Fence laws in Pennsylvania
What Pennsylvania statutes and statewide codes say about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line.
Fence laws in Pennsylvania, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Pennsylvania has no statute splitting the cost of a fence on the boundary. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- How tall
- Pennsylvania sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- A fence six feet tall or less needs no building permit anywhere in Pennsylvania. The figure is 6 feet, for residential fence height at or below which no building permit is required.
- Pool barriers
- Pennsylvania prints no pool barrier height of its own.
- Spite fences
- Pennsylvania has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Pennsylvania leaves the measuring rule to a zoning ordinance adopted by a municipality under the Municipalities Planning Code.
- Corner lots
- Pennsylvania uses the words corner sight distance, and they sit in the traffic rules rather than in a zoning ordinance. It reaches a tree, plant, shrub or other thing that blocks the view at a corner, which the Department may order cut back on a state highway and the local authority on any other highway only.
- Retaining walls
- A retaining wall four feet tall or less needs no permit in Pennsylvania, so long as it carries no surcharge, which means no extra load pressing on the dirt behind it. The figure is 4 feet, for height at or below which a retaining wall needs no permit, measured from the lowest level of grade to the top of the wall. It reaches residential buildings only.
- Materials
- A wire fence is lawful in Pennsylvania, with or without barbs, and an act of 1899 says so in two short sections.
- Livestock
- A fence made in whole or in part of wire, with or without barbs, counts as a legal fence under every Pennsylvania act about building and keeping up a fence on the line.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Pennsylvania?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Pennsylvania law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
No rule about a fence on the line appears in the published Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code. The two chapters that were read set permit rules and adopt model codes, and neither one says who pays for a fence on a boundary. The Pennsylvania line fence rule is not part of the consolidated statutes. It sits in an act of 1905, which makes the owners of improved and occupied land each build and keep up an equal part of the fence on the line between them.
Documents read before writing that:
- 34 Pa. Code 403.62Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin
- 34 Pa. Code 403.21Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin
How tall can a fence be in Pennsylvania?
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Pennsylvania law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Pennsylvania sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The six foot figure in the Uniform Construction Code is the point where a permit starts being needed, not a ceiling, so a taller fence is allowed with a permit unless local zoning says otherwise. The code adoption section names no height at all. Municipal zoning sets the limit.
Documents read before writing that:
- 34 Pa. Code 403.62Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin
- 34 Pa. Code 403.21Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin
Do I need a permit for a fence in Pennsylvania?
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Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence six feet tall or less needs no building permit anywhere in Pennsylvania. The state writes that exemption into its own regulation instead of leaving it inside the model code, and it holds as long as the work breaks no other law or ordinance. The same list exempts a retaining wall under four feet with no extra load pressing on the dirt behind it, and a factory built pool less than 24 inches deep.
Fences that are no more than 6 feet high.
6 ftresidential fence height at or below which no building permit is required
Pool fence requirements in Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Pennsylvania prints no pool barrier height of its own. The Uniform Construction Code takes in a list of model codes by reference, and one of them is the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code of 2021, which holds the barrier height and the gate rules for a pool at a house. The same section takes in the International Residential Code of 2021. So the number sits in that model code rather than in the Pennsylvania regulation.
International Swimming Pool and Spa Code of 2021
Spite fence laws in Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Pennsylvania has no spite fence law. The Uniform Construction Code chapters that reach a fence treat it as construction work and draw a permit line by height, with nothing about why the fence was built. A Pennsylvania claim over a fence put up to annoy a neighbor runs on a nuisance case in court and on local zoning.
Documents read before writing that:
- 34 Pa. Code 403.62Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin
- 34 Pa. Code 403.21Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin
How fence height is measured in Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania does not set this. It leaves it to a zoning ordinance adopted by a municipality under the Municipalities Planning Code.
Pennsylvania has no state fence height and no state rule for how one is measured. Every local zoning power in the state comes from the Municipalities Planning Code, and section 603 lets a local ordinance control the size, height, bulk and location of structures. A fence is a structure rather than a building, so that clause reaches it. The borough, township or city ordinance is the only document that says what six feet is counted from.
Size, height, bulk, location, erection, construction, repair, maintenance, alteration, razing, removal and use of structures.
MPC Section 603(b)(2), 53 P.S. 10603(b)(2)
The code hands this to a zoning ordinance adopted by a municipality under the Municipalities Planning Code, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Pennsylvania uses the words corner sight distance, and they sit in the traffic rules rather than in a zoning ordinance. Section 212.6 lets the Department order a property owner to cut back or take out a tree, plant, shrub or other thing that is a traffic hazard on a state highway, and lets a local authority do the same on any highway inside its own lines. The section gives one example of a hazard, something that drops the corner sight distance below the minimum for a driver pulling out of a side road or a driveway. It draws no triangle and leaves the minimum to the standards.
The Department on State-designated highways, and local authorities on any highway within their boundaries, may require a property owner to remove or trim a tree, plant, shrub or other obstruction or part thereof which constitutes a traffic hazard.
Retaining wall rules in Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A retaining wall four feet tall or less needs no permit in Pennsylvania, so long as it carries no surcharge, which means no extra load pressing on the dirt behind it. Pennsylvania prints that exemption in its own regulation rather than leaving it inside the model code, and it counts the four feet from the lowest level of grade to the top of the wall. The model code counts from the bottom of the footing instead, so a wall with a deep footing gets more room here. The exemption only holds if the work breaks no other law or ordinance.
Retaining walls that are not over 4 feet in height measured from the lowest level of grade to the top of the wall unless the wall supports a surcharge.
4 ftheight at or below which a retaining wall needs no permit, measured from the lowest level of grade to the top of the wall
Fence materials allowed in Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A wire fence is lawful in Pennsylvania, with or without barbs, and an act of 1899 says so in two short sections. The first makes it lawful for any land owner in the state to build and keep a wire fence along any highway, then hands the limits to each town by making that right subject to whatever the local authorities restrict or ban. The second makes a wire fence a lawful fence on the line under every other fence act in the state, so long as it reaches the height those acts call for.
That it shall and is hereby declared to be lawful for any land owner within this Commonwealth to construct, build and maintain, along any of the highways of this Commonwealth, fences made in whole or in part of wire, with or without barbs, subject at all times to such restrictions and prohibitions as may be imposed by the municipal authorities relative thereto.
Livestock and boundary fence law in Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence made in whole or in part of wire, with or without barbs, counts as a legal fence under every Pennsylvania act about building and keeping up a fence on the line. The act sets no wire count, no post spacing and no height of its own. It sends the height back to whatever the line fence act calls for.
A fence, in whole or in part of wire, with or without barbs, is hereby declared to be a legal and lawful fence, within the meaning and provisions of any act of the Legislature of this State relative to the building, constructing and maintaining of line fences, provided that such wire fence shall be of the height required by such act or acts.
1899 Act 111, Section 2 (29 P.S. 32)
Also on agricultural fencing in Pennsylvania
- left to the townPennsylvania never prints a fence specification. The line fence act makes the owners of improved and occupied land each build and keep up an equal part of the fence on the line between them. When one of them says the other's half is not good enough, a person decides it rather than a table of numbers. The county surveyor acts as fence viewer, looks at the fence, and reports whether it is good enough. If it is, the one who complained pays the surveyor. If it is not, the matter goes to a justice of the peace, who gives the other owner forty days to build or repair. 1905 Act 118, Section 1 (29 P.S. 41)Pennsylvania · Statute
Cities in Pennsylvania
9 cities with their own fence rules read from the city’s own code. Where a city says nothing on a topic, the state answer above is what applies.
Documents behind this page
7 documents, each read on the date shown. Nothing on this page rests on a summary of one.
- Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin34 Pa. Code Chapter 403, Administration, Permit requirements and exemptions
- Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin34 Pa. Code Chapter 403, Administration, Uniform Construction Code
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyPennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act of July 31, 1968, P.L.805, No.247
- Commonwealth of PennsylvaniaPennsylvania Code, Title 67, Transportation, Chapter 212, Official Traffic Control Devices
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyMaking Wire Fences Legal, Act of May 2, 1899, P.L. 163, No. 111
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyAct No. 111 of 1899, Making Wire Fences Legal, enacted May 2, 1899, Section 2 as amended April 7, 1976, P.L.807, No.31
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyAct No. 118 of 1905, Regulating Line Fences, enacted April 14, 1905
What this page does not cover
Everything above is state law. Fence height, setback, corner visibility and materials are set by city and county ordinance in almost every state, and a local rule can be far stricter than the statewide default. A parcel can also carry an easement, an overlay district, a fire hazard zone or a recorded HOA restriction, none of which appear in a statute.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, statutes are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean