Fence laws in Dallas, Texas
What the Dallas municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Dallas sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Dallas, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A Dallas fence cannot cross an easement on the strength of the owner alone.
- How tall
- Dallas allows nine feet above grade in a required yard, which is the highest general limit of any large Texas city on this site, and the answer turns on whether the fence is in a required front yard, and whether the district is multifamily. The figure is 9 feet, for fence in a required yard.
- Permits
- Texas has no fence permit rule of its own.
- 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
- Dallas has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- In a Dallas front yard the fence is measured from both sides and the taller reading is the one that counts, so a fence standing on ground that falls away toward the street is measured from the street side.
- Corner lots
- Dallas draws the largest corner triangle in this database, and the answer turns on whether the corner is an ordinary street intersection, one in a central area district, or a driveway or alley meeting a street. The figure is 45 feet, for each leg of the visibility triangle at a street intersection.
- Retaining walls
- A solid panel near the street has to stand back in Dallas: in a single family district a fence panel less than fifty percent open may not sit closer than five feet to the front lot line. The figure is 5 feet, for setback from the front lot line for a fence panel less than half open.
- Materials
- Dallas bans sheet metal, corrugated metal, fiberglass panels and plywood outright.
- 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 Dallas?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Dallas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Dallas fence cannot cross an easement on the strength of the owner alone. Written approval has to come first from every agency with an interest in that easement, which on a typical residential lot can mean a utility, the city and a drainage district. The rule is one sentence and it is the one that most often moves a back fence off the line a survey suggests.
A fence may not be located within an easement without the prior written approval by the agencies having interest in the easement.
Also on fences on the property line in Dallas
- 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 Dallas?
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Dallas answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is in a required front yard, and whether the district is multifamily.
Dallas allows nine feet above grade in a required yard, which is the highest general limit of any large Texas city on this site. The front yard is where it tightens. In every residential district except multifamily, a front yard fence stops at four feet. A multifamily front yard fence reaches six feet, but only where no lot on the blockface is zoned single family or duplex, vehicle gates sit at least twenty feet back from the street curb, and any panel less than half open stands five feet off the front lot line. Miss any of those and multifamily drops back to four feet as well.
A person shall not erect or maintain a fence in a required yard more than nine feet above grade. In all residential districts except multifamily districts, a fence may not exceed four feet above grade when located in the required front yard, except when the required front yard is governed by the side or rear yard regulations pursuant to Section 51A-4.401.
The answer turns on whether the fence is in a required front yard, and whether the district is multifamily.
- a fence in a required yard generally
- Nine feet above grade. 9 ft
- a required front yard in a residential district other than multifamily
- Four feet above grade. 4 ft
- a required front yard in a multifamily district, with all three conditions met
- Six feet above grade. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Dallas
- 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 Dallas?
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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.
This one is Texas law, not Dallas 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.
Pool fence requirements in Dallas
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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 Dallas 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 Dallas
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Dallas 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 Dallas 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 Dallas
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Dallas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
In a Dallas front yard the fence is measured from both sides and the taller reading is the one that counts, so a fence standing on ground that falls away toward the street is measured from the street side. Fill counts too. Where the building official finds the ground was artificially raised, meaning a slope steeper than one foot of height for every three feet of distance, the added ground is measured as part of the fence. In a side or rear yard, and in every district outside single family and duplex, the measurement is taken from the inside only.
the top of the fence to the level of the ground on the inside and outside of any fence within the required front yard. The fence height shall be the greater of these two measurements. If the fence is constructed on fill material that alters grade, as determined by the building official, the height of the artificially altered grade shall be included in the height of the fence.
Also on how height is measured in Dallas
- 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 Dallas
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Dallas answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the corner is an ordinary street intersection, one in a central area district, or a driveway or alley meeting a street.
Dallas draws the largest corner triangle in this database. On an ordinary corner the legs run forty five feet along each street curb line from the intersection. Downtown and in the Deep Ellum and State-Thomas districts they run thirty. Where a driveway or an alley meets a street the triangle is twenty feet on each side. Inside any of them nothing may stand between two and a half feet and eight feet above the top of the street curb, which means the rule bites on a low fence and on a tall one but leaves the space above eight feet alone.
in all zoning districts except central area districts, the Deep Ellum/Near Eastside District (Planned Development District No. 269), and the State-Thomas Special Purpose District (Planned Development District No. 225), the portion of a corner lot within a triangular area formed by connecting together the point of intersection of adjacent street curb lines (or, if there are no street curbs, what would be the normal street curb lines) and points on each of the street curb lines 45 feet from the intersection
The answer turns on whether the corner is an ordinary street intersection, one in a central area district, or a driveway or alley meeting a street.
- an ordinary street intersection
- Forty five feet along each street curb line. 45 ft
- a central area, Deep Ellum or State-Thomas district
- Thirty feet along each street curb line. 30 ft
- a driveway or alley meeting a street, in any district
- Twenty feet along the driveway or alley edge and along the street curb line. 20 ft
Also on corner visibility in Dallas
- 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 Dallas
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Dallas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A solid panel near the street has to stand back in Dallas: in a single family district a fence panel less than fifty percent open may not sit closer than five feet to the front lot line. A retaining wall is written out of that rule by name, because it holds earth rather than blocks a view, and the code defines it separately as a wall designed to keep earthen material from sliding away or eroding. So a retaining wall can sit on the front lot line where a solid fence panel of the same height cannot.
In single family districts, a fence panel with a surface area that is less than 50 percent open may not be located less than five feet from the front lot line. This paragraph does not apply to retaining walls.
5 ftsetback from the front lot line for a fence panel less than half open
Also on retaining walls in Dallas
- 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 Dallas
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Dallas answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Dallas bans sheet metal, corrugated metal, fiberglass panels and plywood outright. Plastic is allowed only as preformed pickets and panels at least seven eighths of an inch thick, which rules out sheeting without ruling out vinyl fencing. Barbed wire and razor ribbon are out of residential districts except agricultural, and in a nonresidential district they are allowed only six feet or more above grade and only where they do not reach past the property line. Every fence also has to leave firefighting access to the side and rear yard.
Plastic materials other than preformed fence pickets and fence panels with a minimum thickness of seven-eighths of an inch;
Also on materials in Dallas
- 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 Dallas
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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 Dallas 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 Dallas
- 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 Dallas itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of DallasDallas Development Code, Chapter 51A, Article IV, Section 51A-4.602, Fence, Screening and Visual Obstruction Regulations
- 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 Dallas 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