Fence laws in Austin, Texas
What the Austin municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Austin sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Austin, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Texas sets no statewide rule for splitting the cost of a fence on a boundary.
- How tall
- Where the fence stands decides the number in Austin, and the answer turns on whether the fence is on the property line or inside the setback, whether the ground changes grade, and whether it is solid or ornamental. The figure is 6 feet, for solid fence on a property line.
- Permits
- A fence built before 31 July 2023 keeps its old design until half of it comes down. The figure is 50 percent, for share of a fence that can be replaced before the safe fencing rules cover all of it.
- Pool barriers
- Texas requires a 48 inch fence around some pools, measured from the ground on the outside of the fence. The figure is 48 inches, for pool yard enclosure at a multiunit rental complex or property owners association pool.
- Spite fences
- Austin has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Austin measures a property line fence from natural grade up, and then gives ground that falls its own allowance. The figure is 1 foot, for grade change that lifts a section of property line fence to seven feet.
- Corner lots
- Austin leaves corner clearance to City Code 14-9-2 and the Austin Transportation Criteria Manual.
- Retaining walls
- Austin leaves retaining walls 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.
- Materials
- The Safe Fencing rules, in force from 31 July 2023, ban what a fence does at the top rather than what it is made of.
- Livestock
- Texas says what a farm fence has to look like. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of a sufficient fence under the stock law. It reaches counties and areas that have adopted the local option stock law under Subchapter B only.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Austin?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
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.
This one is Texas law, not Austin law. All Texas findings
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.
How tall can a fence be in Austin?
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Austin answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is on the property line or inside the setback, whether the ground changes grade, and whether it is solid or ornamental.
Where the fence stands decides the number in Austin. A solid fence on the property line stops at six feet. The same fence moved onto or inside the building setback lines reaches eight. Between those, a grade change of at least a foot lifts the affected section to seven, and written consent from the adjoining owners lifts it to eight where the ground drops two feet within fifty feet of the boundary or where something next to the fence would let a child climb it into a hazard such as a pool. An ornamental fence, meaning no more than twenty percent solid material, is not held to any of it.
A solid fence constructed along a property line may not be more than 6 feet high, measured from the natural grade up.
What is Regulated, Property Lines
The answer turns on whether the fence is on the property line or inside the setback, whether the ground changes grade, and whether it is solid or ornamental.
- a solid fence on the property line
- Six feet, from natural grade. 6 ft
- a solid fence on or within the building setback lines
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a solid fence on the property line where the grade changes by at least a foot
- Seven feet, for the section where the grade changes. 7 ft
- an ornamental fence, at no more than twenty percent solid material
- No height limit from this section. 20%
Also on fence height in Austin
- no rule, documents checkedTexas 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. Agric. Code ch. 143Texas · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Austin?
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Austin answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence built before 31 July 2023 keeps its old design until half of it comes down. Replacing more than fifty percent of the total length brings the whole fence under the safe fencing rules, not just the new part, so a run of repairs eventually converts a spiked fence to a flat topped one. A fence at least six feet high on a property in non-residential use is outside the safe fencing rules entirely.
If more than 50 percent of the total linear distance of an existing fence is replaced, the entire fence must follow the safe fencing code requirements.
50%share of a fence that can be replaced before the safe fencing rules cover all of it
Also on permits in Austin
- set in state lawTexas 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. Local Gov't Code 214.212(a)Texas · Statute
- depends, see the pageThree separate things pull an Austin fence into a permit. Height above seven feet at any point is one. Standing in a floodplain is another, and that one applies at any height and in any material. The third is height above six feet on residential property along a city right of way other than a public alley, which also needs a letter of authorization, and the letter needs a variance from the Board of Adjustment first. Every fence has to meet the code whether or not it needs the permit. Permit requirementsAustin · Building code
Pool fence requirements in Austin
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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.
This one is Texas law, not Austin law. All Texas findings
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)
48 inpool yard enclosure at a multiunit rental complex or property owners association pool
Spite fence laws in Austin
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Austin 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.
This one is Texas law, not Austin law. All Texas findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Agric. Code ch. 143Texas Legislature
- Local Gov't Code ch. 214Texas Legislature
How fence height is measured in Austin
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Austin answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Austin measures a property line fence from natural grade up, and then gives ground that falls its own allowance. Where the grade changes by at least a foot along any section of a solid fence on the line, that section may stand seven feet rather than six. The allowance belongs to the section where the change happens, not to the whole run, so a sloping yard does not lift the fence everywhere.
If there is a change in grade of at least 1 foot, measured along any section of a solid fence on a property line, then the portion of the fence where the grade change occurs may be up to 7 feet high.
What is Regulated, Property Lines
1 ftgrade change that lifts a section of property line fence to seven feet
Also on how height is measured in Austin
- left to the townTexas 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. Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003(a)(1)Texas · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Austin
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Austin does not set this. It leaves it to City Code 14-9-2 and the Austin Transportation Criteria Manual.
Austin publishes no sight triangle with its fence rules. A corner lot fence is checked with Austin Transportation and Public Works, and the figures live in City Code 14-9-2 and the city Transportation Criteria Manual rather than in the fence page. So the distance that decides how tall a corner fence may stand sits in a traffic document, away from the rest of the answer.
Before building a fence on a corner lot, contact Austin Transportation and Public Works to confirm that the fence will not obstruct the view of traffic and be a traffic hazard.
The code hands this to City Code 14-9-2 and the Austin Transportation Criteria Manual, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Austin
- left to the townTexas 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. Tex. Transp. Code 255.002Texas · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Austin
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Austin 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.
This one is Texas law, not Austin law. All Texas findings
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)
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 Austin
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Austin answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The Safe Fencing rules, in force from 31 July 2023, ban what a fence does at the top rather than what it is made of. Spiked pickets, spiked bars and other spiked decorative elements above the top backer rail are out, so is razor like wire, and so is any design that creates substantial risk of entrapment or impalement. Vertical pickets above the top rail have to be separated by less than two inches or more than nine, because the gap in between is the one that traps a limb. Barbed wire above a fence six feet or higher is banned except around an airport where the Federal Aviation Administration requires it.
A person may not use barbed wire at the top of or above a fence that is at least six feet high.
Also on materials in Austin
- set in state lawTexas 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. Tex. Agric. Code 143.028Texas · Statute
- set in state lawAustin states plainly that it does not regulate what a fence on private property is made of. Wood, metal and stone are all the same to the code outside one area. The exception is the wildland-urban interface, where wildfire risk brings a separate construction guide and its own material list. This is close to the opposite of what most cities on this site do, and it is a finding rather than a gap because the city says it in writing. What is Not RegulatedAustin · Agency guidance
Livestock and boundary fence law in Austin
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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.
This one is Texas law, not Austin law. All Texas findings
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;
4 ftminimum height of a sufficient fence under the stock law
Also on agricultural fencing in Austin
- depends, see the pageTexas has no single answer for who has to build the fence. Each county votes on it, and an area inside a county can vote on its own. The vote decides whether the animals it names are allowed to roam loose, and it only applies where the vote was held. Agric. Code 143.024(a)Texas · Statute
- set in state lawIn a county that has not voted, the farmer builds the fence, not the animal owner. Anyone farming or gardening cleared land has to put up a fence at least five feet tall that hogs cannot get through. Agric. Code 143.001Texas · Statute
Documents behind this page
6 documents, of which 1 was published by Austin itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- City of Austin, Development Services DepartmentFencing Regulations
- Texas LegislatureTexas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 757, Pool Yard Enclosures
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Title 7, Chapter 211, Municipal Zoning Authority
- Texas LegislatureTexas Transportation Code, Title 6, Subtitle C, Chapter 255, County Regulation of Sight Distances
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 Austin publishes, plus the Texas rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Texas 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