Fence laws in Baytown, Texas
What the Baytown municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Baytown sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Baytown, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The Baytown buffer fence can be waived, and the waiver is temporary by design. The figure is 60 days, for time to build a waived buffer fence once a neighbor asks for it.
- How tall
- Where a building permit is sought for anything other than one or two living units, or a residential property is converted to commercial use, or a commercial property changes hands or occupants, Baytown requires a permanent opaque fence of at least six feet between that building and any neighboring house or any vacant lot carrying current one or two family deed restrictions. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum height of a required buffer fence.
- Permits
- Broken, loose, damaged, insect damaged or missing parts of a Baytown fence get thirty days from notice to be repaired or replaced, and the ordinance lists what counts as a part: slats, posts, wood rails, bricks, panels. The figure is 30 days, for time allowed to repair a fence after notice of non-compliance.
- 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
- Baytown has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Baytown puts a figure on a leaning fence and scales it to the height, and the answer turns on whether the fence is over four feet tall. The figure is 1 foot, for lean allowed at the top of a fence over four feet.
- Corner lots
- Baytown leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Baytown 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
- A required Baytown buffer fence is redwood, rough cedar, chain link with wood or metal slats, brick, brick columns combined with any of those, heavy metal with a baked enamel finish, pressure treated lumber, or concrete.
- 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 Baytown?
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Baytown answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The Baytown buffer fence can be waived, and the waiver is temporary by design. Every adjacent owner signs, and the applicant agrees in writing to build the fence within sixty days if one of them changes their mind or if a later owner asks for it. A place of worship can also be excused where the chief building official finds the fence would serve no useful purpose. Either decision can be appealed to the city council by any affected party, in writing to the city clerk, before the certificate of occupancy issues.
The permit applicant agrees to construct such fence within 60 days of notice by the chief building official that an adjacent property owner has decided he does want a buffer fence or if a subsequent owner requests a buffer fence.
60 daystime to build a waived buffer fence once a neighbor asks for it
Also on fences on the property line in Baytown
- set in state lawTexas 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. Agric. Code 143.122Texas · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Baytown?
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Baytown answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a building permit is sought for anything other than one or two living units, or a residential property is converted to commercial use, or a commercial property changes hands or occupants, Baytown requires a permanent opaque fence of at least six feet between that building and any neighboring house or any vacant lot carrying current one or two family deed restrictions. The fence carries down to within three inches of the ground and has to test plumb and square along its whole length at all times. An existing six foot opaque fence counts, and if it is later destroyed the owner of the nonresidential property rebuilds it.
shall erect a permanent, opaque fence at least six feet in height, which extends downward to within three inches of the ground and which shall test plumb and square throughout its length at all times
6 ftminimum height of a required buffer fence
Also on fence height in Baytown
- 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 Baytown?
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Baytown answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Broken, loose, damaged, insect damaged or missing parts of a Baytown fence get thirty days from notice to be repaired or replaced, and the ordinance lists what counts as a part: slats, posts, wood rails, bricks, panels. A fence enclosing a swimming pool or spa is the exception and has to be repaired immediately. Repairs have to match the original in composition, color, size, shape and quality.
Any and all broken, loose, damaged, insect damaged, or missing parts (i.e., slats, posts, wood rails, bricks, panels) of said fences shall be replaced or repaired within 30 days of notification of non-compliance. Fences enclosing swimming pools or spas must be repaired immediately in accordance with article XII of this chapter.
30 daystime allowed to repair a fence after notice of non-compliance
Also on permits in Baytown
- 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
Pool fence requirements in Baytown
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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 Baytown 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 Baytown
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Baytown 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 Baytown 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 Baytown
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Baytown answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is over four feet tall.
Baytown puts a figure on a leaning fence and scales it to the height. A fence may be out of vertical by no more than one foot, measured at the top, and a fence four feet or shorter by no more than six inches. Failing that is unlawful for the owner, the occupier or whoever else has control of the property, occupied or not.
A fence shall not be out of vertical alignment by more than one foot from the vertical measured at the top of the fence; provided, however, a fence of four feet or less in height shall not be out of vertical alignment by more than six inches from the vertical measured at the top of the fence.
The answer turns on whether the fence is over four feet tall.
- a fence over four feet tall
- No more than one foot out of vertical at the top. 1 ft
- a fence four feet or shorter
- No more than six inches out of vertical at the top. 6 in
Also on how height is measured in Baytown
- 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 Baytown
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Baytown 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.
This one is Texas law, not Baytown law. All Texas findings
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.
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 Baytown
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Baytown 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 Baytown 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 Baytown
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Baytown answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A required Baytown buffer fence is redwood, rough cedar, chain link with wood or metal slats, brick, brick columns combined with any of those, heavy metal with a baked enamel finish, pressure treated lumber, or concrete. Separately, products made for some other purpose, and the ordinance names plywood, corrugated steel and fiberglass panels, are prohibited as fencing material anywhere in the city.
Products manufactured for other uses such as plywood, corrugated steel, or fiberglass panels are prohibited as fencing materials.
Also on materials in Baytown
- 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
Livestock and boundary fence law in Baytown
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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 Baytown 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 Baytown
- 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 Baytown itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of BaytownCode of Ordinances, Chapter 18 Buildings and Building Regulations, Article XII Fencing
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- 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 Baytown 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