Fence laws in Kingsport, Tennessee
What the Kingsport municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Kingsport sets no rule of its own, the Tennessee rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Kingsport, Tennessee, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The Kingsport fence section sets no distance between a fence and a lot line, so a fence may run along the boundary, and the answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a projection. The figure is 8 feet, for projection allowed for a porch or terrace.
- How tall
- In any residence, business or professional district in Kingsport a wall or fence of up to six feet may be erected in a front yard, and one of up to eight feet in any other yard, and the answer turns on the district and the yard. The figure is 6 feet, for fence in a front yard.
- Permits
- Tennessee has no fence permit rule of its own.
- Pool barriers
- Kingsport sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Kingsport has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Kingsport 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
- In any residential zone on any corner lot in Kingsport, no fence, structure or planting may be erected or maintained within ten feet of the intersection of the two street pavement edges, except as provided elsewhere in the chapter. The figure is 10 feet, for clear radius from where the pavement edges meet.
- Retaining walls
- Kingsport 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
- No barbed wire fence is permitted within a residential zoning district in Kingsport, with one exception written around the use rather than the zone: a protective device using barbed wire may be installed on a wall or fence built or used in conjunction with a commercial or industrial use standing in a residential district, and the answer turns on the district, the use and what the fence is for.
- Livestock
- Tennessee counts more than wood and wire as a farm fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Kingsport?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Kingsport answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the structure is a fence or a projection.
The Kingsport fence section sets no distance between a fence and a lot line, so a fence may run along the boundary. The projections section next to it is detailed about everything else and never mentions a fence: an uncovered porch, stairway or terrace may project up to eight feet into a required yard, a fire escape three feet into a side yard and five into a rear yard, and a chimney, cornice, eave or gutter twenty-four inches into any required yard. All of those are then capped so that no projection extends into a required side yard more than a third of its width, into a required court more than a quarter of its width, within ten feet of the front or rear lot line, or within three feet of an accessory building. A fence is outside that whole scheme. Nothing in the chapter asks for the consent of an adjoining owner, says which side the finished face points toward, or divides the cost of a fence on a shared line.
No height restriction shall be placed on a wall or fence erected or maintained in any industrial district or on an approved retaining wall in any district.
The answer turns on whether the structure is a fence or a projection.
- a fence
- No stated distance from the line.
- a porch or terrace
- Eight feet into a required yard. 8 ft
- any projection
- Never within ten feet of the front or rear line. 10 ft
- orientation and cost
- Neither is addressed.
Also on fences on the property line in Kingsport
- 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 Kingsport?
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Kingsport answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and the yard.
In any residence, business or professional district in Kingsport a wall or fence of up to six feet may be erected in a front yard, and one of up to eight feet in any other yard. Six feet across the front is as generous as any city in this set and twice what most of Tennessee allows, and the ordinance attaches no opacity requirement to it, so a solid privacy fence at the front is permitted. Eight feet in the other yards is a foot above the usual limit as well. The section then removes the ceiling twice: no height restriction is placed on a wall or fence in any industrial district, or on an approved retaining wall in any district. The word approved is doing work in the second one, because it ties the exemption to a wall the city has passed rather than to any retaining wall an owner chooses to build.
In any residence, business or professional district, a wall or fence of not more than six feet in height may be erected or maintained within a front yard, and a wall or fence of not more than eight feet in height may be erected in any other yard.
The answer turns on the district and the yard.
- a front yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- any other yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- an industrial district
- No height restriction.
- an approved retaining wall
- No height restriction.
Also on fence height in Kingsport
- 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 Kingsport?
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Tennessee answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Tennessee 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.
This one is Tennessee law, not Kingsport law. All Tennessee findings
International Residential Code (IRC), 2018 edition, published by the ICC, with amendments;
Code Adoption History, residential codes
Also on permits in Kingsport
- no rule, documents checkedNothing in the Kingsport zoning chapter requires a permit for a fence. Section 114-139 gives three heights and a barbed wire rule and names no application, fee, review or inspection, and the corner visibility section states a prohibition with no approval route attached. The word approved appears once, attached to a retaining wall rather than a fence, and the chapter does not say who approves one or how. Where the code does regulate a fence through a permit is in the buildings chapter, where a swimming pool has to be enclosed unless prior approval has been given. Everything else about a Kingsport fence is enforced after the fact: a fence over the height, a barbed wire fence in a residential district, or a fence inside the ten foot corner radius is a zoning violation rather than an unpermitted structure. 114-139Kingsport · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Kingsport
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Kingsport 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 Kingsport 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 Kingsport
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Kingsport 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 Kingsport 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 Kingsport
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Kingsport 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 Kingsport law. All Tennessee findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Rule 0780-02-02-.01Tennessee Secretary of State
Also on how height is measured in Kingsport
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence section states six feet, eight feet and no restriction, and says nothing about what the feet are measured from. Sloping ground is not addressed, a berm is not addressed, and a fence on a retaining wall is dealt with only by exempting the wall from any height limit, which leaves the fence on top of it unexplained. No allowance is given for a post cap. The chapter shows elsewhere that it can be specific about grade when it wants to be, allowing a private garage in a required yard where the average natural grade of that yard is more than eight feet above or below the established street grade. For a fence it says nothing, which matters in a city built across the ridges of the Holston valley where the difference between reading a fence from the high side and the low side can be several feet. 114-139Kingsport · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Kingsport
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Kingsport answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
In any residential zone on any corner lot in Kingsport, no fence, structure or planting may be erected or maintained within ten feet of the intersection of the two street pavement edges, except as provided elsewhere in the chapter. The rule is a radius rather than a triangle and it is absolute rather than a height limit, so a two foot garden wall is caught the same as a six foot privacy fence. Two details shape how far it reaches. It is measured from where the pavement edges meet rather than from the property corner or the right-of-way line, which on a street with a wide verge puts the ten feet largely in the boulevard rather than on the lot. And it applies only in residential zones, so a business or industrial corner is governed by whatever else the chapter provides. Naming planting alongside fences and structures means a hedge is caught on the same terms.
In any residential zone, on any corner lot, no fence, structure or planting shall be erected or maintained within ten feet of the intersection of the two street pavement edges, except as may be provided elsewhere in this chapter.
10 ftclear radius from where the pavement edges meet
Also on corner visibility in Kingsport
- 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 Kingsport
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Kingsport 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 Kingsport 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 Kingsport
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Kingsport answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the use and what the fence is for.
No barbed wire fence is permitted within a residential zoning district in Kingsport, with one exception written around the use rather than the zone: a protective device using barbed wire may be installed on a wall or fence built or used in conjunction with a commercial or industrial use standing in a residential district. So the substation or the plant that predates the houses around it keeps the wire, and the house next door does not. Nothing else in the fence section names a material, sets a color, requires a finished side to face out or regulates opacity. Where the code does specify a fence material it is in the landscaping article, and only for a fence being used as a barrier: fences used as confining or screening barriers have to be continuous and opaque and built of natural materials such as stone, wood or brick, which rules out chain link and vinyl for that purpose.
Fences may be used as confining or screening barriers. Fences are to be continuous and opaque and constructed of natural materials such as stone, wood or brick.
The answer turns on the district, the use and what the fence is for.
- barbed wire in a residential district
- Not permitted.
- a commercial use in a residential district
- Barbed wire protective devices allowed.
- a screening fence
- Continuous, opaque, stone, wood or brick.
- an ordinary house fence
- No material named.
Also on materials in Kingsport
- 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 Kingsport
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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 Kingsport 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
8 documents, of which 3 were published by Kingsport 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 KingsportKingsport Code of Ordinances, Chapter 114, Zoning, Section 114-139, Walls and 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
- City of KingsportKingsport Code of Ordinances, Chapter 114, Zoning, Section 114-134, Traffic visibility across corner lots
- Tennessee Secretary of StateRules of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, Division of Fire Prevention, Chapter 0780-02-02, Codes and Standards
- City of KingsportKingsport Code of Ordinances, Chapter 114, Zoning, Section 114-601, Landscaping materials
- 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 Kingsport 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