Fence laws in Kansas City, Missouri
What the Kansas City municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Kansas City sets no rule of its own, the Missouri rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Kansas City, Missouri, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Kansas City states no setback from a side or rear lot line, so a fence may run along the boundary between two houses, and the answer turns on which line the fence runs along and when it was built. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a side or rear property line.
- How tall
- Kansas City sets one ceiling and then cuts it down in four places, and the answer turns on the yard and whether the lot is a corner or vacant one. The figure is 6 feet, for fence on a residential lot.
- Permits
- The fence and wall code names no permit, and the answer turns on whether the fence complies or needs an exception. The figure is 13 days, for notice to adjacent owners before a hearing.
- Pool barriers
- Kansas City sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Kansas City has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Kansas City leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each city, town and village.
- Corner lots
- Kansas City handles a corner without drawing a triangle, and the answer turns on whether the lot is a corner one and whether it is built on. The figure is 48 inches, for fence along the side street of a corner lot.
- Retaining walls
- Kansas City leaves retaining walls to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance.
- Materials
- The fence and wall code names no permitted or prohibited material for an ordinary fence, and the answer turns on whether the fence carries current and what zone it is in. The figure is 300 feet, for separation from a home, school, church or park.
- Livestock
- A lawful fence in Missouri is posts and wire or boards at least four feet high, once the two owners agree on it or the associate circuit court decides it. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of a lawful fence in Missouri.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Kansas City?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Kansas City answers this, but the answer changes depending on which line the fence runs along and when it was built.
Kansas City states no setback from a side or rear lot line, so a fence may run along the boundary between two houses. The line it does protect is the public one: fences and retaining walls may not encroach on the public right-of-way, and the same sentence requires them to be maintained against rotting, decay, deterioration and loss of structural integrity. Where the chapter fixes a position it does so through the yard definitions rather than through a distance, drawing the front yard from the front wall of the house and its extension to the side property lines, and the side yard of a corner lot from the side wall of the house to the property line nearest the street. The chapter does not reach the wall of a building, the below grade portion of a retaining wall, or any fence built before the twentieth of March 2000.
Fences and retaining walls shall not encroach on the public right-of-way and must be maintained in a manner that will protect the fence or wall from rotting, decay, deterioration, or loss of structural integrity.
Section 27-5, with Section 27-10(g)
The answer turns on which line the fence runs along and when it was built.
- a side or rear line
- No setback stated. 0 ft
- the public right-of-way
- No encroachment.
- a fence built before March 2000
- Outside the location rules.
- a buried retaining wall
- Not reached by the chapter.
Also on fences on the property line in Kansas City
- set in state lawA fence on the property line in Missouri starts with written notice to the neighbor. The two owners then meet, and each one builds or fixes the half on their own right. Right means standing at the middle of the shared line, on their own land, facing the fence. If they cannot agree, an associate circuit judge names viewers to split the cost. RSMo § 272.060Missouri · Statute
- set in state lawMissouri says what happens when one side does not build its half. If either side fails to build or fix its part in a reasonable time, the other can ask the associate circuit court for permission to do the work the way the court directs. The court then orders the other side to pay its share of the whole cost, plus court costs and reasonable lawyer fees. That order is a lien on the other side's land, meaning the debt is attached to the property until it is paid. RSMo § 272.070Missouri · Statute
- set in state lawMissouri also covers the case where only one neighbor wants a fence. That neighbor may build the whole thing and report the total cost to the associate circuit judge, who has the cost written onto each deed. If the other owner later runs livestock against that fence, the builder gets back half the cost of building it, split the way section 272.060 says. RSMo § 272.132Missouri · Statute
- set in state lawThe duty in Missouri does not end once the fence is up. Anyone who owns part of a fence on a property line keeps that part in good repair, to the standard in Chapter 272. The same section gives a right to cross the line. The person doing the repair may step onto the land next door to do it. RSMo § 272.110Missouri · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Kansas City?
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Kansas City answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and whether the lot is a corner or vacant one.
Kansas City sets one ceiling and then cuts it down in four places. No fence or wall over six feet may be erected on a residential lot at all. In a front yard the limit drops to forty-eight inches, and the chapter defines that front yard carefully as the open space between the front wall of the house and the line of that wall extended, the side property lines, and the front property line nearest the street the building fronts. A vacant residential lot gets the same forty-eight inches, measured from the platted or established front building line, and its front yard may be no shallower than the shallowest front yard of any improved property on the same side of the street in that block. A corner lot, vacant or not, is held to forty-eight inches in the front and side yards alike. Fences along boulevards and parkways follow the zoning code instead.
No fence or wall over six feet high shall be erected on a residential lot, provided that this height restriction is further limited in subsections (b), (c), (d) and (e) of this section.
The answer turns on the yard and whether the lot is a corner or vacant one.
- a residential lot generally
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a front yard
- Forty-eight inches. 48 in
- a corner lot side yard
- Also forty-eight inches. 48 in
- a boulevard or parkway
- The zoning code takes over.
Also on fence height in Kansas City
- no rule, documents checkedMissouri sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. Chapter 272 defines a lawful fence by whether it keeps livestock in, not by a maximum height for a yard fence, and Missouri runs no statewide building code for homes that could add one. The city or county sets the limit. RSMo ch. 272Missouri · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Kansas City?
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Kansas City answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence complies or needs an exception.
The fence and wall code names no permit. It makes it unlawful to construct, enlarge, repair, improve, use, occupy or maintain a fence contrary to the chapter, punishable by a fine of up to five hundred dollars, up to six months in jail, or both, with each day a separate offense. The route to something the chapter does not allow is a special exception from the board of zoning adjustment, which may grant one where there is good and sufficient cause, where the neighborhood and adjacent properties will not be adversely affected, and where the fence is compatible with the existing building in materials, color and design. The filing fee is a hundred and seventy-four dollars, a simple majority of the board decides, and every adjacent or contiguous owner gets mailed notice thirteen days before the hearing.
The board of zoning adjustment is hereby authorized to grant special exceptions to the requirements set forth in section 27-10.
Section 27-11, with Section 27-3
The answer turns on whether the fence complies or needs an exception.
- a conforming fence
- No permit named.
- a fence that does not comply
- A special exception from the board.
- the neighbors
- Mailed notice thirteen days ahead. 13 days
- a violation
- Each day is a separate offense.
Also on permits in Kansas City
- set in state lawMissouri has no building code of its own and hands the job to local government by statute. A county, a fire protection district or a city that already has power to pass such a rule may adopt a code by naming it instead of printing all of it, as long as the code is named by date and source. One copy has to sit with the local clerk, open to anyone, for ninety days before the rule passes, and the rule has to state its own penalty rather than borrow one from the code. The codes this covers are building construction and use, mechanical work, plumbing, electrical work and fire prevention. RSMo § 67.280Missouri · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Kansas City
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Kansas City law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Missouri sets no statewide fence rule for a swimming pool at a private home. The only pool fencing rules in state regulation sit in health department chapters on public bathing places and on hotels and motels, and both are aimed at pools open to the public. The one place a swimming pool shows up in the statutes is a definition inside a section about what a landowner can be sued for, and it sets no fence at all.
This one is Missouri law, not Kansas City law. All Missouri findings
Documents read before writing that:
- RSMo ch. 701Missouri Revisor of Statutes
- RSMo § 537.348Missouri Revisor of Statutes
Spite fence laws in Kansas City
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Kansas City law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Missouri has no spite fence law. Chapter 272 is the state fence chapter and it runs from what counts as a lawful fence through boundary fences, repairs and local option rules. Nothing in it covers a fence built to hurt a neighbor, and there is no height anywhere in it. A fence like that is an ordinary nuisance question in Missouri.
This one is Missouri law, not Kansas City law. All Missouri findings
Documents read before writing that:
- RSMo ch. 272Missouri Revisor of Statutes
- RSMo § 272.060Missouri Revisor of Statutes
How fence height is measured in Kansas City
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Kansas City does not set this. It leaves it to the legislative body of each city, town and village.
Missouri gives a fence height and never says where to measure it from. Section 272.020 calls a fence of posts and wire or boards at least four feet high a lawful fence, and says nothing about the surface those four feet start at. Section 89.020 then lets every city, town and village set the height of buildings and other structures. So the number for a fence at a house, and the point it is measured from, are both written by the city.
This one is Missouri law, not Kansas City law. All Missouri findings
the legislative body of all cities, towns, and villages is hereby empowered to regulate and restrict the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts, and other open spaces
The code hands this to the legislative body of each city, town and village, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Kansas City
- no rule, documents checkedThe chapter states six feet and forty-eight inches and never says what either is measured from. No grade is named, a berm is not addressed, and no allowance is made for a post cap. The one thing it does settle about vertical extent is an exclusion rather than a datum: the location rules do not apply to portions of retaining walls below grade on one or both sides, so the buried part of a wall does not count, while the part above it is left unmeasured. What the chapter measures with real care is horizontal. The front yard of a built lot runs from the front wall of the house, the front yard of a vacant lot from the platted building line and no shallower than the shallowest front yard on the block, and the side yard of a corner lot from the side wall of the house through to the rear yard. Section 27-10Kansas City · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Kansas City
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Kansas City answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the lot is a corner one and whether it is built on.
Kansas City handles a corner without drawing a triangle. On a residential corner lot no fence or wall in the front or side yard may be over forty-eight inches, and the chapter defines that side yard as the open space between the side wall of the house and the side property line nearest the street, extending all the way through from the front yard to the rear yard. So the low limit runs the entire depth of the lot along the side street rather than stopping a set distance back from the corner. A vacant corner lot gets the same treatment measured from the platted or established side yard setback line to the platted or established rear yard setback line. That is a blunter instrument than a sight triangle and a more predictable one, because it needs no measurement from the intersection at all.
No fence or wall in the front or side yard of a residential property may be over 48 inches high. For the purposes of this subsection, side yard is defined as the open space on the same lot with a building used as a residence, situated between the side wall of the building or structure and the side property line of the lot nearest the street and extending through from the front yard to the rear yard.
The answer turns on whether the lot is a corner one and whether it is built on.
- a corner lot side yard
- Forty-eight inches, front to back. 48 in
- the rear yard
- Six feet returns behind the house. 6 ft
- a vacant corner lot
- Measured from the platted setback lines.
- a sight triangle
- None is drawn for a fence.
Also on corner visibility in Kansas City
- set in state lawMissouri lists the ways a person may not damage a road, and fencing is one of them. Chapter 229 makes it against the law to block or damage a public road on purpose, including by fencing across or onto the right of way, or by planting a hedge or putting up an ad sign inside the road lines. A road overseer or county highway engineer sends written notice to take it out, and can ask the circuit court for permission to go clear it. The section does not reach charter counties or the City of St. Louis, and it sets no clear view triangle at a corner. Mo. Rev. Stat. 229.150Missouri · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Kansas City
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Kansas City does not set this. It leaves it to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance.
Missouri puts no retaining wall rule in state law. Section 67.280 lets a county, a fire protection district or a city pass a rule that adopts a building code by naming it. The code has to be named by date and source, and a copy has to sit with the local clerk for ninety days first. So the rule for a wall that holds back earth is whatever the adopted code says, and it changes from one town to the next.
This one is Missouri law, not Kansas City law. All Missouri findings
Any community, if the community otherwise has the power under the law to adopt such an ordinance, may adopt or repeal an ordinance which incorporates by reference the provisions of any code or portions of any code, or any amendment thereof, properly identified as to date and source, without setting forth the provisions of such code in full.
The code hands this to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Kansas City
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Kansas City answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence carries current and what zone it is in.
The fence and wall code names no permitted or prohibited material for an ordinary fence. What it regulates in detail is the one kind that can hurt someone. A fence with uninsulated electric conductors that may be exposed to human contact is allowed in a commercial or heavy industrial zone only, and then only if it stays five feet from any public street or sidewalk, three hundred feet from any residence, school, day care, church or park, runs at no more than twelve volts, uses an energizer listed by a national testing agency, sits entirely inside a non-electric perimeter security fence of at least six feet standing five feet away from it, and carries warning signs every fifty feet. In an agricultural zone an electric fence has only to stay five feet from a surfaced public street or sidewalk. Everything else is covered by the maintenance rule, which asks that posts be firmly set, railings firmly attached and the whole protected from rot and decay.
The entire electric fence must be inside or enclosed by a primary non-electric perimeter security fence a minimum of six feet in height and located no closer that five feet to the electric fence.
Section 27-12, with Section 27-5
The answer turns on whether the fence carries current and what zone it is in.
- an ordinary fence
- No material named.
- an electric fence
- Commercial and heavy industrial only. 300 ft
- the enclosure around it
- Six feet of non-electric fence. 6 ft
- warning signs
- Every fifty feet. 50 ft
Also on materials in Kansas City
- set in state lawMissouri says what a battery charged fence is and blocks every city, county, town and village from banning one. To fit the definition it ties into an alarm that calls law enforcement, sits on land not set aside for homes, and runs off a battery of no more than twelve volts. It also has to stand completely inside a fence or wall that carries no current and is at least five feet tall, stop at ten feet, and carry warning signs no more than sixty feet apart. Whoever installs it has to give the local government written notice once it is up. Mo. Rev. Stat. 67.301Missouri · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Kansas City
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Missouri answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A lawful fence in Missouri is posts and wire or boards at least four feet high, once the two owners agree on it or the associate circuit court decides it. The posts go firmly in the ground no more than twelve feet apart. The wire or boards are fastened tight and spaced so horses, cattle and animals like them cannot get through.
This one is Missouri law, not Kansas City law. All Missouri findings
Any fence consisting of posts and wire or boards at least four feet high which is mutually agreed upon by adjoining landowners or decided upon by the associate circuit court of the county is a lawful fence.
4 ftminimum height of a lawful fence in Missouri
Also on agricultural fencing in Kansas City
- set in state lawThe four feet in Missouri is a minimum, not a maximum. A separate section says nothing in the fence chapter stops either owner from building their own part, or the neighbor's part, better than the chapter asks for. So Chapter 272 sets the least a lawful fence can be and puts no cap on it. RSMo § 272.136Missouri · Statute
Documents behind this page
15 documents, of which 2 were published by Kansas City itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.060, Division fences, rights of parties in, how determined
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.070, Duty of judge if owners disagree, apportionment of costs
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.132, Total cost of fence attributable to one landowner, when
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.110, Division fences to be kept in repair
- City of Kansas CityCode of Ordinances of the City of Kansas City, Chapter 27, Fences and Walls, Article I, In General
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Fences, Enclosures and Trespassing Animals, full chapter listing
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 701, Minimum Standards for Certain Structures and Materials, full chapter listing
- City of Kansas CityCode of Ordinances of the City of Kansas City, Chapter 27, Fences and Walls, Article II, Location, Section 27-10, Fences and walls
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 67, Section 67.280, Communities may incorporate by reference certain technical codes
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 537, Section 537.348, Definition of conditional use
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Section 89.020, Powers of municipal legislative body
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 229, Section 229.150, Ditches and crossings, how made, obstructions or damage prohibited
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 67, Section 67.301, Battery-charged fence
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.020, Fencing requirements
- Missouri Revisor of StatutesRevised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 272, Section 272.136, Landowner may exceed lawful fence requirements
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 Kansas City publishes, plus the Missouri rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Missouri 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