Fence laws in Taylor, Michigan
What the Taylor municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Taylor sets no rule of its own, the Michigan rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Taylor, Michigan, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Taylor allows a fence or wall along a lot line in one short sentence and asks for no consent to put it there, and the answer turns on whether the affected owners agree in writing and the city approves.
- How tall
- A residential fence in Taylor is permitted in the side and rear yard and may not exceed six feet, and the answer turns on the yard, and on a corner which way the neighbor house faces. The figure is 6 feet, for residential side or rear fence.
- Permits
- A fence in Michigan seven feet tall or shorter needs no building permit. The figure is 7 feet, for residential fence height at or below which no building permit is required.
- Pool barriers
- Michigan puts no pool fence height in its own statute.
- Spite fences
- Taylor has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Taylor leaves the measuring rule to the local unit of government that adopts the zoning ordinance.
- Corner lots
- Taylor states the visibility rule twice, once as a standard and once as a dimension, and the dimension is about driveways rather than street corners, and the answer turns on the distance to a driveway and whether the lot is a corner. The figure is 10 feet, for clearance from a driveway and street meeting point.
- 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
- The residential materials rule is a standard with examples rather than a closed list, and the answer turns on the district, and whether the fence can be seen from a street or a house. The figure is 6 feet, for lowest barbed wire strand above the ground.
- Livestock
- Michigan sets no height, wire count, board count or post spacing for a farm fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Taylor?
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Taylor answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the affected owners agree in writing and the city approves.
Taylor allows a fence or wall along a lot line in one short sentence and asks for no consent to put it there. What it does regulate is which way the fence faces. All structural members have to be installed facing toward the inside of the area being enclosed, so the posts and rails show on the owner side and the finished face goes to the neighbor. That default can be reversed, but only by two steps together: a written agreement from all affected property owners and approval from the development services department. Requiring the city to sign off on a private agreement is unusual, and it means a handshake between neighbors does not change the rule on its own. Nothing at all may be built in a public right-of-way. A required screening wall works differently again, being placed on the lot line itself unless underground utilities interfere, in which case it moves to the nearest utility easement line.
All structural members of the fence or wall shall be installed to face toward the inside of the area to be enclosed, unless otherwise agreed to in writing by all affected property owners and approved by the development services department.
15.03(a)(1), (2) and (6), with (d)(1)
The answer turns on whether the affected owners agree in writing and the city approves.
- the default
- The frame faces in, the finished side faces out.
- a written agreement plus city approval
- The orientation may be reversed.
- a public right-of-way
- Nothing may be built in it.
Also on fences on the property line in Taylor
- 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 Taylor?
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Taylor answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, and on a corner which way the neighbor house faces.
A residential fence in Taylor is permitted in the side and rear yard and may not exceed six feet. The front yard takes a decorative fence or wall of up to three and a half feet, and then adds a second limit that has nothing to do with height: it may not enclose more than fifty percent of the front yard. That is an unusual way to write the rule, because it keeps a low fence from ringing the whole front of a house even where every part of it would pass the height test. A corner lot gets a conditional allowance in the front yard of the side street, available only where the dwelling on the adjacent lot does not face that same side street, and even then the fence may not run past the front building line into the yard the house itself faces. On a nonresidential lot the side and rear ceiling is also six feet, lifted for public recreation, wireless communication facilities, industrial uses and commercial uses that hold special land use approval for outdoor storage.
Fences shall be permitted in the side and rear yard unless otherwise provided in this section and shall not exceed six feet.
15.03(b)(1) through (3), with (c)(2)
The answer turns on the yard, and on a corner which way the neighbor house faces.
- a side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a decorative front yard fence
- Three and a half feet, and no more than half the yard enclosed. 50%
- a solid fence in a nonresidential front yard
- Three feet, or four in wrought iron. 3 ft
Also on fence height in Taylor
- 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 Taylor?
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Michigan answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A 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.
This one is Michigan law, not Taylor law. All Michigan findings
A fence that is not more than 7 feet (2 134 mm) high.
7 ftresidential fence height at or below which no building permit is required
Also on permits in Taylor
- no rule, documents checkedSection 15.03 never requires a permit for a residential fence. It runs through heights, materials, orientation, driveway clearance and screening walls without naming an application, a fee, a form or an inspection for an ordinary fence behind a house, and the only sentence close to one is a general instruction that fences within the city comply with all applicable local ordinances. Where the section does name a body, it is for something else: the planning commission may approve black vinyl-coated chain link or ornamental wrought iron in an industrial front yard for security, may approve barbed wire in the I-1 and I-2 districts during site plan review, and may waive a screening wall where the developed part of the site sits more than two hundred feet from the residential district. The development services department appears twice, approving a reversal of the orientation rule and approving an alternative where a required wall would stand in a hundred year floodplain. 15.03(a), All districtsTaylor · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Taylor
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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 Taylor 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 Taylor
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Taylor 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 Taylor law. All Michigan findings
Documents read before writing that:
How fence height is measured in Taylor
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Taylor does not set this. It leaves it to the local unit of government that adopts the zoning ordinance.
Michigan 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.
This one is Michigan law, not Taylor law. All Michigan findings
A local unit of government may adopt land development regulations under the zoning ordinance designating or limiting the location, height, bulk, number of stories, uses, and size of dwellings, buildings, and structures that may be erected or altered, including tents and recreational vehicles.
The code hands this to the local unit of government that adopts the zoning ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Taylor
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Taylor answers this, but the answer changes depending on the distance to a driveway and whether the lot is a corner.
Taylor states the visibility rule twice, once as a standard and once as a dimension, and the dimension is about driveways rather than street corners. No fence or wall may be erected or maintained so as to obstruct the vision of motorists exiting driveways, in any district. Then, on all lots, anything over three and a half feet tall is barred within ten feet of the point where a driveway meets the street right-of-way, and the section says in its own sentence that this also applies to driveways located on adjoining lots. That second sentence is the one worth knowing, because it means the position of the neighbor driveway can shorten a fence that has nothing to do with it. The street corner itself is handled by cross reference, with a fence in the front yard of a corner lot required to meet the corner clearance requirement of section 14.03.
Fences or walls shall not be erected or maintained in such a way as to obstruct the vision of motorists exiting driveways.
The answer turns on the distance to a driveway and whether the lot is a corner.
- near a driveway
- Nothing over three and a half feet within ten feet of the street. 10 ft
- a driveway on the lot next door
- The same clearance applies.
- a corner lot front yard
- The corner clearance in section 14.03.
Also on corner visibility in Taylor
- 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 Taylor
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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 Taylor 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 Taylor
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Taylor answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, and whether the fence can be seen from a street or a house.
The residential materials rule is a standard with examples rather than a closed list. A fence has to be of durable quality material such as wrought iron, decorative aluminum, cedar, pressure treated wood, chainlink, vinyl, brick or stone, so chain link is allowed outright on a house and no coating is asked for there. Elsewhere the coating rule bites: chain link may not go in any front yard except in an industrial district or for essential public service buildings and storage yards, and any chain link visible from a public street right-of-way or from an adjacent residential district has to be black vinyl-coated. Barbed wire, razor wire, spikes, nails and any other sharp point on the top or sides of a fence are prohibited, as is any fence carrying an electric current or charge that could cause injury. Buried electronic fencing is expressly permitted in all districts. The one route to barbed wire runs through site plan review in the I-1 and I-2 districts, and even then the bottom strands have to sit at least six feet off the ground.
Fences shall be constructed of durable quality material such as wrought iron, decorative aluminum, cedar, pressure treated wood, chainlink, vinyl, brick or stone.
15.03(b)(5) and (a)(4), (a)(5), with (c)(6) and (c)(7)
The answer turns on the district, and whether the fence can be seen from a street or a house.
- a residential lot
- Durable material, chain link included.
- chain link seen from a street or a house
- Black vinyl-coated.
- barbed wire in an industrial district
- Site plan approval, and the lowest strand six feet up. 6 ft
Also on materials in Taylor
- 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 Taylor
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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 Taylor 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 Taylor
- 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 Taylor itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Michigan LegislatureMichigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 43, Fences and Fence Viewers, Act 34 of 1978
- City of TaylorTaylor Code of Ordinances, Appendix A, Zoning, Article 15, Section 15.03, Fences and walls
- 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 Taylor 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