Fence laws in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
What the Pittsburgh municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Pittsburgh sets no rule of its own, the Pennsylvania rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A fence in Pittsburgh is permitted inside a required setback rather than pushed out of it, so no distance from a lot line is stated and a fence may stand on the boundary at the heights the code allows, and the answer turns on whether an easement or utility runs along the line. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a property line for a fence.
- How tall
- Pittsburgh draws its line at the house rather than at the lot line, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands in front of the house and which district it is in. The figure is 4 feet, for fence extending closer to a street than the primary structure.
- Permits
- Fences, walls and retaining walls are listed among the accessory uses permitted by right in residential and H districts, with one condition written into the listing itself: the finished side faces the adjacent property, and the answer turns on whether the fence meets the standards or needs an exception.
- Pool barriers
- Pennsylvania prints no pool barrier height of its own.
- Spite fences
- Pittsburgh has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Pittsburgh writes a fence rule into its measurements chapter and it is the mirror image of the one Montgomery uses.
- Corner lots
- Pittsburgh leaves corner clearance to a case by case judgment of whether vehicular sight distances are obstructed.
- 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
- Pittsburgh bans two things outright and everywhere: barbed wire and razor edge are not permitted in any district, with no carve out for industrial land, for a scrap yard or for a utility site, which is stricter than most cities in this project, and the answer turns on the material and where on the lot the fence stands.
- 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 Pittsburgh?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Pittsburgh answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether an easement or utility runs along the line.
A fence in Pittsburgh is permitted inside a required setback rather than pushed out of it, so no distance from a lot line is stated and a fence may stand on the boundary at the heights the code allows. The limits that do apply are about what is under the fence and what a driver can see past it. No accessory structure may be located on any platted or recorded easement or over any known utility, and a fence is an accessory structure, so an easement running along a rear line closes that line to a fence entirely. Features allowed inside a setback, including trees and shrubbery and retaining walls, are allowed only where they do not obstruct vehicular sight distances. Other accessory structures take real setbacks that a fence does not: at least five feet off a rear lot line, or two feet where that line is next to a way.
No accessory structure shall be located on any platted or recorded easement, or over any known utility.
The answer turns on whether an easement or utility runs along the line.
- an ordinary lot line
- A fence may sit on it. 0 ft
- a recorded easement
- No fence at all.
- a known utility
- Nothing over it.
- another accessory structure
- Five feet off the rear line, or two by a way. 5 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Pittsburgh
- no rule, documents checkedNo 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. 34 Pa. Code 403.62Pennsylvania · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Pittsburgh?
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Pittsburgh answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands in front of the house and which district it is in.
Pittsburgh draws its line at the house rather than at the lot line. Where a fence in a front or side yard extends closer to a street than the primary structure does, only an open and ornamental fence is permitted and it may be no taller than four feet, so the limit is a height and a design requirement at once and a solid four foot board fence is not allowed there at all. In every other case a fence, wall or similar feature is permitted inside a required setback to six feet and may be opaque. The GI district is the exception that runs the other way, allowing an opaque fence up to six feet in a front or side yard. A fence that misses these figures can still be approved as an Administrator Exception, but the allowance is exactly one foot over the standard and the exception may not harm neighboring properties or streets.
In front or side yards where the fence extends closer to a street than the primary structure, only open and ornamental fences are permitted, and shall be no taller than four (4) feet in height;
The answer turns on whether the fence stands in front of the house and which district it is in.
- in front of the house
- Four feet, open and ornamental. 4 ft
- anywhere else
- Six feet, and it may be solid. 6 ft
- the GI district
- Six feet of opaque fence out front.
- an Administrator Exception
- One foot more, and no more. 1 ft
Also on fence height in Pittsburgh
- no rule, documents checkedPennsylvania 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. 34 Pa. Code 403.62Pennsylvania · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Pittsburgh?
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Pittsburgh answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence meets the standards or needs an exception.
Fences, walls and retaining walls are listed among the accessory uses permitted by right in residential and H districts, with one condition written into the listing itself: the finished side faces the adjacent property. The same entry appears in the non-residential list, there adding public rights-of-way to what the finished side must face. Because the use is by right, no zoning approval is needed for a fence that meets the standards. A fence that misses them has a narrow route: the Administrator Exception procedure of Section 922.08, which may allow one foot over the permitted height and no more, and only where the exception would not have a detrimental impact on adjacent properties or streets. Riverfront district fences follow Section 905.04.H.1 instead.
Fences, walls and retaining walls, provided that the finished side faces adjacent property;
The answer turns on whether the fence meets the standards or needs an exception.
- a fence within the standards
- Permitted by right.
- a foot over the limit
- An Administrator Exception.
- more than a foot over
- Not available under that procedure.
- the Riverfront district
- Its own section governs.
Also on permits in Pittsburgh
- set in state lawA 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. 34 Pa. Code 403.62(c)(1)Pennsylvania · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Pittsburgh
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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.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Pittsburgh law. All Pennsylvania findings
International Swimming Pool and Spa Code of 2021
Spite fence laws in Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh 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.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Pittsburgh law. All Pennsylvania findings
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 Pittsburgh
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Pittsburgh answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Pittsburgh writes a fence rule into its measurements chapter and it is the mirror image of the one Montgomery uses. Height for a fence or wall, other than a retaining wall, is measured on the side with the least vertical exposure above finished grade, up to the top of the fence. So where two yards sit at different levels the higher one governs, and a six foot fence on the upper lot can stand nine feet tall as seen from the lower one. Montgomery does the opposite and reads from the lowest ground on either side of the line, which costs the upper owner the difference. In a city built on hillsides the choice matters more than it would elsewhere. Retaining walls are carved out of the sentence and handled separately, and the building height rule beside it uses a different datum again, the average finished grade along the wall facing the front street yard.
In the case of fences or walls, other than retaining walls, height shall be measured on the side with the least vertical exposure above finished grade to the top of the fence or wall.
Also on how height is measured in Pittsburgh
- left to the townPennsylvania 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. MPC Section 603(b)(2), 53 P.S. 10603(b)(2)Pennsylvania · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh does not set this. It leaves it to a case by case judgment of whether vehicular sight distances are obstructed.
Pittsburgh states the duty and never draws the shape. The list of features allowed inside a required setback opens with trees, shrubbery and other natural growth, and permits them provided they do not obstruct vehicular sight distances. Retaining walls appear further down the same list with the same condition, worded as sight lines rather than sight distances. Nowhere in the zoning code is a sight triangle given a size, a leg length or a band of protected height, and no district is excepted from a rule that does not have dimensions to begin with. What that means in practice is that the corner answer is decided when somebody looks at the particular corner, rather than read off the page, and a fence approved today can be called an obstruction later. The related Administrator Exception standard is written the same way, asking only whether the exception would have a detrimental impact on adjacent properties or streets.
Trees, shrubbery or other features of natural growth provided that they do not obstruct vehicular sight distances;
The code hands this to a case by case judgment of whether vehicular sight distances are obstructed, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Pittsburgh
- set in state lawPennsylvania 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. 67 Pa. Code 212.6Pennsylvania · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Pittsburgh
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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.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Pittsburgh law. All Pennsylvania findings
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 Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and where on the lot the fence stands.
Pittsburgh bans two things outright and everywhere: barbed wire and razor edge are not permitted in any district, with no carve out for industrial land, for a scrap yard or for a utility site, which is stricter than most cities in this project. Beyond that the fence section does not print a material list of its own and sends the question elsewhere, making fences, walls, hedges and similar features subject to the Materials and Methods and Opacity Standards in Section 918.03.B.1. Two design rules sit in the fence section itself. In front of the house only an open and ornamental fence is permitted, which is a material requirement dressed as a design one. And a fence anywhere in the city has to be installed with its finished side facing the adjacent property, and on non-residential land facing the public right-of-way as well.
Barbed wire and razor edge are not permitted in any district.
The answer turns on the material and where on the lot the fence stands.
- barbed wire or razor edge
- Banned in every district.
- in front of the house
- Open and ornamental only.
- the finished side
- It faces the neighbor.
- everything else
- Section 918.03.B.1 governs.
Also on materials in Pittsburgh
- set in state lawA 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. 1899 Act 111, Section 1Pennsylvania · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Pittsburgh
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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.
This one is Pennsylvania law, not Pittsburgh law. All Pennsylvania findings
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 Pittsburgh
- 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
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 2 were published by Pittsburgh itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- 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
- City of PittsburghPittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title 9, Zoning Code, Chapter 912, Accessory Uses and Structures
- Pennsylvania General AssemblyPennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act of July 31, 1968, P.L.805, No.247
- City of PittsburghPittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title 9, Zoning Code, Chapter 925, Measurements
- 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
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 Pittsburgh publishes, plus the Pennsylvania rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Pennsylvania 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