Fence laws in Ann Arbor, Michigan
What the Ann Arbor municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Ann Arbor sets no rule of its own, the Michigan rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Ann Arbor, Michigan, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The first standard in Section 5.26 settles the boundary in eleven words: fences may be located anywhere on a lot including abutting a lot line.
- How tall
- Ann Arbor puts its whole height rule in one table, and the table has a second row most cities never write, and the answer turns on the district and which yard the fence stands in. The figure is 4 feet, for front yard fence.
- Permits
- A zoning permit is required for the construction of fences, stated in the procedures article rather than in the fence section, and grouped in the same subsection as dumpster locations and their screening.
- Pool barriers
- Michigan puts no pool fence height in its own statute.
- Spite fences
- Ann Arbor has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Ann Arbor answers the sloping boundary question with a rule that is precise about both distance and direction, and the answer turns on how close the fence runs to the lot line. The figure is 2 feet, for band either side of the line the grade is read across.
- Corner lots
- The street corner triangle is the area on a lot within twenty-five feet of the intersection of two or more street lot lines, and inside it a fence stops at thirty inches and may be no more than half solid, and the answer turns on whether the district has a required front setback. The figure is 25 feet, for reach of the street corner triangle.
- Retaining walls
- A retaining wall in Michigan needs no building permit if it is four feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing up to the top of the wall. The figure is 4 feet, for height at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit. It reaches one and two family homes and townhouses under the Michigan residential code only.
- Materials
- Ann Arbor writes no list of permitted materials at all, and the answer turns on whether another code requires the thing that is otherwise barred.
- Livestock
- Michigan sets no height, wire count, board count or post spacing for a farm fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Ann Arbor?
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Ann Arbor answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The first standard in Section 5.26 settles the boundary in eleven words: fences may be located anywhere on a lot including abutting a lot line. Nothing in the section asks for the neighbor consent, written or otherwise, sets a setback from the line, says which way the posts face, or allocates the cost of a shared fence. That makes Ann Arbor one of the plainest cities in Michigan on the question, and it stands out next to the cities around it, several of which require a notarized signature before anything may touch the line. The one place the boundary does matter is measurement, where running within two feet of the line pulls the fence into the shared grade rule. Where the code requires a fence or wall for screening elsewhere in the chapter, a different rule applies and both sides have to be decoratively faced.
Fences may be located anywhere on a lot including abutting a lot line.
Also on fences on the property line in Ann Arbor
- set in state lawIn Michigan the owner who builds a fence on the line pays for it and for keeping it up, and the neighbor owes nothing. Most states split that cost. The neighbor starts owing a share of what the fence is worth now only when that neighbor or their renter begins using it to hold animals, and even then the neighbor can build a separate fence instead. The whole act covers only fences that hold animals, because section 43.51 defines a fence that way. MCL 43.53(1)Michigan · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Ann Arbor?
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Ann Arbor answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and which yard the fence stands in.
Ann Arbor puts its whole height rule in one table, and the table has a second row most cities never write. Across a residential lot the maximum heights run thirty inches inside the street corner triangle, four feet in a front yard, six feet in a side yard and eight feet in a rear yard, with twelve feet allowed in mixed-use, nonresidential and special purpose districts. Beneath each of those sits a maximum opacity: fifty percent in the corner triangle and fifty percent in the front yard, then a hundred percent in the side yard, the rear yard and the nonresidential column. So a front yard fence in Ann Arbor may be four feet tall on condition that half of it is open, and the openness is a fixed number rather than a description like see through or ornamental. Behind the house the opacity limit disappears and a solid fence is permitted.
MAXIMUM HEIGHT 30 in. 4 ft. 6 ft. 8 ft. 12 ft.
The answer turns on the district and which yard the fence stands in.
- a front yard
- Four feet, and no more than half solid. 4 ft
- a side yard
- Six feet, solid allowed. 6 ft
- a rear yard
- Eight feet, solid allowed. 8 ft
- a mixed-use or nonresidential district
- Twelve feet. 12 ft
Also on fence height in Ann Arbor
- no rule, documents checkedMichigan sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The state fence act defines a fence by what it holds in, not by height, and names no number. The seven feet in the residential code rules is the point where a permit starts being needed, not a cap. The city, village or township sets the limit. MCL 43.51Michigan · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Ann Arbor?
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Ann Arbor answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A zoning permit is required for the construction of fences, stated in the procedures article rather than in the fence section, and grouped in the same subsection as dumpster locations and their screening. There is no height threshold attached, so the requirement reaches a low front yard fence as readily as a tall rear one. The fence section itself carries one other approval, for the temporary case: construction fences and fences protecting an excavation follow Article 13 of the City Construction Code instead of Section 5.26, and may not stand for more than a year without special approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals. That one year limit is the only deadline anywhere in the fence provisions.
A zoning permit is required for the construction of fences consistent with Section 5.26 and for the placement of locations for dumpsters used for commercial recyclables and related screening consistent with Section 5.20.6 and Chapter 26, Section 2:5(4).
Also on permits in Ann Arbor
- set in state lawA fence in Michigan seven feet tall or shorter needs no building permit. The state writes that number into its own rule rather than taking the model code as it comes. Rule 505 replaces section R105.2 of the residential code. The same no permit list also covers a separate shed up to 200 square feet, a retaining wall under four feet with no extra weight on the soil behind it, and a store bought pool less than 24 inches deep. Skipping the permit does not make legal any work that breaks the code or a city rule. R 408.30505Michigan · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Ann Arbor
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Michigan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Michigan puts no pool fence height in its own statute. The state construction code act builds the Michigan code out of the national model codes, including the International Residential Code, plus whatever changes the director makes. So the fence rule for a pool at a house comes from that model code. The same act says a Michigan version of a code has to be free to the public before anyone can enforce it.
This one is Michigan law, not Ann Arbor law. All Michigan findings
The code shall consist of the international residential code, the international building code, the international mechanical code, the international plumbing code, the international existing building code, and the international energy conservation code published by the international code council and the national electrical code published by the national fire prevention association, with amendments, additions, or deletions as the director determines appropriate.
Spite fence laws in Ann Arbor
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Ann Arbor law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Michigan has no spite fence law. The state fence act covers who pays, who the fence viewer is, and what a fence viewer can decide, and section 43.55 says plainly that a fence viewer does not settle boundary arguments. Nothing in the act turns on why a fence went up or how tall it is. A claim about a fence built to annoy rests on ordinary nuisance law made by judges, and on city zoning.
This one is Michigan law, not Ann Arbor law. All Michigan findings
Documents read before writing that:
How fence height is measured in Ann Arbor
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Ann Arbor answers this, but the answer changes depending on how close the fence runs to the lot line.
Ann Arbor answers the sloping boundary question with a rule that is precise about both distance and direction. Where a fence separates two adjoining lots and runs within two feet of the lot line, the maximum height at any point is determined from the highest grade within two feet on either side of the line. Two things follow. The datum is the higher of the two lots, so a fence built on the low side is measured from the neighbor ground and comes out shorter than it would otherwise, and the phrase at any point means the reading is taken along the run rather than once for the whole fence. The two foot band is what triggers the rule at all, so a fence set further in from the line than that is outside it. The corner triangle limit is measured differently again, from the sidewalk grade rather than from either lot.
In determining the maximum height of a fence that separates two adjoining lots and runs within two feet of the lot line, the maximum height at any point shall be determined from the highest grade within two feet on either side of the lot line.
5.26.2.D, with 5.26.2.A.3 and 5.26.2.C
The answer turns on how close the fence runs to the lot line.
- a fence within two feet of the line
- From the highest grade within two feet of either side. 2 ft
- a fence set further back than that
- The rule does not reach it.
- the street corner triangle
- Measured above the sidewalk grade.
Also on how height is measured in Ann Arbor
- left to the townMichigan never says where a fence height is measured from. Section 125.3201 of the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act lets a local government limit the height of buildings and other structures, and stops there. The state fence law says even less. Section 43.51 calls a fence anything good enough to hold an animal, with no number and no starting point. So the county, township or city writes both the limit and the way it is measured. MCL 125.3201(4)Michigan · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Ann Arbor
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Ann Arbor answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the district has a required front setback.
The street corner triangle is the area on a lot within twenty-five feet of the intersection of two or more street lot lines, and inside it a fence stops at thirty inches and may be no more than half solid. The prose version of the rule adds a condition the table does not show: it applies where the minimum front required setback of the zoning district the lot sits in is greater than none. So in a district with no required front setback, which in Ann Arbor means much of the downtown and its mixed-use frontages, the thirty inch corner limit does not bite in the same way. The reading is taken above the sidewalk grade rather than from the lot, which keeps the measurement tied to the thing being protected. Elsewhere in the chapter a fence used for required screening has to form a continuous screen at least six feet high, and that requirement sits alongside the corner limit rather than overriding it.
All fences located within 25 feet of the intersection of two or more Street lot lines where the minimum front required setback of the zoning district in which the lot is located is greater than none shall not be higher than 30 inches above the Sidewalk grade.
The answer turns on whether the district has a required front setback.
- a district with a required front setback
- Thirty inches inside twenty-five feet of the corner. 25 ft
- inside the triangle
- No more than half solid. 50%
- a district with no required front setback
- The prose limit is written not to reach it.
Also on corner visibility in Ann Arbor
- set in state lawMichigan has a 1925 law about fences that sit in the road. Act 368 of 1925, in Chapter 247 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, lets the commissioner in charge of a road order an owner to pull back any fence, building or other thing that crosses into a public highway, and gives the owner thirty days. The order has to state how wide the road is and where the fence sits compared to the center line. An owner who ignores it owes a dollar a day. The law covers the road itself and nothing else. A clear view triangle at a corner comes from a city rule written under the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act. MCL 247.171Michigan · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Ann Arbor
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Michigan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A retaining wall in Michigan needs no building permit if it is four feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing up to the top of the wall. The footing sits below the ground, so the four feet starts lower than the yard does. Michigan writes this itself. Rule 505 replaces section R105.2 of the residential code. A wall holding up a surcharge needs a permit at any height. A surcharge means extra weight pressing on the soil behind the wall, such as a driveway or a building. Skipping the permit does not make legal any work that breaks the code or a city rule.
This one is Michigan law, not Ann Arbor law. All Michigan findings
A retaining wall that is not more than 4 feet (1 219 mm) in height measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge.
4 ftheight at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit
Fence materials allowed in Ann Arbor
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Ann Arbor answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether another code requires the thing that is otherwise barred.
Ann Arbor writes no list of permitted materials at all. A fence may be made of whatever the owner likes so long as it meets the height and opacity figures and avoids one short prohibition: no sharp elements such as barbs and barbed wire, spikes or nails, and nothing electrified. The exception attached to that sentence is unusual and points outward rather than to a board, allowing those things only when specifically required by another code, so the route to barbed wire in Ann Arbor runs through some other regulation demanding it rather than through a variance. The only other condition on the fence itself is upkeep. A fence has to be maintained so as not to endanger life or property, and any fence that endangers life or property through lack of repair or type of construction is declared a nuisance by the section.
Fences shall not contain any sharp elements such as barbs and barbed wire, spikes, or nails, or be electrified, except when specifically required by another code.
The answer turns on whether another code requires the thing that is otherwise barred.
- barbs, spikes, nails or an electric charge
- Not allowed.
- another code requiring one of them
- Allowed to that extent.
- a fence in disrepair
- Declared a nuisance.
Also on materials in Ann Arbor
- set in state lawMichigan says in its construction code act what a low voltage electric fence is. It counts as one only if it stands on land zoned for something other than homes and runs off a battery of 12 volts or less. It also has to sit inside a fence or wall that carries no current and stands at least 5 feet tall. It stops at 10 feet and carries shock warning signs no more than 60 feet apart, written in English and Spanish. A fence that meets the whole list needs no permit when a registered alarm company installs it. MCL 125.1528aMichigan · Building code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Ann Arbor
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Michigan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Michigan sets no height, wire count, board count or post spacing for a farm fence. The fence viewers act defines a fence by what it does rather than what it is made of, so anything that holds an animal counts, and so does a natural barrier such as a river or a thick hedge. The animals it has to hold are the ones named in the running at large act: cattle, horses, sheep, swine, mules, burros or goats.
This one is Michigan law, not Ann Arbor law. All Michigan findings
means a structure or natural barrier which is sufficient to confine an animal as defined in section 1 of Act No. 328 of the Public Acts of 1976
Also on agricultural fencing in Ann Arbor
- set in state lawMichigan puts the duty on the animal owner across the whole state. An animal may not run loose anywhere in Michigan. The owner may not let it happen, and neither may anybody else who knows what they are doing. Running at large means the animal is off the owner's land and out of the owner's control. A person whose property gets damaged can ask the owner to pay, and nothing in the act asks that person to have built a fence first. MCL 433.12Michigan · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, of which 1 was published by Ann Arbor itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 43, Fences and Fence Viewers, Act 34 of 1978
- City of Ann ArborAnn Arbor Unified Development Code, Chapter 55, Section 5.26, Fences, eleventh edition
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 43, Fences and Fence Viewers, Act 34 of 1978
- Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction CodesMichigan Administrative Code, Construction Code, Part 5, Residential Code, R 408.30500 to R 408.30547g
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, Act 230 of 1972
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 43, Fences and Fence Viewers, Act 34 of 1978
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Michigan Zoning Enabling Act, Section 125.3201
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Act 368 of 1925, Highway Obstructions and Encroachments, Section 247.171, Encroachments; removal order, service; temporary permit
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, Act 230 of 1972, Section 28a
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Animals Running at Large, Act 328 of 1976
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 Ann Arbor publishes, plus the Michigan rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Michigan 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