Fence laws in Las Vegas, Nevada
What the Las Vegas municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Las Vegas sets no rule of its own, the Nevada rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Las Vegas, Nevada, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The clearest boundary rule in the section is a prohibition: no screen wall may be built in the front yard of a residential property, and the answer turns on the yard and what sits on the other side of the line. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a side or rear property line.
- How tall
- A front yard wall or fence may be five feet, and the top three vertical feet of it have to be open to permit visibility, so only the bottom two feet may be solid, and the answer turns on the yard, the use and what sits on the other side of the line. The figure is 5 feet, for maximum height of a front yard wall or fence.
- Permits
- The zoning code names no fence permit and no height at which one begins, and the answer turns on what is being built and who has to be satisfied. The figure is 2 feet, for rise in natural grade that triggers a grading plan.
- Pool barriers
- Nevada pool law covers a public pool, which it describes as any structure holding a man made body of water meant to be used by people as a group for swimming or bathing, whether or not anyone is charged for it.
- Spite fences
- Las Vegas 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 side with the greatest vertical exposure above finished grade, which is the strictest form of the rule and the one that stops a wall being called six feet on the high side and ten on the low. The figure is 12 feet, for total vertical plane of a screen wall and retaining wall together on a slope over two percent.
- Corner lots
- Las Vegas leaves corner clearance to Section 18.12.210 of the Las Vegas Municipal Code, the sight visibility restriction zone provisions.
- Retaining walls
- Las Vegas leaves retaining walls to the building code adopted by the governing body of each city or county.
- Materials
- Six materials are unacceptable for a screening wall or fence unless an overall development plan approves them: chain link or open wire fencing, except as temporary construction fencing; razor wire or barbed wire; corrugated metal; colored plastic; untextured or unfinished concrete or block; and pointed post fences, and the answer turns on whether the wall is a screen, a perimeter wall or a retaining wall. The figure is 20 percent, for contrasting material required on a perimeter wall.
- Livestock
- Nevada says what a legal fence for livestock has to be. The figure is 20 feet, for maximum spacing between posts on a legal fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Las Vegas?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Las Vegas answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and what sits on the other side of the line.
The clearest boundary rule in the section is a prohibition: no screen wall may be built in the front yard of a residential property. What may go there is a front yard wall or fence at five feet with its top three feet open, which is a different thing, and a retaining wall at two feet. Along the back and sides, no setback is stated at all, and the perimeter wall rules assume the wall is on the line. A commercial or industrial property has to build one there when it abuts a residential district or land used solely for housing. Where one perimeter wall meets another, the code states a separation rather than a setback: either at least three feet face to face with access for maintenance, or no more than eight inches with the gap filled and capped in a cementitious material that will not load the walls.
No screen wall shall be built in the front yard of a residential property.
The answer turns on the yard and what sits on the other side of the line.
- a residential front yard
- No screen wall at all.
- a side or rear line
- No setback stated. 0 ft
- commercial land beside houses
- A perimeter wall is required.
- two perimeter walls meeting
- Three feet apart, or eight inches and capped. 8 in
Also on fences on the property line in Las Vegas
- no rule, documents checkedNevada has no law about splitting the cost of a fence on the line. Nothing in state law makes one neighbor pay a share of a boundary fence, and nothing sets a notice step before building one. The livestock chapter does say what a legal fence has to look like, but that definition decides who pays for damage done by stray animals, not who pays for the fence. The grazing chapter and the property chapter say nothing about cost either. That leaves a deal between the two neighbors or a city rule. NRS ch. 569Nevada · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Las Vegas?
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Las Vegas answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, the use and what sits on the other side of the line.
A front yard wall or fence may be five feet, and the top three vertical feet of it have to be open to permit visibility, so only the bottom two feet may be solid. A hedge along the front property line is held to three feet, and a retaining wall along the front property line to two. Away from the front the numbers come from the perimeter and screen wall rules: a perimeter wall runs from a minimum of six feet to a maximum of eight, and a screen wall has a maximum of eight. A commercial or industrial property next to residential land has to build a perimeter wall of at least six feet and may not exceed whatever height limit applies to the residential side. Anything next to commercial or industrial land is capped at eight feet. Outside those cases the code says plainly that there is no requirement to build a wall or fence at all.
Front yard walls/fences shall be a maximum of five feet with the top three vertical feet open to permit visibility.
The answer turns on the yard, the use and what sits on the other side of the line.
- a front yard
- Five feet, with the top three open. 5 ft
- a perimeter or screen wall
- Six to eight feet. 8 ft
- a hedge along the front line
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a retaining wall along the front line
- Two feet. 2 ft
Also on fence height in Las Vegas
- no rule, documents checkedNevada does not limit how tall a fence at a house can be. NRS 278.580 leaves building codes to each city and county, so no state code carries a fence height or a fence permit rule. The only fence heights in Nevada law are the forty eight inch top barrier on a livestock fence and the five and six foot barriers around a public pool. Cities and counties set the height rule for a yard fence. NRS 278.580Nevada · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Las Vegas?
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Las Vegas answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is being built and who has to be satisfied.
The zoning code names no fence permit and no height at which one begins. What it says instead is that all perimeter or screen walls and fences have to comply with applicable building code requirements, which moves the question to a different code. Around that sit several judgment calls the zoning code does keep. The Department decides whether contrasting color alone satisfies the twenty percent contrast rule on a perimeter wall, and may require detail variations such as pilasters, decorative caps or fluted blocks. The Director decides whether an existing abutting wall is of unacceptable design, which is what lets a new wall stop matching it. An overall development plan may approve a prohibited screening material. And a grading plan has to be filed with Public Works whenever the natural grade of a lot is to be raised more than two feet at any point, which reaches the berm a wall would otherwise sit on.
all perimeter or screen walls and fences must comply with applicable building code requirements.
The answer turns on what is being built and who has to be satisfied.
- any wall or fence
- The building code applies.
- a prohibited screening material
- Only under an overall development plan.
- the look of a perimeter wall
- The Department and the Director judge it.
- raising the grade more than two feet
- A grading plan to Public Works. 2 ft
Also on permits in Las Vegas
- set in state lawNevada has no building code of its own. NRS 278.580 lets the governing body of any city or county adopt a building code, write the rules that enforce it, and set the permit fees. The statute names only two things a local code has to carry: the earthquake parts of the International Building Code, and standards for studying earthquake hazards. Whether a fence needs a permit is a city or county question. NRS 278.580Nevada · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Las Vegas
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Nevada answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Nevada pool law covers a public pool, which it describes as any structure holding a man made body of water meant to be used by people as a group for swimming or bathing, whether or not anyone is charged for it. A pool at a private home is left out when the owner or someone living there controls it and only family and invited guests use it. Foster homes, small child care homes and some private club pools are left out too.
This one is Nevada law, not Las Vegas law. All Nevada findings
means any structure containing an artificial body of water that is intended to be used collectively by persons for swimming or bathing, regardless of whether a fee is charged for its use
Also on pool barriers in Las Vegas
- set in state lawNevada requires a barrier that closes off the whole pool area at a public pool. It can be a fence, a wall, a building or something else. It has to keep small children out and give nothing to grab or stand on from the outside, and no part of a pool enclosure may double as a walkway people use to get somewhere else. NAC 444.136Nevada · Agency guidance
- set in state lawNevada sets two barrier heights for public pools, and both are taller than the four feet common in other states. A pool at a hotel, motel, other lodging, trailer park, apartment building, condominium or other building with many homes in it takes a barrier at least five feet high. Every other covered pool takes at least six feet. A layout where a gate or door opens straight from a room into the pool area is not allowed. NAC 444.136Nevada · Agency guidance
- set in state lawThe Nevada pool barrier rule also limits the gaps. Upright pieces sit no more than four inches apart, and any opening along the bottom stays under four inches tall. A gate or door into the pool area carries a permanent lock and a latch that closes and catches on its own, set at least three and a half feet above the ground. NAC 444.136Nevada · Agency guidance
Spite fence laws in Las Vegas
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Las Vegas law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Nevada has no spite fence law and no height that makes a fence a legal wrong on its own. A spite fence is one built to bother a neighbor rather than to do a job. The nuisance sections of chapter 40 never use the word fence, and NRS 40.140 gives only a broad test covering anything that blocks the free use of property. The public nuisance sections of chapter 202 mention a fence once, to say that fencing public land is not a nuisance when a federal agency allows or requires it.
This one is Nevada law, not Las Vegas law. All Nevada findings
Documents read before writing that:
- NRS 40.140Nevada Legislature
- NRS ch. 202Nevada Legislature
- NRS ch. 111Nevada Legislature
How fence height is measured in Las Vegas
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Las Vegas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Height is measured from the side with the greatest vertical exposure above finished grade, which is the strictest form of the rule and the one that stops a wall being called six feet on the high side and ten on the low. The code then spends two whole subsections on what happens when a retaining wall is needed underneath, and it splits them on the natural slope of the parcel. Where the slope is two percent or less, the retaining wall is capped at four feet and the two walls together may not exceed ten feet measured from the finished grade on the lower side, with eight feet still the maximum from the higher side. Where the slope is greater than two percent, the retaining wall may be six feet and the combined plane twelve, with the same eight feet from the higher side. Beyond those, every four feet of retaining wall buys a five foot stepback with landscaping in the offset.
The height of a wall or fence shall be measured from the side with the greatest vertical exposure above finished grade.
12 fttotal vertical plane of a screen wall and retaining wall together on a slope over two percent
Also on how height is measured in Las Vegas
- set in state lawNevada answers the measuring question in one place, the livestock title. A legal fence has at least four side to side barriers, the lowest no more than twelve inches from the ground and the top at least forty eight inches above the ground. The ground is the starting point. The planning and zoning chapter has no match for it. NRS 278.020 gives cities and counties power over the improvement of land and over where structures go and how sound they are, without ever using the word height, so a fence at a house has no state starting point at all. NRS 569.431Nevada · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Las Vegas
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Las Vegas does not set this. It leaves it to Section 18.12.210 of the Las Vegas Municipal Code, the sight visibility restriction zone provisions.
Title 19 states no sight triangle of its own. It writes one sentence saying that structures and landscaping near intersections are subject to the sight visibility restriction zone provisions of Las Vegas Municipal Code 18.12.210, and that is the whole of the corner rule in the zoning code. So the geometry, the protected band of height and any exception for an open fence all live in Title 18, which is the streets and public improvements title rather than the zoning one. The zoning code does do the corner job in one indirect way: a front yard wall or fence may be five feet only if the top three feet are open to permit visibility, and a hedge on the front line is capped at three, so the fence in front of a house is already mostly see-through before the sight visibility zone is reached.
Structures and landscaping near intersections shall be subject to the sight visibility restriction zone provisions of LVMC 18.12.210.
The code hands this to Section 18.12.210 of the Las Vegas Municipal Code, the sight visibility restriction zone provisions, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Las Vegas
- set in state lawNevada does have a state rule about blocking the view at an intersection, and it sits in the highway chapter rather than in any zoning law. NRS 405.110 says an advertising sign may not stand where it hides a clear view of a crossing highway. It reaches signs and advertising, nothing else. It draws no triangle, gives no distance, and says nothing about a fence on a house lot, so a corner fence is still a city or county matter under NRS 278. NRS 405.110Nevada · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Las Vegas
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Las Vegas does not set this. It leaves it to the building code adopted by the governing body of each city or county.
Nevada has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. NRS 278.580 lets the governing body of a city or county adopt a building code covering the design, strength and materials of structures, and adopt the rules that enforce it. Whether that kind of wall needs a permit, and how tall it can stand before it does, is answered by the code that city or county adopted.
This one is Nevada law, not Las Vegas law. All Nevada findings
the governing body of any city or county may adopt a building code, specifying the design, soundness and materials of structures, and may adopt rules, ordinances and regulations for the enforcement of the building code
The code hands this to the building code adopted by the governing body of each city or county, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Las Vegas
Compare materials across all 50 states
Las Vegas answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the wall is a screen, a perimeter wall or a retaining wall.
Six materials are unacceptable for a screening wall or fence unless an overall development plan approves them: chain link or open wire fencing, except as temporary construction fencing; razor wire or barbed wire; corrugated metal; colored plastic; untextured or unfinished concrete or block; and pointed post fences. Chain link being on that list is the part worth noting, because plenty of cities allow it and a few require it. The rules for a perimeter wall run the other way and demand decoration rather than forbidding cheapness. It has to be decorative, installed by the developer, built of something like stone, decorative block, slump or wrought iron, and carry a minimum of twenty percent contrasting material, which may be met by contrasting color if the Department agrees. Pilasters may be no more than twenty four feet apart. A visible retaining wall has its own list, including split-face block, caliche rock and textured-finish concrete.
Unless otherwise approved as part of an overall development plan, the following materials are not acceptable for use as screening walls or fences:
Section 19.08.100, Prohibited Materials
The answer turns on whether the wall is a screen, a perimeter wall or a retaining wall.
- chain link or open wire
- Not as a screen, except during construction.
- razor wire or barbed wire
- Not as a screen.
- a perimeter wall
- Decorative, with a fifth of it contrasting. 20%
- a visible retaining wall
- Split-face block, caliche rock, textured concrete.
Also on materials in Las Vegas
- set in state lawNevada orders every county board to pass a rule on battery charged fences, and the state says what that rule has to contain. The fence goes on land not marked for homes, or on rural home land. It runs off a battery of no more than 12 volts and meets the international standard for the charger. It sits behind a fence or wall with no current in it at least 5 feet tall, stops at 10 feet, and carries warning signs no more than 40 feet apart. A county may not ban one outright and may not charge a separate permit for it. NRS 244.3677Nevada · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Las Vegas
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Nevada answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Nevada says what a legal fence for livestock has to be. It carries at least four side to side barriers of wire, board, pole or similar material in common use nearby, with posts no more than twenty feet apart. Each post has to hold a sideways pull of 250 pounds at a point four feet up, and each barrier has to hold the same pull halfway between two posts.
This one is Nevada law, not Las Vegas law. All Nevada findings
a fence with not less than four horizontal barriers, consisting of wires, boards, poles or other fence material in common use in the neighborhood, with posts set not more than 20 feet apart.
20 ftmaximum spacing between posts on a legal fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Las Vegas
- set in state lawThe same Nevada rule fixes the spacing and the height of a legal fence. The lowest barrier sits no more than twelve inches off the ground, no two barriers are more than twelve inches apart, and the top barrier stands at least forty eight inches above the ground. NRS 569.431Nevada · Statute
- set in state lawNevada is a fence out state for cropland. The farmer builds the fence, not the animal owner. Nobody may collect for livestock damage to cultivated land, and no Nevada court may award it, if the land was not closed in by a legal fence when the animals got in. NRS 569.450Nevada · Statute
- set in state lawOnce land is closed in by a legal fence the rule turns around. If livestock break into ground held by a legal fence, the owner or manager of the animals pays the landowner for all the damage. A second trespass caused by that person neglecting the animals costs double. NRS 569.440Nevada · Statute
- set in state lawNevada calls every unfenced piece of land outside cities and towns open range when cattle, sheep or other farm animals graze or roam there by custom, license, lease or permit. That matters most on the highway. Under NRS 568.360 a person who owns or controls an animal running on open range does not have to keep it off a highway crossing that range and pays nothing for a crash there. Letting an animal into a fenced highway right of way through carelessness is different, and that does bring liability. NRS 568.355Nevada · Statute
Documents behind this page
12 documents, of which 2 were published by Las Vegas itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 569 (Estrays and Livestock)
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 568 (Grazing and Ranging)
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 111 (Estates in Property; Conveyancing and Recording)
- City of Las VegasLas Vegas Zoning Code, Title 19, Chapter 19.12, Landscape, Wall and Buffer Requirements, Section 19.12.075, Wall Standards
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Section 278.580
- Nevada State Board of HealthNevada Administrative Code, Chapter 444
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Section 444.065
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 40 (Actions and Proceedings in Particular Cases Concerning Property)
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 202 (Crimes Against Public Health and Safety)
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 405, Control and Preservation of Public Highways
- City of Las VegasLas Vegas Zoning Code, Title 19, Chapter 19.08, Development Standards
- Nevada LegislatureNevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 244, Counties: Government, Section 244.3677, Ordinance regulating battery charged fences: Requirements; prohibitions
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 Las Vegas publishes, plus the Nevada rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Nevada 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