Fence laws in Clifton, New Jersey
What the Clifton municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Clifton sets no rule of its own, the New Jersey rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Clifton, New Jersey, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Clifton writes its fence rules along the property lines themselves, permitting a fence erected along the front line, the side lines and the rear line, so no setback of its own applies and a fence may sit on the boundary, and the answer turns on what the fence does to drainage and which way it faces. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a property line.
- How tall
- Clifton runs three heights down the length of a residential lot, and the answer turns on where along the lot the fence runs and what it abuts. The figure is 4 feet, for fence along the front property line.
- Permits
- Clifton requires a permit for the erection of a fence and asks for one thing with it that most cities do not: a certified survey showing the proposed fence and indicating its type, height and location, and the answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall.
- Pool barriers
- Clifton sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Clifton has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Clifton leaves the measuring rule to a municipal zoning ordinance adopted under the Municipal Land Use Law.
- Corner lots
- On every Clifton corner lot in the R, B-A, B-A1, B-B and M-1 districts no fence or wall may stand higher than three feet six inches above the street grade inside the corner triangle, and no other obstruction to vision may sit between that height and ten feet above the top of the curb of either street, and the answer turns on the interior angle at the corner. The figure is 20 feet, for leg of the triangle at ninety degrees or more.
- Retaining walls
- New Jersey writes its own rule for a wall that holds back earth instead of leaving it to the national code. The figure is 4 feet, for retaining wall height at or above which a construction permit is required.
- Materials
- Barbed wire and razor-type fencing are not permitted in any Clifton district or as part of any fence, with no industrial exception, and the answer turns on the district and where on the lot the fence runs. The figure is 10 feet, for distance from a street line a business fence stays fully open.
- Livestock
- New Jersey sets one height for a lawful fence and one job for it to do. The figure is 50 inches, for minimum height of a lawful fence, which the statute states as four feet and two inches.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Clifton?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Clifton answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence does to drainage and which way it faces.
Clifton writes its fence rules along the property lines themselves, permitting a fence erected along the front line, the side lines and the rear line, so no setback of its own applies and a fence may sit on the boundary. Two duties come with that position. The finished side of the fence in every district has to face the neighboring property or any public right-of-way. And in no case may a fence be permitted to alter or restrict the natural or existing water flow across property lines, which reaches a solid fence built across a swale as surely as it reaches a wall. A detached accessory structure, unlike a fence, has to keep three feet off any side or rear lot line and twenty-five feet off the side street line of a corner lot. A wall over two feet high that does not meet the building setback is a conditional use needing Planning Board approval.
In no case shall any fence be permitted to alter or restrict the natural or existing water flow across property lines.
The answer turns on what the fence does to drainage and which way it faces.
- a property line
- A fence may be built along it. 0 ft
- drainage
- Nothing that changes the water flow.
- the finished side
- Faces the neighbor or the street.
- a wall over two feet
- A conditional use if it breaks the setback. 2 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Clifton
- set in state lawNew Jersey only splits a fence on the line when at least one of the two neighbors is pasturing or keeping animals. Each neighbor who uses the land that way builds and keeps up a fair share. A neighbor who leaves the land empty and open, or who keeps no animals, owes nothing toward it. That is narrower than most states, where both sides share the cost whatever the land is used for. N.J.S.A. 4:20-7New Jersey · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Clifton?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Clifton answers this, but the answer changes depending on where along the lot the fence runs and what it abuts.
Clifton runs three heights down the length of a residential lot. Along the front property line and the side lines as far as the front of the house a fence may be four feet and has to be fifty percent open. From the front of the house back to the rear line, and along the rear line, five feet is allowed and the fence may be solid, stockade or basket weave. From the rear line of the house back, six feet is allowed only if the top foot is an open design such as basket weave or picket at fifty percent open. So the sixth foot is bought with visibility. A business district gets six feet along every line and an industrial district eight, both at fifty percent open and fully open within ten feet of a street line. Where a house lot touches a business or industrial lot, or a state highway or the Garden State Parkway, six feet of solid fence is allowed on that line.
A fence erected along the side lines from the rear line of the main structure to the rear property line and along said rear property line shall not exceed six feet in height. Such fence must have a minimum of the top one foot as an open design such as a basket weave or picket style fence with a minimum of 50% open.
The answer turns on where along the lot the fence runs and what it abuts.
- the front line
- Four feet, half open. 4 ft
- beside the house
- Five feet, and it may be solid. 5 ft
- behind the house
- Six feet, with an open top foot. 6 ft
- an industrial district
- Eight feet, half open. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Clifton
- no rule, documents checkedNew Jersey does not limit how tall a fence at a house can be. State law gives that job to the towns, which may set the size, height and shape of fences between neighboring lots. Height is a town rule in every New Jersey town. R.S. 40:48-1(29)New Jersey · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Clifton?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Clifton answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall.
Clifton requires a permit for the erection of a fence and asks for one thing with it that most cities do not: a certified survey showing the proposed fence and indicating its type, height and location. A survey costs money and takes time, and asking for it at the fence stage settles where the line runs before the posts go in rather than after. Separately, a zoning permit is required in all cases for an accessory structure. A retaining wall, which the code treats as a different thing from a fence, needs a building permit with a certified plot plan showing the exact location, elevation and plan of the proposed wall, and has to be designed to resist the pressure of the retained material and to stay stable against overturning, sliding and water uplift.
A permit shall be required for the erection of a fence. A certified survey shall be submitted, showing the proposed fence and indicating its type, height and location.
The answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a retaining wall.
- any fence
- A permit, with a certified survey.
- an accessory structure
- A zoning permit in all cases.
- a retaining wall
- A building permit and a certified plot plan.
- a wall over two feet
- Planning Board approval where the setback is short.
Also on permits in Clifton
- set in state lawNew Jersey runs one construction code for the whole state. The Commissioner of Community Affairs adopts it after a public hearing, and it covers building work everywhere in the state. The list of work that needs a permit, and the list of work that does not, sit inside that code at N.J.A.C. 5:23 and not in the statute. N.J.S.A. 52:27D-123New Jersey · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Clifton
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
Clifton law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
New Jersey does have a pool barrier rule. It sits in the state construction code at N.J.A.C. 5:23-3.21, which takes in the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code and then changes parts of it. The Department of Community Affairs publishes that rule only as a PDF and its text could not be read, so no height is claimed here. The numbers live in the national code rather than in New Jersey text.
This one is New Jersey law, not Clifton law. All New Jersey findings
Documents read before writing that:
- N.J.A.C. 5:23-3.21New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
- N.J.S.A. 52:27D-123New Jersey Legislature
Spite fence laws in Clifton
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Clifton law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
New Jersey has no statewide spite fence law. A spite fence is one built to bother a neighbor rather than to do a job. Title 4, Chapter 20 covers fences on the line and says nothing about spite. State law instead lets each town set the size and height of fences between neighbors, so the answer is a town rule.
This one is New Jersey law, not Clifton law. All New Jersey findings
Documents read before writing that:
- N.J.S.A. 4:20-7New Jersey Legislature
- R.S. 40:48-1(29)New Jersey Legislature
How fence height is measured in Clifton
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Clifton does not set this. It leaves it to a municipal zoning ordinance adopted under the Municipal Land Use Law.
New Jersey states a fence number and never says where to measure it from. The state construction code says no permit is needed for a fence six feet or less in height, and it never says six feet above what. The Municipal Land Use Law fills the gap by handing the bulk, height, number of stories, direction and size of buildings and other structures to a town zoning rule. The town decides where the measuring starts.
This one is New Jersey law, not Clifton law. All New Jersey findings
Regulate the bulk, height, number of stories, orientation, and size of buildings and the other structures; the percentage of lot or development area that may be occupied by structures; lot sizes and dimensions
The code hands this to a municipal zoning ordinance adopted under the Municipal Land Use Law, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Clifton
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence section states four feet, five feet, six feet and eight 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 built on top of a retaining wall is not answered either, although retaining walls are regulated separately and a wall over two feet that breaks the building setback is a conditional use. The corner lot section shows the code fixing a reference when it matters, measuring three feet six inches above the street grade and ten feet above the top of the curb of either street. Using the curb and the street grade rather than the ground at the fence means a lot sitting above the road loses usable height at the corner even though the fence rules themselves say nothing about grade. Section 461-47Clifton · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Clifton
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Clifton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the interior angle at the corner.
On every Clifton corner lot in the R, B-A, B-A1, B-B and M-1 districts no fence or wall may stand higher than three feet six inches above the street grade inside the corner triangle, and no other obstruction to vision may sit between that height and ten feet above the top of the curb of either street. A post, tree or column is allowed through that band so long as it is no more than one square foot in cross section or one foot in diameter. The size of the triangle is the unusual part. At an interior angle of ninety degrees or more it is twenty feet along each street line. Below ninety degrees it grows by one foot for every ten degrees, or major fraction, that the angle falls short, so a sixty degree corner gets twenty-three feet. The sharper the corner, the further back the fence goes.
there shall be no fence or wall higher than three feet six inches above the street grade, nor any other obstruction to vision other than a post, tree or column not exceeding in cross section one square foot or one foot in diameter
The answer turns on the interior angle at the corner.
- a right angle corner
- Twenty feet along each street line. 20 ft
- a sharper corner
- A foot more per ten degrees. 10 degrees
- inside the triangle
- Three feet six inches. 42 in
- a post or tree
- Allowed if it is thin enough.
Also on corner visibility in Clifton
- set in state lawNew Jersey protects the driver view in its highways title, and only for signs that need a state permit. Section 27:5-9 sets the conditions on that permit, and one of them is that the sign may not block a clear view of the road ahead or of official signs and signals. Nothing there reaches a fence at a house. A town gets the power to draw a corner sight triangle, the clear space kept open where two streets meet, from the Municipal Land Use Law. N.J.S.A. 27:5-9New Jersey · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Clifton
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
New Jersey answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New Jersey writes its own rule for a wall that holds back earth instead of leaving it to the national code. A construction permit is needed to build, enlarge, change, rebuild or tear down such a wall four feet or taller, and also a shorter one that hurts a foundation. The four feet counts every wall on the same slope added together, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. Walls the town already reviewed in subdivision and site plan work, and walls a county engineer or the state transportation department reviews, are left out.
This one is New Jersey law, not Clifton law. All New Jersey findings
No person shall construct, enlarge, alter, reconstruct, or demolish a retaining wall or series of retaining walls having a total height four feet or greater, or a retaining wall less than four feet having a negative impact on a foundation, without first obtaining a construction permit.
4 ftretaining wall height at or above which a construction permit is required
Fence materials allowed in Clifton
Compare materials across all 50 states
Clifton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and where on the lot the fence runs.
Barbed wire and razor-type fencing are not permitted in any Clifton district or as part of any fence, with no industrial exception. Beyond that the code says less about product than about proportion, and it defines openness by the slat rather than by an area percentage: a fence has to have open space of at least the same size as, and between, each two pickets, slats or other construction elements, which is what the code means by fifty percent open. Behind the house the top foot has to be an open design, named as basket weave or picket. Where the fence may be solid, the code names stockade and basket weave as the permitted kinds. A business or industrial fence has to be one hundred percent open within ten feet of a street property line, whatever it is made of.
Barbed wire and razor-type fencing shall not be permitted in any district or as part of any fence.
Section 461-47(K), with (A)(1) and (B)(1)
The answer turns on the district and where on the lot the fence runs.
- barbed or razor wire
- Not in any district.
- a half open fence
- Gaps as wide as the slats.
- within ten feet of a street
- Fully open on a business lot. 10 ft
- a solid fence
- Stockade or basket weave.
Also on materials in Clifton
- set in state lawNew Jersey calls an electric security fence a perimeter fence intrusion protection system, and it sets nine things such a fence has to do. It ties into an alarm somebody watches. It cannot go on land a town has set aside for homes only. It runs off a storage battery of no more than 12 volts and meets the international standard for the charger. It stands behind a fence or wall with no current in it at least five feet tall, stops at ten feet, carries warning signs no more than 40 feet apart, and is put in by somebody trained or certified to install it. N.J.S.A. 45:5A-54New Jersey · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Clifton
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
New Jersey answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New Jersey sets one height for a lawful fence and one job for it to do. It stands four feet and two inches from the surface of the ground, and it has to be close, strong and tight enough that horses and cattle cannot get through or under. Where the fence sits on the line and either neighbor works the land, it also has to be tight enough to stop sheep. Low meadow along a stream or river that floods is left out of that last part.
This one is New Jersey law, not Clifton law. All New Jersey findings
if four feet and two inches high measuring from the level or surface of the earth, and close, strong and sufficient to prevent horses and cattle from going through or under it.
50 inminimum height of a lawful fence, which the statute states as four feet and two inches
Also on agricultural fencing in Clifton
- set in state lawNew Jersey ties the damage claim to the fence. When horses, cattle or sheep get over, push through or break down a fence the chapter calls lawful, the owner of the animals pays the hurt neighbor for all of it. Two neutral people from the neighborhood set the amount, one picked by each side, and each has to own the same sort of property that was damaged. If the animal owner will not pick, the hurt neighbor picks both. If the two cannot agree, they bring in a third. N.J.S.A. 4:20-22New Jersey · Statute
- set in state lawNew Jersey bans barbed wire between neighbors unless the neighbor agrees to it. A fence on the line made of barbed wire, or of wire with barbs or points strung on it, is not a lawful fence without the next door owner's consent, and the statute forbids it outright without that consent. Most farm states treat barbed wire as the normal build. New Jersey does the opposite. N.J.S.A. 4:20-3New Jersey · Statute
Documents behind this page
12 documents, of which 1 was published by Clifton itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 4, Section 4:20-7, Duty to make and maintain portion of partition fence
- City of CliftonCode of the City of Clifton, Chapter 461, Zoning, Article VIII, Accessory Buildings, Fences, Walls and Screening, Section 461-47, Fences
- New Jersey LegislatureAssembly Bill A697 (2022 session), reproducing R.S.40:48-1 paragraph 29, Fences
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 52, Section 52:27D-123, State Uniform Construction Code; adoption
- New Jersey Department of Community AffairsN.J.A.C. 5:23-3, Uniform Construction Code subcodes (PDF, could not be read)
- New Jersey Business Action Center, Department of StateMunicipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes, Title 27, Highways, Chapter 5, Roadside Sign Control and Outdoor Advertising
- New Jersey Department of Community AffairsNew Jersey Administrative Code, Title 5, Chapter 23, Uniform Construction Code, Subchapter 2, Administration and Enforcement
- New Jersey LegislatureP.L.2021, Chapter 2, An Act concerning perimeter fence intrusion protection systems and other alarm systems
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 4, Agriculture and Domestic Animals, Section 4:20-1, Sufficiency of fences in general
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 4, Agriculture and Domestic Animals, Section 4:20-22, Damages by animals breaking through lawful fences
- New Jersey LegislatureNew Jersey Statutes (Unannotated), Title 4, Agriculture and Domestic Animals, Section 4:20-3, Partition fences of barbed wire
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 Clifton publishes, plus the New Jersey rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in New Jersey 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