Fence laws in Flower Mound, Texas
What the Flower Mound municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Flower Mound sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Flower Mound, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A key lot in Flower Mound is one platted with two front yards, and the second one is settled by distance, and the answer turns on how far the fence stands from the property line in the second front yard. The figure is 8 feet, for key lot fence set back ten feet.
- How tall
- Four feet in a required front yard in Flower Mound, eight in a rear or side yard, both measured above the adjacent grade, and the answer turns on which yard the fence is in, the zoning district, and whether the lot is a key lot. The figure is 4 feet, for fence in a required front yard.
- Permits
- Every new fence in Flower Mound and every piece of work on an existing one needs a permit, and the single exception is replacing pickets with the same material, size and height. The figure is 45 days, for time before an unpursued fence permit application is abandoned.
- 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
- Flower Mound has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Flower Mound leaves the measuring rule to the governing body of a municipality.
- Corner lots
- Flower Mound calls the corner cut a visibility clip and sizes it by the kind of street, and the answer turns on whether the streets are residential or collectors and arterials. The figure is 25 feet, for visibility clip at a residential intersection.
- Retaining walls
- A retaining wall or a subdivision screening wall in Flower Mound needs a design sealed by a structural engineer licensed in Texas. The figure is 4 feet, for retaining wall height above which work on an existing wall needs a permit.
- Materials
- A Flower Mound fence running alongside dedicated park, trail or open space has to be wrought iron or tubular steel, at least four feet high, and may be required to carry masonry or stone columns two feet square with monolithic tops. The figure is 4 feet, for minimum height of a fence beside park, trail or open space.
- 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 Flower Mound?
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Flower Mound answers this, but the answer changes depending on how far the fence stands from the property line in the second front yard.
A key lot in Flower Mound is one platted with two front yards, and the second one is settled by distance. A fence there may be eight feet if it stands at least ten feet off the property line. Inside that ten foot strip it stops at four. So the owner chooses between a low fence on the line and a full height fence set back.
Fences constructed within the additional required front yard of a keylot (a lot platted with two front yards) shall not exceed eight feet (8') in height but must be set back a minimum of ten feet (10') from the property line. Fences constructed within the first ten feet (10') of the additional required front yard shall not exceed four feet (4') in height.
Residential Fence Placement, item 3
The answer turns on how far the fence stands from the property line in the second front yard.
- ten feet or more back from the property line
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- within the first ten feet of the property line
- Four feet. 4 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Flower Mound
- 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 Flower Mound?
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Flower Mound answers this, but the answer changes depending on which yard the fence is in, the zoning district, and whether the lot is a key lot.
Four feet in a required front yard in Flower Mound, eight in a rear or side yard, both measured above the adjacent grade. In the agricultural district the front yard stays at four feet for an ordinary fence and rises to five for barbed wire or metal and wire livestock fencing. On a key lot, a lot platted with two front yards, the second front yard takes eight feet as long as the fence stands ten feet back from the property line, and within that first ten feet it drops to four.
No fence or wall within a required front yard shall exceed four feet (4') in height above the adjacent grade (except in “A” Agricultural District).
The answer turns on which yard the fence is in, the zoning district, and whether the lot is a key lot.
- a required front yard
- Four feet above adjacent grade. 4 ft
- a rear or side yard
- Eight feet above adjacent grade. 8 ft
- a front yard in the agricultural district, barbed wire or livestock fencing
- Five feet. 5 ft
Also on fence height in Flower Mound
- 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 Flower Mound?
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Flower Mound answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every new fence in Flower Mound and every piece of work on an existing one needs a permit, and the single exception is replacing pickets with the same material, size and height. A permit application is abandoned forty five days after filing if it is not pursued, a permit goes invalid if work does not start within forty five days, and it goes invalid again if the final inspection is not approved within sixty days of issue.
All new fencing and all work on existing fences require a permit.
45 daystime before an unpursued fence permit application is abandoned
Also on permits in Flower Mound
- 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 Flower Mound
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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 Flower Mound 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 Flower Mound
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Flower Mound 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 Flower Mound 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 Flower Mound
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Flower Mound does not set this. It leaves it to the governing body of a municipality.
Texas 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.
This one is Texas law, not Flower Mound law. All Texas findings
The governing body of a municipality may regulate: (1) the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures;
Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003(a)(1)
The code hands this to the governing body of a municipality, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Flower Mound
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Flower Mound answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the streets are residential or collectors and arterials.
Flower Mound calls the corner cut a visibility clip and sizes it by the kind of street. Where two residential streets meet the clip is twenty five feet by twenty five, measured from the right of way. At other intersections, including collectors and arterials, it is thirty by thirty.
Visibility clips on intersections of residential streets shall maintain a twenty-five feet by twenty-five feet (25' x 25') visibility from the Right-of-Way (ROW). Other street intersections, such as collectors and arterials, have a thirty feet by thirty feet (30' x 30') visibility requirement.
Residential Fence Placement, item 4
The answer turns on whether the streets are residential or collectors and arterials.
- two residential streets meeting
- Twenty five feet by twenty five. 25 ft
- a collector or arterial intersection
- Thirty feet by thirty. 30 ft
Also on corner visibility in Flower Mound
- 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 Flower Mound
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Flower Mound answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A retaining wall or a subdivision screening wall in Flower Mound needs a design sealed by a structural engineer licensed in Texas. A new retaining wall, or work on an existing one over four feet including the footing, needs a permit, and it has to be applied for under the Retaining Wall permit type rather than the residential fence one. Using the wrong type cancels the request. Concrete or stone columns in an ordinary fence also need stamped engineered plans for the piers and the column design.
A design sealed by a structural engineer licensed in the State of Texas is required for retaining wall and screening wall permits.
4 ftretaining wall height above which work on an existing wall needs a permit
Also on retaining walls in Flower Mound
- 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 Flower Mound
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Flower Mound answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A Flower Mound fence running alongside dedicated park, trail or open space has to be wrought iron or tubular steel, at least four feet high, and may be required to carry masonry or stone columns two feet square with monolithic tops. The point is that the public side of the fence stays open, which is the opposite of the privacy fence the same lot may have everywhere else.
Fences and walls constructed adjacent and parallel to dedicated park, trail, or open space areas shall consist of wrought-iron or tubular steel.
Residential Fence Placement, item 6
4 ftminimum height of a fence beside park, trail or open space
Also on materials in Flower Mound
- 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 Flower Mound
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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 Flower Mound 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 Flower Mound
- 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 Flower Mound itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- Town of Flower MoundFence and Wall Information Packet, revised 29 June 2025
- 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 Flower Mound 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