Fence laws in Edinburg, Texas
What the Edinburg municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Edinburg sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Edinburg, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where a rear yard faces a street in Edinburg the fence stands three feet off the rear lot line, and the strip that creates is planted: shrubs no more than three feet apart between the fence and the right of way, with access kept for looking after them. The figure is 3 feet, for setback of a rear street yard fence from the rear lot line.
- How tall
- Three feet in a front or street side yard, six in a side or rear yard, and eight in either place for an authorized chain link, wrought iron or similar fence, and the answer turns on which yard the fence is in, and whether it is chain link, wrought iron or similar. The figure is 3 feet, for fence in a front or street side yard.
- Permits
- Edinburg needs a permit for anything done to a fence: erecting, enlarging, altering, repairing, replacing, removing or demolishing 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
- Edinburg has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Edinburg does not pick a side for the frame to face.
- Corner lots
- Edinburg leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Edinburg 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 fence in Edinburg is built of manufactured fencing material: wood, stone, brick, steel, fiberglass, vinyl, stucco, or textured or scored 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 Edinburg?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Edinburg answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a rear yard faces a street in Edinburg the fence stands three feet off the rear lot line, and the strip that creates is planted: shrubs no more than three feet apart between the fence and the right of way, with access kept for looking after them. On an arterial or collector the fence itself has to be finished in brick, stone or painted stucco in off-white, buff brown, tan, earth tones or pale versions of them, and the same finish is required between residential and commercial land.
Fences shall be set back 3 feet from the rear lot line.
2.301.D, Fences in rear street yards
3 ftsetback of a rear street yard fence from the rear lot line
Also on fences on the property line in Edinburg
- 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 Edinburg?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Edinburg answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence is in, and whether it is chain link, wrought iron or similar.
Three feet in a front or street side yard, six in a side or rear yard, and eight in either place for an authorized chain link, wrought iron or similar fence. So the open fence gets more than twice the height of a solid one in front, and a third more in the back. Getting a front yard fence permitted at all is a separate question that turns on what the rest of the block has done.
Front and street side yards (if permitted by paragraph 4, below): three feet, except that authorized chain link, wrought iron, or other similar fences may be up to 8 feet in height.
The answer turns on which yard the fence is in, and whether it is chain link, wrought iron or similar.
- a front or street side yard
- Three feet. 3 ft
- a side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- an authorized chain link, wrought iron or similar fence, in any yard
- Eight feet. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Edinburg
- 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 Edinburg?
Compare permits across all 50 states
Edinburg answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Edinburg needs a permit for anything done to a fence: erecting, enlarging, altering, repairing, replacing, removing or demolishing it. The one way out is a finding by the building official that the work is minor repair or painting. Taking a fence down needs the permit as much as putting one up, which is unusual and worth knowing.
A fence permit shall be required to erect, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, replace, remove or demolish any fence regulated by this article from the building official. A fence permit shall not be required if it is determined by the building official that only minor repair or painting is necessary.
Also on permits in Edinburg
- 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 Edinburg
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
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 Edinburg 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 Edinburg
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
Edinburg 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 Edinburg 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 Edinburg
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Edinburg answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Edinburg does not pick a side for the frame to face. The structural supports have to be out of sight from the public and from the neighboring properties both, which in practice means a fence finished on both faces rather than one turned outward. A wood fence may carry a grade beam or rot board along the whole base, partly below ground, which is the one structural element the code lets show.
The structural supports are not visible to the public or from adjacent properties.
2.301.D, Design and Configuration
Also on how height is measured in Edinburg
- 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 Edinburg
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Edinburg 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 Edinburg 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 Edinburg
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
Edinburg 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 Edinburg 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 Edinburg
Compare materials across all 50 states
Edinburg answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence in Edinburg is built of manufactured fencing material: wood, stone, brick, steel, fiberglass, vinyl, stucco, or textured or scored concrete. Chain link belongs in the rear or side yard and is out of a front or street yard unless chain link is already there on the property or another on the same block, or the applicant shows a security need. Slats or inserts added to chain link to make it opaque are strictly prohibited in a front yard. Barbed, razor and concertina wire are out of every residential district except where they secure a utility installation, and private covenants may ban chain link the code allows.
Chain link fences with inserts for opacity are strictly prohibited in front yards.
Also on materials in Edinburg
- 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 Edinburg
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 Edinburg 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 Edinburg
- 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 Edinburg itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of EdinburgUnified Development Code, Article 2, Section 2.301, Residential Uses, Fences
- 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 Edinburg 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