Fence laws in El Paso, Texas
What the El Paso municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where El Paso sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in El Paso, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A wall on the common line between two El Paso properties needs the adjoining owner’s written approval, and the approval goes in with the building permit application rather than being left to the two owners.
- How tall
- El Paso allows eight feet behind the front wall of the house and forty two inches in front of it, and then lets either figure rise to a total of ten feet on one condition: everything above the ordinary limit has to be at least seventy five percent open, and the answer turns on whether the fence is in front of or behind the front wall of the house, how open the part above the limit is, and how close the fence is to an intersection. The figure is 8 feet, for fence behind the front wall of the house. It reaches residential and apartment districts, and residential or apartment uses in other districts only.
- 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
- El Paso has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- El Paso names the datum inside the rule rather than in a definitions section, and the datum is the high ground. The figure is 6 feet, for mandatory masonry wall between districts, from the high ground.
- Corner lots
- The El Paso corner triangle runs twenty feet back along each property line from the corner, and the height inside it is measured against the centerline of the nearest abutting street rather than against the ground at the fence. The figure is 20 feet, for each leg of the corner triangle, measured along the property lines.
- Retaining walls
- El Paso 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
- Masonry gets its own short section in El Paso and it does two things. The figure is 8 inches, for extra height a masonry wall may take to round off the top.
- 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 El Paso?
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El Paso answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A wall on the common line between two El Paso properties needs the adjoining owner’s written approval, and the approval goes in with the building permit application rather than being left to the two owners. Where the city is the neighbor, the written approval comes from the zoning administrator and is requested the same way.
If a wall is proposed to be constructed on a common property line, the written approval of the adjoining property owner must be submitted with the application for a building permit.
Also on fences on the property line in El Paso
- 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 El Paso?
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El Paso answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is in front of or behind the front wall of the house, how open the part above the limit is, and how close the fence is to an intersection.
El Paso allows eight feet behind the front wall of the house and forty two inches in front of it, and then lets either figure rise to a total of ten feet on one condition: everything above the ordinary limit has to be at least seventy five percent open. Within twenty feet of a street intersection nothing goes above thirty six inches whatever the design. The open section may be wrought iron with or without masonry columns, chain link, picket, split rail or anything similar that is not otherwise banned.
In residential or apartment districts or for residential or apartment uses in other districts, a screening wall or fence not in excess of eight feet high may be erected around that part of the lot behind the front wall of the main building or behind the front yard line whenever the main building is located further back. A screening wall or fence not in excess of forty-two inches high may be erected in that part of a lot in front of the front line of the main building, except that no screening wall or fence may be more than thirty-six inches high within twenty feet of a street intersection
The answer turns on whether the fence is in front of or behind the front wall of the house, how open the part above the limit is, and how close the fence is to an intersection.
- behind the front wall of the main building
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- in front of the front line of the main building
- Forty two inches. 42 in
- within twenty feet of a street intersection
- Thirty six inches. 36 in
- where everything above the ordinary limit is at least seventy five percent open
- Ten feet in total, except near an intersection. 10 ft
Also on fence height in El Paso
- 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 El Paso?
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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 El Paso 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 El Paso
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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 El Paso 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 El Paso
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El Paso 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 El Paso 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 El Paso
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El Paso answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
El Paso names the datum inside the rule rather than in a definitions section, and the datum is the high ground. A mandatory wall between two districts is six feet measured from the higher side, which means the low side ends up with more wall than six feet of it. The same parenthetical appears again for the eight foot wall required beside a natural open space wildlife sanctuary.
Where both properties are vacant, a six-foot high masonry wall (measurement of height is from the high ground) shall be erected by the owner of whichever property first builds upon it:
6 ftmandatory masonry wall between districts, from the high ground
Also on how height is measured in El Paso
- 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 El Paso
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El Paso answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The El Paso corner triangle runs twenty feet back along each property line from the corner, and the height inside it is measured against the centerline of the nearest abutting street rather than against the ground at the fence. Three feet above that centerline is the limit, so a lot that sits higher than the road gets less fence than the number suggests. The rule covers the front yard, the rear yard or both.
On any corner lot, within that area of a triangle (twenty-foot triangle) formed by the intersecting property lines and a diagonal line joining the property lines at points twenty feet from their intersection, the following conditions shall apply in any front yard, rear yard or both yards:
20 fteach leg of the corner triangle, measured along the property lines
Also on corner visibility in El Paso
- 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 El Paso
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El Paso 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 El Paso 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 El Paso
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El Paso answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Masonry gets its own short section in El Paso and it does two things. A masonry wall may run up to eight inches over the height standard purely so the top course can be rounded off, which is a rare allowance for how a wall is finished rather than for what it does. And any masonry wall over six feet has to be designed by a professional engineer.
A masonry wall may exceed the height standard up to a maximum of eight inches for the purpose of rounding off the wall.
8 inextra height a masonry wall may take to round off the top
Also on materials in El Paso
- 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 El Paso
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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 El Paso 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 El Paso
- 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 El Paso itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of El PasoEl Paso Municipal Code, Title 20 Zoning, Chapter 20.16 Screening and 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 El Paso 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