Fence laws in Bartlett, Tennessee
What the Bartlett municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Bartlett sets no rule of its own, the Tennessee rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Bartlett, Tennessee, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- In a side or rear yard a Bartlett fence may be constructed on the lot line, except as limited by the Planning Commission approval of fence location given with the subdivision approval, and the answer turns on the yard and what the subdivision plat says. The figure is 0 feet, for setback at a side or rear lot line.
- How tall
- A Bartlett fence in a front yard is held to forty-eight inches, and the ordinance then lifts four things out of that limit by name: periodic posts, decorative columns, lighting fixtures and decorative details may all exceed it, and the answer turns on the yard and what the fence joins. The figure is 48 inches, for fence in a front yard.
- Permits
- The Bartlett fence section names a permit once, and it is about replacement rather than construction: a permit is required for replacing a corner lot or reverse frontage lot fence, and the replacement has to be rebuilt with the finished side toward the street, and the answer turns on what is being built or replaced and where.
- Pool barriers
- Bartlett sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Bartlett has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Bartlett never says what a fence height is measured from. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Corner lots
- On a corner lot in any Bartlett residential district nothing may be erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow so as materially to impede vision between two and a half feet and ten feet above the centerline grades of the intersecting streets, inside the area bounded by the street lines and a line joining points fifty feet along each of them from the intersection, and the answer turns on whether the fence is open enough not to impede vision. The figure is 50 feet, for leg of the corner triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Bartlett leaves retaining walls to the 2018 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, and its Sections R105.2 and R404. It reaches one and two family homes only.
- Materials
- Materials for a fence in a Bartlett front yard are split rail and wrought iron, including versions with brick or stone columns, and everything else is subject to the approval of the Design and Review Commission, and the answer turns on the yard and whether the Design and Review Commission has approved it.
- Livestock
- Tennessee counts more than wood and wire as a farm fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Bartlett?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Bartlett answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and what the subdivision plat says.
In a side or rear yard a Bartlett fence may be constructed on the lot line, except as limited by the Planning Commission approval of fence location given with the subdivision approval. That second clause is unusual and it matters: in a platted subdivision the position of a fence can be fixed at the plat stage and binds later owners, so the code alone does not answer where a fence may go. On a corner lot the fence facing the side street stands fifteen feet back from the right-of-way and may not project beyond the front of the house. On a through or double frontage lot a Bartlett Standard Fence Section runs along the rear, built two feet from the back of the sidewalk with offsets of a further five feet, and an easement has to be platted from the street right-of-way to cover the fence, the columns and the landscaped area, restricting use inside it and requiring the fence and planting to be maintained. On corner and reverse frontage lots the finished side of a wooden fence faces the street.
In side and rear yards, fences may be constructed on the lot line except as limited by the Planning Commission approval of fence location given with the Subdivision approval.
Article VI, Section 19(C), (D) and (F)
The answer turns on the yard and what the subdivision plat says.
- a side or rear line
- On the line. 0 ft
- a platted subdivision
- The plat approval may say otherwise.
- a through lot
- A standard fence section and a platted easement.
- a corner lot
- The finished side faces the street.
Also on fences on the property line in Bartlett
- set in state lawIn Tennessee a neighbor can get out of paying for a shared fence when one side is a farm and the other is not. The owner of the side that is not farmland can say in writing that the fence is not theirs to build or keep up. The notice goes by registered mail with a return receipt, or any other way that gives written proof it arrived, and it counts from the day the farm owner gets it. Once it is delivered, the farm owner cannot be sued over the fence being missing or in bad shape. Public Chapter 266 of 1999, Section 2, adding a section to T.C.A. Title 44, Chapter 8, Part 2Tennessee · Statute
- set in state lawThat way out lasts only while the land stays out of farming. The law counts land as non-farm when it is not farmland, has a house on it, and keeps no livestock. The day the land stops fitting that description, the notice stops working. If the farm owner built a fence while it was working, the other owner then pays a fair share of what the fence cost. A fight over the amount goes to the process in section 44-8-204. Public Chapter 266 of 1999, Section 2, subsection (d)Tennessee · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Bartlett?
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Bartlett answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and what the fence joins.
A Bartlett fence in a front yard is held to forty-eight inches, and the ordinance then lifts four things out of that limit by name: periodic posts, decorative columns, lighting fixtures and decorative details may all exceed it. In a side or rear yard a fence has to be of customary fence construction and may not exceed eight feet. On a corner lot a fence between forty-eight inches and eight feet may go in the yard facing the street the principal entrance does not face, provided it stands fifteen feet back from the street right-of-way and does not project beyond the front of the house. And the ordinance adds a transition rule almost no other city writes: anyone installing an eight foot fence that joins a six foot fence has to slope the eight foot fence down over a distance of eight feet to where it meets the shorter one.
Periodic posts, decorative columns, and lighting fixture or decorative details may exceed the forty-eight (48") inches height limitation.
Article VI, Section 19(A) and (C)
The answer turns on the yard and what the fence joins.
- a front yard
- Forty-eight inches. 48 in
- a side or rear yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a corner lot side street
- Eight feet, fifteen feet back. 15 ft
- where eight feet meets six
- Sloped down over eight feet.
Also on fence height in Bartlett
- no rule, documents checkedTennessee sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The state residential code has no fence rule in it, and the state fence law in Title 44 is about livestock and fences on a property line rather than height. Cities and counties set the limit, and some places have opted out of the state code entirely. Code Adoption HistoryTennessee · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Bartlett?
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Bartlett answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is being built or replaced and where.
The Bartlett fence section names a permit once, and it is about replacement rather than construction: a permit is required for replacing a corner lot or reverse frontage lot fence, and the replacement has to be rebuilt with the finished side toward the street. Writing the permit around replacement is how the city keeps the orientation rule alive on lots where the original fence was built before it existed. The other approvals in the section belong to two bodies. The Design and Review Commission approves any front yard fence material other than split rail and wrought iron. And the Planning Commission may fix the location of a fence when it approves a subdivision, which binds every later owner of a lot in that subdivision. Maintenance of a Bartlett Standard Fence Section and the landscaped strip in front of it falls on a permanent homeowners association, or on the lot owner where there is none.
A permit shall be required for replacing these fences and they shall be reconstructed with the finished side toward the street.
Article VI, Section 19(D), with (B) and (F)
The answer turns on what is being built or replaced and where.
- replacing a corner lot fence
- A permit, and the finished side faces the street.
- a front yard material
- Design and Review Commission approval.
- a new subdivision
- The Planning Commission may fix the fence location.
- a standard fence section
- Maintained by the association, or by the owner.
Also on permits in Bartlett
- set in state lawTennessee has no fence permit rule of its own. It uses the 2018 International Residential Code, with state changes, as the code for one and two family homes across the state, and the Fire Marshal lists that code as taking effect on July 16, 2020. The state changes leave alone the list of work that needs no permit, so that list is model code text and not Tennessee text. Counties and cities can opt out of the state code altogether. Code Adoption History, residential codesTennessee · Agency guidance
Pool fence requirements in Bartlett
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Bartlett law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Tennessee sets no statewide fence rule for a pool at a house. The state took up the 2018 International Residential Code along with Appendix Q and nothing else. In that edition the pool fence rules sit in Appendix G, which Tennessee left out, so no state height reaches a pool at a home. Cities and counties can still set one.
This one is Tennessee law, not Bartlett law. All Tennessee findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Code Adoption HistoryTennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's Office
- Codes EnforcementTennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's Office
Spite fence laws in Bartlett
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Bartlett law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Tennessee has no spite fence law. The state fence law in Title 44, Chapter 8 covers fencing that holds livestock and fences on a property line. It names no height and says nothing about a fence built to bother a neighbor. A fence like that is a nuisance case in court, not a matter of state law.
This one is Tennessee law, not Bartlett law. All Tennessee findings
Documents read before writing that:
- T.C.A. Title 44, Chapter 8Tennessee General Assembly
- Code Adoption HistoryTennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's Office
How fence height is measured in Bartlett
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Bartlett law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Tennessee never says where a fence height is measured from. The state adopts its building and fire codes in one rule of the Division of Fire Prevention, and that rule does name starting points, for buildings. It takes the height of a roof from the lowest fire truck road surface next to the building up to the eave or parapet, and it counts stories from the grade plane, which is the average ground level around the building. Both rules are about buildings. The word fence is nowhere in the chapter, so the state names no starting point for a fence. The city or county ordinance decides.
This one is Tennessee law, not Bartlett law. All Tennessee findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Rule 0780-02-02-.01Tennessee Secretary of State
Also on how height is measured in Bartlett
- no rule, documents checkedThe visibility section fixes its datum carefully, measuring the protected band above the centerline grades of the intersecting streets. The fence section never does. It states forty-eight inches, eight feet, six feet and fifteen feet and says nothing about where any of them is measured from, so on sloping ground the answer is unsettled. A berm is not addressed, a fence on a retaining wall is not addressed, and nothing stops an owner raising the ground before setting posts. What the section does address, and almost uniquely, is the vertical transition between two fences of different heights, requiring an eight foot fence joining a six foot fence to be sloped over a distance of eight feet. That is a rule about the shape of the top of a fence rather than about where its bottom starts, and it is the closest the section comes to saying how a fence should be read. Article VI, Section 19Bartlett · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Bartlett
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Bartlett answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is open enough not to impede vision.
On a corner lot in any Bartlett residential district nothing may be erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow so as materially to impede vision between two and a half feet and ten feet above the centerline grades of the intersecting streets, inside the area bounded by the street lines and a line joining points fifty feet along each of them from the intersection. Fifty feet is a large triangle and the datum is the centerline grade of the roads rather than the ground at the fence, so a lot sitting below the street is barely caught and one sitting above it is caught easily. The fence section points back at this rule and then carves out an exception the visibility section does not contain: permitted fencing on a corner lot may be limited by the visibility requirements, except on corner lots where open type decorative fences are installed and do not substantially impede the visibility.
between a height of two and one half (2-1/2) and ten (10) feet above the centerline grades of the intersecting streets in the area bounded by the street lines of such corner lots and a line joining points along said street lines fifty (50) feet from the point of intersection.
The answer turns on whether the fence is open enough not to impede vision.
- the triangle
- Fifty feet along each street line. 50 ft
- the protected band
- Two and a half feet to ten. 10 ft
- an open decorative fence
- Allowed if it does not substantially impede visibility.
- a nonresidential corner
- The section does not reach it.
Also on corner visibility in Bartlett
- set in state lawTennessee has one rule about seeing down the road, and it covers a new driveway onto a state highway. The Department of Transportation rule at 1680-10-01 takes up the driveway manual, and section 5.2 of that manual says a driveway goes where a driver can see far enough in both directions. Where the view is short, the turns the driveway allows get cut back. The manual prints a triangle showing it. The same rule says plainly that it sits on top of county and city land rules, and that is where a corner triangle for a fence comes from. Tenn. Comp. R. and Regs. 1680-10-01-.03, Manual section 5.2Tennessee · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Bartlett
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Bartlett does not set this. It leaves it to the 2018 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, and its Sections R105.2 and R404.
Tennessee has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. It uses the 2018 International Residential Code, with state changes, as the code for one and two family homes, and it names no height at which such a wall needs a permit. So the rule that applies is the model code text, which the International Code Council sells and which no Tennessee state site prints. Counties and cities can opt out of the state code, which is what makes the answer local in some places.
This one is Tennessee law, not Bartlett law. All Tennessee findings
International Residential Code (IRC), 2018 edition, published by the ICC, with amendments;
Currently Adopted Codes, residential code
The code hands this to the 2018 International Residential Code, published by the International Code Council, and its Sections R105.2 and R404, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Bartlett
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Bartlett answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard and whether the Design and Review Commission has approved it.
Materials for a fence in a Bartlett front yard are split rail and wrought iron, including versions with brick or stone columns, and everything else is subject to the approval of the Design and Review Commission. So the ordinary wooden privacy fence is not simply barred at the front by height, it is barred by material unless a commission agrees to it. Four things are prohibited outright: exposed plain cinder block or concrete block, other metal mesh fencing, barbed wire, and other single wire fencing. In a side or rear yard the standard is looser, requiring only customary fence construction. A Bartlett Standard Fence Section along a through lot has to be brick or stone under Plate 19A, or built to one of the three other published plates. On a corner or reverse frontage lot all wooden fences have to show the finished side toward the street.
Exposed plain cinder block or concrete block or other metal mesh fencing, and barbed wire or other single wire fencing.
The answer turns on the yard and whether the Design and Review Commission has approved it.
- a front yard
- Split rail or wrought iron.
- anything else at the front
- Design and Review Commission approval.
- cinder block, mesh or barbed wire
- Prohibited.
- a side or rear yard
- Customary fence construction.
Also on materials in Bartlett
- set in state lawTennessee keeps a list of fences that count as good enough to hold farm animals, and the legislature has only made that list longer. An act of 1999 added two things to it. One is a fence made of man made materials sold for fencing, put up the usual way. The other is any system or device built on technology that is accepted for holding farm animals, which is where an electric fence fits. The same act lets the commissioner of agriculture add detail by rule, and says the law still works where no such rule exists. Tenn. Code Ann. 44-8-102(b)Tennessee · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Bartlett
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Tennessee answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Tennessee counts more than wood and wire as a farm fence. A fence made of man made materials sold for fencing counts, as long as it is put up the usual way and holds farm animals. So does any system or device built on technology that is accepted for holding farm animals, which is where an electric or wireless fence fits. An act of 1999 added both. The commissioner of agriculture can write rules adding detail, and the law still works where no such rule exists.
This one is Tennessee law, not Bartlett law. All Tennessee findings
In addition to subsection (a), sufficient fencing shall include: (1) fence constructed from synthetic materials commonly sold for fencing, if such materials are installed pursuant to generally acceptable standards, to confine or restrict the movement of farm animals
T.C.A. § 44-8-102(b), as added by Public Chapter 266 of 1999
Documents behind this page
6 documents, of which 1 was published by Bartlett itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Tennessee General AssemblyPublic Chapter No. 266, Senate Bill No. 658 (1999), an act to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 44, Chapter 8, relative to fencing and grazing
- City of BartlettZoning Ordinance for the City of Bartlett, Tennessee, Article VI, Section 19, Fences
- Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's OfficeCodes Enforcement, Code Adoption History
- Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshal's OfficeCodes Enforcement
- Tennessee Secretary of StateRules of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, Division of Fire Prevention, Chapter 0780-02-02, Codes and Standards
- Tennessee Department of TransportationManual for Constructing Driveway Entrances on State Highways, 2015 Edition, adopted by Rule 1680-10-01-.03
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 Bartlett publishes, plus the Tennessee rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Tennessee 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