Fence laws in Texas

Who owns the fence between two properties in Texas?

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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Texas sets no statewide rule for splitting the cost of a fence on a boundary. What the Agriculture Code does say is that a joint owner of a dividing fence cannot pull it out without the other owner agreeing, and that a person who wants to detach a fence from a neighbor fence has to give six months of written notice first. The notice goes to the owner of the attached fence or to that person's agent, attorney, or lessee.

A person who owns an interest in a fence attached to a fence owned in whole or in part by another person is entitled to withdraw his or her fence from the other fence after giving six months' notice of the intended separation.

Agric. Code 143.122Texas Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

How tall can a fence be in Texas?

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Texas law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.

Texas does not limit how tall a fence at a house can be. The only heights in state law are for farm fences, such as the five foot fence required around cropland. For a fence at a house, the city sets the limit.

Documents read before writing that:

• Agric. Code ch. 143Texas Legislature
• Local Gov't Code ch. 214Texas Legislature

Do I need a permit for a fence in Texas?

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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Texas has no fence permit rule of its own. Instead it made one national code, the International Residential Code as it stood on May 1, 2012, the building code for every city in the state. So the permit rule for a fence comes from that code and not from a Texas statute. Cities can then change it, which is why the answer differs from one city to the next.

To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the International Residential Code, as it existed on May 1, 2012, is adopted as a municipal residential building code in this state.

Local Gov't Code 214.212(a)Texas Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

Pool fence requirements in Texas

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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Texas requires a 48 inch fence around some pools, measured from the ground on the outside of the fence. It does not cover most homes. Section 757.002 applies the law only to a pool run by the owner of an apartment complex or by a property owners association. A pool at a single family home is not covered, and the city rule applies there instead.

The height of the pool yard enclosure must be at least 48 inches as measured from the ground on the side away from the pool.

Health & Safety Code 757.003(b)Texas Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

48 inpool yard enclosure at a multiunit rental complex or property owners association pool

Spite fence laws in Texas

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Texas law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.

Texas has no law about spite fences. Both chapters that could hold one were read start to finish. The fence chapter of the Agriculture Code covers livestock and farm land. The building chapter of the Local Government Code covers permits. Neither one mentions a fence built to bother a neighbor. That leaves a nuisance lawsuit or a city ordinance.

Documents read before writing that:

• Agric. Code ch. 143Texas Legislature
• Local Gov't Code ch. 214Texas Legislature

How fence height is measured in Texas

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Texas does not set this. It leaves it to the governing body of a municipality.

Texas gives two fence heights and never says where to measure from. A farm fence around cropland has to be five feet tall. A farm fence under the stock law has to be four feet. The word ground does not appear anywhere in that chapter. For a fence at a house, Chapter 211 of the Local Government Code lets the city set the height rule, so the city decides how it is measured too.

The governing body of a municipality may regulate: (1) the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures;

Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003(a)(1)Texas Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

The code hands this to the governing body of a municipality, which is not published in the code itself.

Fence rules for corner lots in Texas

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Texas does not set this. It leaves it to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.

Texas has a whole chapter about seeing around corners, and it does not reach fences. Chapter 255 lets a county set the sight distance at an intersection on a county road outside city limits, and ban anything that blocks the view. But that ban covers plants, loose dirt and other items, not a building or structure fixed to the ground. A fence is fixed to the ground, so a county order under this chapter does not apply to it. Inside a city, the city decides.

The commissioners court may: (1) define the appropriate sight distance; (2) prohibit an obstruction of the sight distance by any vegetation, loose earth, or other item except a building or other structure affixed to the ground, if the obstruction is a traffic hazard; and (3) provide for the removal and disposition of an obstruction maintained in violation of an order adopted under this section.

Tex. Transp. Code 255.002Texas Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

The code hands this to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits, which is not published in the code itself.

Retaining wall rules in Texas

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Texas does not set this. It leaves it to the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012, published by the International Code Council, plus any local amendment a city adopts by ordinance.

Texas has no rule of its own for a wall that holds back earth. It made the International Residential Code, as that code stood on May 1, 2012, the building code for every city in the state, and it does not print any of that code's text. So whatever that edition says about a retaining wall is what applies in Texas. Cities can change it after a public hearing, which is why the rule differs from one city to the next.

To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the International Residential Code, as it existed on May 1, 2012, is adopted as a municipal residential building code in this state.

Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 214.212(a)Texas Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

The code hands this to the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012, published by the International Code Council, plus any local amendment a city adopts by ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.

Fence materials allowed in Texas

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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Texas only says what a fence has to be made of inside a county or area that has voted to stop animals roaming loose. There a fence works if it keeps out the animals that are still allowed to roam, and the law gives four ways to build one. Barbed wire takes three wires on posts no more than thirty feet apart, with a stay between each pair. Pickets go no more than six inches apart. Boards take three boards. Rails take four. All four have to stand at least four feet tall. Barbed wire is allowed outright, and voters in an area can decide that three barbed wires on their own are enough.

a barbed wire fence must consist of three wires on posts no more than 30 feet apart, with one or more stays between every two posts

Tex. Agric. Code 143.028Texas Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

3 strandsa sufficient barbed wire fence

Livestock and boundary fence law in Texas

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Texas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Texas says what a farm fence has to look like. It has to be at least four feet tall, and there are four ways to build one. Barbed wire takes three wires on posts no more than thirty feet apart, with at least one stay between each pair of posts. Pickets have to be no more than six inches apart. Boards take three boards, each at least five inches wide and one inch thick. Rails take four rails.

In order to be sufficient, a fence must be at least four feet high and comply with the following requirements: (1) a barbed wire fence must consist of three wires on posts no more than 30 feet apart, with one or more stays between every two posts; (2) a picket fence must consist of pickets that are not more than six inches apart;

Agric. Code 143.028(b)Texas Legislature · Read 13 September 2026

4 ftminimum height of a sufficient fence under the stock law