation Article, Section 19-902
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 Gaithersburg publishes, plus the Maryland rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Maryland 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