Fence laws in St. Louis, Missouri
What the St. Louis municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where St. Louis sets no rule of its own, the Missouri rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in St. Louis, Missouri, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- St, and the answer turns on whether there is a sidewalk and what the neighbor has built.
- How tall
- St, and the answer turns on the zone and whether the fence is in front of the building line. The figure is 48 inches, for fence in front of the residential building line.
- Permits
- A fence in St, and the answer turns on the estimated cost of the work.
- Pool barriers
- St. Louis sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- St. Louis has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- St. Louis leaves the measuring rule to the legislative body of each city, town and village.
- Corner lots
- The building code handles a St, and the answer turns on where the zoning ordinance puts the triangle. The figure is 8 feet, for fence height behind the building line.
- Retaining walls
- St. Louis leaves retaining walls to the building code each county, fire protection district or city adopts by reference in its own ordinance.
- Materials
- No barbed wire fence, and no fence topped with barbed wire, razor ribbon or like material, may be erected for any use group in a residential zone in St, and the answer turns on the zone and how high the wire sits. The figure is 7 feet, for lowest a strand of barbed wire may sit.
- 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 St. Louis?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
St. Louis answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether there is a sidewalk and what the neighbor has built.
St. Louis says something about a shared boundary that almost no other code in this set says out loud. Two fences of different heights and materials may abut each other on a property line, provided each is on its own property and all height rules are met, and there are no provisions as to which side the fence must face. So the finished side rule that most cities write does not exist here, and the double fence that other cities discourage is expressly allowed. The owner is made responsible for locating the property lines as they pertain to the location and construction of the fence, so the city takes no position on where the line runs. No fence may be erected in a side or front yard beyond the building line where there is no sidewalk and the yard abuts a public street.
Two fences of different heights and materials shall be permitted to abut each other on a property line provided that each is on its own property and all height regulations are followed. There are no provisions as to which side the fence must face.
Section 430.1, items 6, 7 and 9
The answer turns on whether there is a sidewalk and what the neighbor has built.
- two neighbors both building
- Both fences may touch on the line.
- the finished side
- No rule at all.
- locating the line
- The owner is responsible.
- a yard on a street with no sidewalk
- Nothing beyond the building line.
Also on fences on the property line in St. Louis
- 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 St. Louis?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
St. Louis answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone and whether the fence is in front of the building line.
St. Louis keeps its fence rules in the building code rather than the zoning code. In a residential zone no fence over forty-eight inches may be erected in front of the building line, with that line and the front yard building line of a corner lot both determined under the zoning ordinance. Every other fence in a residential zone may go to eight feet along a side or rear property line, which is taller than most cities in this set allow as of right. A commercial zone gets ten feet. Fences around swimming pools follow the pool section of the building code instead. The zoning title itself is nearly silent on fences, so the building code numbers are the operative ones and the zoning code supplies only the definition of the building line they are measured against.
No fence exceeding 48 inches in height shall be erected in front of the building line as determined by the guidelines and requirements set forth in the Zoning Ordinance, when constructed for uses in residential zones.
The answer turns on the zone and whether the fence is in front of the building line.
- in front of the building line
- Forty-eight inches. 48 in
- a side or rear line
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a commercial zone
- Ten feet. 10 ft
- a pool fence
- The pool section of the building code.
Also on fence height in St. Louis
- 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 St. Louis?
Compare permits across all 50 states
St. Louis answers this, but the answer changes depending on the estimated cost of the work.
A fence in St. Louis is permitted as a miscellaneous structure under the building code, alongside retaining walls, parking lots, awnings and signs. The fee is not a flat charge but a rate on the work: six dollars for every thousand dollars of estimated construction cost or fraction of it, with a fifteen dollar minimum, plus a twenty-five dollar application fee for processing. Where the building official thinks the valuation on the application is understated, the permit is denied unless the applicant can produce detailed construction estimates that satisfy the official, who may also require signed and notarized construction contracts and who sets the final valuation. So a fence permit here costs what the fence costs rather than what a fence costs.
The fee for a permit for, including, but not limited to, retaining walls, fences and site-work (including parking lots) shall be based on the estimated total cost of the construction at the rate listed in Table 109.3.1.
Section 109.2.3, with Table 109.3.1
The answer turns on the estimated cost of the work.
- any fence
- A miscellaneous structures permit.
- the fee
- Six dollars per thousand of cost.
- the minimum
- Fifteen dollars, plus an application fee.
- a low estimate
- The permit is denied until it is proved.
Also on permits in St. Louis
- 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 St. Louis
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
St. Louis 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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
St. Louis 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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
St. Louis 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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis
- no rule, documents checkedSection 430 states forty-eight inches, eight feet, ten feet and seven feet and never says what any of them is measured from. No grade is named, a berm is not addressed, and no allowance is made for a post cap. A fence on top of a retaining wall is not answered either, although retaining walls are permitted through the same fee section as fences. The one vertical reference the section does give belongs to the wire rule, requiring that no strand of barbed wire or razor ribbon sit closer than seven feet to the ground, which names the ground rather than a grade. The zoning title, which supplies the building line and the site distance triangle the fence rules rely on, has nothing to say about how a fence is measured either. Section 430.1St. Louis · Building code
Fence rules for corner lots in St. Louis
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
St. Louis answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the zoning ordinance puts the triangle.
The building code handles a St. Louis corner in one sentence and sends the measurement elsewhere: fencing on a corner lot may not be located within the site distance triangle as defined in the zoning ordinance, and the front yard building line for a corner lot is likewise determined under the zoning ordinance. So the rule is a prohibition rather than a height limit, and a fence of any height is out of the triangle rather than merely cut down inside it. What the building code does supply is the number that applies on either side of that triangle, forty-eight inches in front of the building line and eight feet behind it, so a corner lot owner needs both documents to work out where a fence may stand.
Front yard building lines for corner lots are also determined by the provisions set forth in the Zoning Ordinance. Fencing on a corner lot shall not be located within the site distance triangle as defined in the Zoning Ordinance.
The answer turns on where the zoning ordinance puts the triangle.
- inside the triangle
- No fence at all.
- the size of it
- Defined in the zoning ordinance.
- the front building line
- Also set by zoning.
- behind that line
- Eight feet returns. 8 ft
Also on corner visibility in St. Louis
- 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 St. Louis
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
St. Louis 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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis
Compare materials across all 50 states
St. Louis answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone and how high the wire sits.
No barbed wire fence, and no fence topped with barbed wire, razor ribbon or like material, may be erected for any use group in a residential zone in St. Louis. Where such wire is permitted at all, no strand of it may be closer than seven feet to the ground, which pushes it above head height rather than banning it outright on a business or industrial lot. Electrically charged fences are prohibited across the whole city with no exception. A separate street ordinance adds a third rule that reaches every zone: it is unlawful to erect or maintain any fence composed in whole or in part of barbed wire on any street, public or private alley, passage or thoroughfare fifteen feet or less in width, and a person notified in writing by the police has ninety days to take it down before the misdemeanor bites.
No barbed wire fence or fence topped with barbed wire, razor ribbon, or like material shall be erected for any use group in residential zones. No strand of barbed wire, razor ribbon, or like material on any fence shall be closer than seven feet to the ground.
The answer turns on the zone and how high the wire sits.
- a residential zone
- No barbed wire at all.
- anywhere it is allowed
- Seven feet off the ground. 7 ft
- an electric fence
- Prohibited citywide.
- a narrow alley or street
- No barbed wire on it at all. 15 ft
Also on materials in St. Louis
- 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 St. Louis
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis
- 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
16 documents, of which 3 were published by St. Louis 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 St. LouisRevised Code of the City of St. Louis, Title 25, Buildings and Construction, Chapter 25.01, Building Code, Section 430, Fences
- 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
- 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
- City of St. LouisRevised Code of the City of St. Louis, Title 26, Zoning, Chapter 26.16, General Zoning Regulations
- City of St. LouisRevised Code of the City of St. Louis, Title 20, Streets, Sidewalks and Bridges, Chapter 20.38, General Use Restrictions, Section 20.38.010
- 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 St. Louis 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