Fence laws in Carrollton, Texas
What the Carrollton municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Carrollton sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Carrollton, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Four kinds of easement are closed to a Carrollton fence unless the city manager says otherwise: drainage, visibility, access and maintenance.
- How tall
- Eight feet in a Carrollton rear or side yard, and thirty six inches in the front yard at no more than fifty percent opacity, and the answer turns on which yard the fence stands in, and whether the lot is a key lot. The figure is 8 feet, for fence in a rear or side yard. It reaches single-family and duplex residential zoning districts only.
- Permits
- Carrollton draws the permit line at twenty feet of fence. The figure is 20 feet, for length of fence work that can be done without a permit.
- 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
- Carrollton has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Carrollton measures a fence from the ground where the ground is high and from the house where the ground is low, and the answer turns on whether the ground beside the fence is above or below the foundation of the house.
- Corner lots
- Carrollton leaves corner clearance to the Carrollton Visibility Ordinance.
- Retaining walls
- Putting a fence on top of or through a Carrollton retaining wall that needed a permit makes it an engineering question.
- Materials
- Texas only says what a fence has to be made of inside a county or area that has voted to stop animals roaming loose. The figure is 3 strands, for a sufficient barbed wire fence. It reaches counties or areas that have voted to stop animals running at large only.
- 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 Carrollton?
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Carrollton answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Four kinds of easement are closed to a Carrollton fence unless the city manager says otherwise: drainage, visibility, access and maintenance. The city also warns that not needing a permit is not permission to block one of those easements, so a short run of fence that needs no paperwork can still be in the wrong place.
No fence shall be erected within any drainage easement, or visibility, access and maintenance easements unless otherwise authorized by the City Manager or designee.
Drainage, Water and Sewer Easements
Also on fences on the property line in Carrollton
- 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 Carrollton?
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Carrollton answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence stands in, and whether the lot is a key lot.
Eight feet in a Carrollton rear or side yard, and thirty six inches in the front yard at no more than fifty percent opacity. A decorative embellishment may sit two feet above the fence, and support posts and gates may stand four inches proud of it and no more. A key lot, meaning a corner lot whose rear neighbors face its side street, gets a choice: an open tubular steel or wrought iron fence up to eight feet may come within five feet of the side property line, while a mostly solid one has to sit back at the front yard setback line.
All fences constructed in the front yard of a residential property shall:(a) Be no taller in height than 36 inches.(b) Not have an opacity level exceeding 50 percent as demonstrated in Figure 5.
The answer turns on which yard the fence stands in, and whether the lot is a key lot.
- a rear or side yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a front yard
- Thirty six inches, at no more than fifty percent opacity. 36 in
- a key lot, with an open fence of tubular steel or wrought iron
- Eight feet, within five feet of the side property line. 5 ft
Also on fence height in Carrollton
- 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 Carrollton?
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Carrollton answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Carrollton draws the permit line at twenty feet of fence. Any new fence longer than that needs a permit, and so does moving or repairing more than twenty feet of an existing one. Replacing boards and posts up to twenty feet is maintenance. The ordinance closes the obvious gap by adding that more than twenty feet of whole sections or panels in any six month period is a permit however it is split up.
A fence permit is required for any new fence over 20' in length, or when relocating or repairing more than 20' in length of an existing fence.
20 ftlength of fence work that can be done without a permit
Also on permits in Carrollton
- 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 Carrollton
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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 Carrollton 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 Carrollton
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Carrollton 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 Carrollton 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 Carrollton
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Carrollton answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the ground beside the fence is above or below the foundation of the house.
Carrollton measures a fence from the ground where the ground is high and from the house where the ground is low. If the grade beside the fence is above the foundation of the main structure, the fence is measured at the grade next to it. If the grade is below that foundation, the fence is measured from the finished floor elevation of the house instead, which is the only rule of its kind among the Texas cities read for this site. A retaining wall does not add height either, because the fence is then read from the ground at the highest point, and a berm built to gain height is not allowed.
In the event that fences are placed at a point where the adjacent grade is higher than the foundation of the main structure, fence height will be measured at the grade adjacent to the fence. In the event that fences are placed at a point where the adjacent grade is below the foundation of the main structure, fence height will be measured from the finished floor elevation of the main structure.
The answer turns on whether the ground beside the fence is above or below the foundation of the house.
- the ground beside the fence is higher than the foundation of the house
- Measured at the grade next to the fence.
- the ground beside the fence is lower than the foundation of the house
- Measured from the finished floor of the house.
- the fence has been raised on a retaining wall
- Measured from the ground at the highest point.
Also on how height is measured in Carrollton
- 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 Carrollton
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Carrollton does not set this. It leaves it to the Carrollton Visibility Ordinance.
Carrollton keeps the corner rule in a separate Visibility Ordinance rather than in the fence chapter, and the fence page points at it without stating a distance. The city adds that the problem is mostly but not only a corner lot one, so a mid block lot beside a driveway can be caught by the same ordinance.
Obstructions of traffic visibility at intersections are prohibited by the Visibility Ordinance .
The code hands this to the Carrollton Visibility Ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on corner visibility in Carrollton
- 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 Carrollton
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Carrollton answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Putting a fence on top of or through a Carrollton retaining wall that needed a permit makes it an engineering question. A professional engineer has to approve the change to the wall or its design, because posts driven through a wall change how the wall carries the earth behind it. The requirement attaches to the wall rather than to the fence.
If a fence is proposed to be installed on top of or through an existing or proposed retaining wall which requires a permit, a Professional Engineer must approve the modification to or design of the retaining wall.
Also on retaining walls in Carrollton
- left to the townTexas 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. Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 214.212(a)Texas · Statute
Fence materials allowed in Carrollton
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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.
This one is Texas law, not Carrollton law. All Texas findings
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
3 strandsa sufficient barbed wire fence
Livestock and boundary fence law in Carrollton
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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 Carrollton 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 Carrollton
- 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
7 documents, of which 2 were published by Carrollton itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of Carrollton, Building InspectionFences
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- City of CarrolltonCode of Ordinances, Chapter 154, Fences, adopted by Ordinance 3563
- 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 Carrollton 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