Fence laws in Newark, New Jersey
What the Newark municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Newark sets no rule of its own, the New Jersey rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Newark, New Jersey, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Newark states no setback for a fence from a lot line, and the answer turns on whether the line faces a neighbor or the street. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a side or rear property line.
- How tall
- Newark holds a residential front yard fence to three feet, which is the shortest front limit in this set, and says in the same sentence that it may not be solid, and the answer turns on the use of the lot and the yard. The figure is 3 feet, for fence in a residential front yard.
- Permits
- New Jersey runs one construction code for the whole state.
- Pool barriers
- Newark sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Newark has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Newark leaves the measuring rule to a municipal zoning ordinance adopted under the Municipal Land Use Law.
- Corner lots
- New Jersey protects the driver view in its highways title, and only for signs that need a state permit. It reaches signs permitted by the Roadside Sign Control and Outdoor Advertising Act along state highways only.
- 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
- A residential fence in Newark has to be of a consistent ornamental nature, and the code names the examples and then dimensions them: wrought iron, picket wood or tubular metal, with vertical bars at least half an inch wide and no more than four inches apart, and the answer turns on the use of the lot and the yard. The figure is 4 inches, for maximum spacing between vertical bars.
- 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 Newark?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Newark answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the line faces a neighbor or the street.
Newark states no setback for a fence from a lot line. A fence or wall may be built anywhere between the building line and the property line, which puts it on the boundary if the owner wants it there. The limits the code does write are about the public side. No solid fencing is permitted along a public right-of-way line or in a front yard, so the rule reaches the side street of a corner lot as well as the front. A gate may not swing into the public right-of-way. And the street ordinance in Title 29 bars any barbed wire fence, or any fence or wall with barbed or sharp projections facing outward, adjacent to or along the line of any street or public place. Where a buffer is required between a non-residential and a residential use and five feet of width is not practical, decorative fencing may stand in for the planting, but chain link may not.
No solid fencing is permitted along a public right-of-way line or in a front yard.
Section 41:16-5-1(1)(b)(iv) and (v)
The answer turns on whether the line faces a neighbor or the street.
- a side or rear line
- No setback stated. 0 ft
- a right-of-way line
- Nothing solid.
- a gate
- It may not swing over the sidewalk.
- a required buffer
- Fencing may replace planting, but not chain link. 5 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Newark
- 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 Newark?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Newark answers this, but the answer changes depending on the use of the lot and the yard.
Newark holds a residential front yard fence to three feet, which is the shortest front limit in this set, and says in the same sentence that it may not be solid. Side and rear yards take six feet, rising to eight where a residential use sits next to an industrial one. A commercial lot gets four feet at the front, also not solid, and six feet at the sides and rear. An industrial lot gets six feet in any yard, with a front yard fence that may not be solid. Parks, recreation areas and schools are the one place the code goes tall, allowing ten feet for a ballfield and six feet for everything else. All of these are written as the range between the building line and the property line, so the rule is about the yard rather than about the whole lot.
The maximum allowable fence height shall be three feet in front yards. Fences shall not be solid.
The answer turns on the use of the lot and the yard.
- a house front yard
- Three feet, and see through. 3 ft
- a house side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- next to an industrial use
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a ballfield
- Ten feet. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Newark
- 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 Newark?
Compare permits across all 50 states
New Jersey answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New 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.
This one is New Jersey law, not Newark law. All New Jersey findings
The commissioner shall after public hearing pursuant to section 4 of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-4) adopt a State Uniform Construction Code for the purpose of regulating the structural design, construction, maintenance, and use of buildings or structures to be erected
Also on permits in Newark
- no rule, documents checkedNothing in Newark Title 41 requires a permit for a fence. The administration chapter puts enforcement of the whole title on the Office of Inspections and Enforcement in the Department of Engineering, and then spends its length on certificates of occupancy, which govern using a building rather than building a structure. A certificate of occupancy has to be issued before a building or premises created, erected, changed, converted or enlarged may be used, and the Construction Code Official has thirty days to act on an application. A deviation from a zoning standard in the fence chapter needs a variance under the Municipal Land Use Law, and a deviation from a design standard needs a waiver from the Central Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Adjustment, but neither of those is a permit for an ordinary fence. Sections 41:18-1 and 41:18-2Newark · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Newark
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Newark 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 Newark 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 Newark
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Newark 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 Newark 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 Newark
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Newark 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 Newark 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 Newark
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence section states three feet, four feet, six feet, eight feet and ten feet and never says what any of them is measured from. No grade is named, a berm under a fence is not mentioned, a fence on top of a retaining wall is not mentioned, and no allowance is made for a post or a cap. What the section does measure precisely is the fence itself rather than its position: the vertical bars of an ornamental fence have a minimum width of half an inch and a maximum spacing of four inches, which is the level of detail most codes reserve for a pool barrier. The buffer rules nearby show the code fixing a dimension when it wants one, requiring a living screen at least six feet high within two growing seasons and a planted berm with a minimum top width of four feet and a maximum side slope of two to one. Section 41:16-5-1Newark · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Newark
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New Jersey answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New 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.
This one is New Jersey law, not Newark law. All New Jersey findings
A sign may not interfere or be likely to interfere with the ability of the operator of a motor vehicle to have a clear and unobstructed view of the highway ahead or of official signs, signals or traffic control devices.
Also on corner visibility in Newark
- no rule, documents checkedNewark draws no sight triangle for a fence. The phrase appears once in the zoning title, in the buffer area rules, which require a buffer to be placed so that at maturity it will not protrude across a street or property line and so that a clear sight triangle is maintained at off-street intersections and wherever a private accessway meets a public street. No distance is given, no protected band of heights is given, and nothing ties that sentence to a fence built by a homeowner. The subdivision and site plan design standards talk about sight lines in the sense of visual corridors and views, not about seeing a car at a corner. What does the work at a Newark corner is the height rule itself, since a front yard fence is capped at three feet and may not be solid, and the same non-solid rule follows the whole right-of-way line. Section 41:16-3-1(5)Newark · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in Newark
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 Newark 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 Newark
Compare materials across all 50 states
Newark answers this, but the answer changes depending on the use of the lot and the yard.
A residential fence in Newark has to be of a consistent ornamental nature, and the code names the examples and then dimensions them: wrought iron, picket wood or tubular metal, with vertical bars at least half an inch wide and no more than four inches apart. Walls have to be brick, stucco, decorative concrete, natural stone or similar decorative material. PVC vinyl and wood stockade are allowed in rear yards only, and chain link is not permitted anywhere on a residential lot. A commercial lot may use chain link in a side or rear yard but not at the front. An industrial lot may use chain link in any yard, and where security fencing is needed a bent top tubular metal fence may be used, with barbed wire, razor wire and similar attachments barred. Razor wire, barbed wire and sharp projections are prohibited across the whole section, and a separate street ordinance bars any fence with barbs or sharp projections facing outward along a street.
Fences shall be of a consistent, ornamental nature such as wrought iron, picket wood, or tubular metal fencing. The minimum width of vertical bars shall be 0.5 inch and the maximum spacing of the bars shall be four inches.
The answer turns on the use of the lot and the yard.
- a residential fence
- Ornamental, with bars four inches apart at most. 4 in
- chain link at a house
- Not permitted in any yard.
- vinyl or stockade
- Rear yards only.
- barbed or razor wire
- Prohibited anywhere.
Also on materials in Newark
- 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 Newark
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 Newark 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 Newark
- 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
15 documents, of which 4 were published by Newark 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 NewarkNewark Municipal Code, Title 41, Chapter 41:16, Additional Zoning and Design Standards, Section 41:16-5-1, Zoning Standards
- 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
- City of NewarkNewark Municipal Code, Title 41, Chapter 41:18, Administration, Enforcement and Violations
- 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.
- City of NewarkNewark Municipal Code, Title 41, Chapter 41:16, Additional Zoning and Design Standards, Section 41:16-3-1, Zoning Standards
- City of NewarkNewark Municipal Code, Title 29, Chapter 29:6, Walls and Fences, Section 29:6-3
- 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 Newark 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