Fence laws in Fort Worth, Texas
What the Fort Worth municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Fort Worth sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Fort Worth, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Fort Worth settles which way a fence faces, and it does it in favor of the street rather than the owner.
- How tall
- Fort Worth allows four feet in the front yard and only as open design fencing that does not obscure visibility and is no more than fifty percent dense, with chain link named as an exception, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands in a front yard, and whether the board of adjustment has granted a special exception. The figure is 4 feet, for open design fence in a residential front yard. It reaches one-family and two-family residential dwellings only.
- Permits
- The Fort Worth permit threshold moves with how solid the fence is, and the answer turns on whether the fence is solid or open. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a solid fence needs 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
- Fort Worth has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Fort Worth measures from the highest adjacent grade running parallel to the fence, up to the highest point of the fence or of any gate in it.
- Corner lots
- A corner in Fort Worth carries a twenty foot triangle measured in each direction from the corner of the property line at the intersection, and nothing over two feet stands inside it. The figure is 20 feet, for each leg of the corner triangle, inside which nothing over two feet stands.
- Retaining walls
- A retaining wall over four feet is an accessory structure in Fort Worth and needs a building permit, listed alongside gazebos, outdoor fireplaces, radio towers and swimming pools. The figure is 4 feet, for retaining wall height above which a building permit is required.
- Materials
- Where the ordinance requires a screening fence, it also says what the fence is made of: wood, brick, stone or reinforced concrete, with other materials allowed only if the development services director accepts them as designed for fencing and resistant to sunlight and moisture.
- 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 Fort Worth?
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Fort Worth answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Fort Worth settles which way a fence faces, and it does it in favor of the street rather than the owner. A wood screening fence has to face the residential district, and a fence along a freeway or an arterial street on the master thoroughfare plan turns its finished side to the right of way. The one place the residents get a say is a screening fence between a neighborhood and commercial land: a majority of the residents whose property faces the fence can ask for the finished side to face the commercial property instead.
Boards should be spaced one-eighth-inch apart and shall face the residential district, unless the majority of the residents whose property faces the fence request that the finished side face the adjacent commercial or industrial property.
Also on fences on the property line in Fort Worth
- 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 Fort Worth?
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Fort Worth answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands in a front yard, and whether the board of adjustment has granted a special exception.
Fort Worth allows four feet in the front yard and only as open design fencing that does not obscure visibility and is no more than fifty percent dense, with chain link named as an exception. Five feet is possible as a special exception from the board of adjustment, and it comes with a condition almost no other city writes down: the consent of the owners on both sides and of the owner directly across the street. Columns may reach five feet six inches. Behind the front building setback line the ceiling is eight feet.
Up to four-foot open design fence consisting of wrought-iron, tubular steel, picket or a similar type material designed for fencing (excluding chain link) that does not obscure visibility and is no greater than 50% in density may be erected on property within the minimum required front yard, platted front yard, established front yard or projected front yard of one-family and two-family residential dwellings.
The answer turns on whether the fence stands in a front yard, and whether the board of adjustment has granted a special exception.
- an open design fence in the front yard, by right
- Four feet, at no more than fifty percent density, and not chain link. 4 ft
- an open design fence in the front yard, as a special exception with neighbor consent
- Five feet. 5 ft
- columns within a front yard fence design
- Five feet six inches. 66 in
- a fence behind the front building setback line
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a solid fence in the front yard
- Not permitted, unless the board of adjustment grants a special exception, and then no more than four feet.
Also on fence height in Fort Worth
- 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 Fort Worth?
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Fort Worth answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is solid or open.
The Fort Worth permit threshold moves with how solid the fence is. A solid fence needs a building permit above six feet and an open fence needs one above eight. So two fences at seven feet in the same back yard can land on opposite sides of the permit line, and what decides it is whether a person can see through.
Building permits are required for solid fences with a height above 6 feet and for open fences with a height above 8 feet.
The answer turns on whether the fence is solid or open.
- a solid fence
- A building permit above six feet. 6 ft
- an open fence
- A building permit above eight feet. 8 ft
Also on permits in Fort Worth
- 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 Fort Worth
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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 Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth
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Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth
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Fort Worth answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Fort Worth measures from the highest adjacent grade running parallel to the fence, up to the highest point of the fence or of any gate in it. Naming the gate matters, because a gate is usually the tallest part of a run and a code that only measures the fence leaves the gate unmeasured.
The height of any fence shall be measured from the highest adjacent grade parallel to the fence to the highest point of the fence or any gates.
Also on how height is measured in Fort Worth
- 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 Fort Worth
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Fort Worth answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A corner in Fort Worth carries a twenty foot triangle measured in each direction from the corner of the property line at the intersection, and nothing over two feet stands inside it. The code also gives that triangle a name, the public open space easement, which is how it appears on a plat, so the area is often already drawn on the survey of the lot.
No fence exceeding two feet in height shall be permitted on a corner lot within or along a triangle formed by measuring 20 feet in each direction from the point of corner of the property line at the street intersection. This area is also known as a public open space easement (P.O.S.E.).
20 fteach leg of the corner triangle, inside which nothing over two feet stands
Also on corner visibility in Fort Worth
- 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 Fort Worth
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Fort Worth answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A retaining wall over four feet is an accessory structure in Fort Worth and needs a building permit, listed alongside gazebos, outdoor fireplaces, radio towers and swimming pools. The guide adds that accessory structures carry their own zoning rules on location, height and floor area that depend on the size of the lot, so the permit is not the only check.
All accessory structures require a building permit. This may include gazebos, outdoor fireplaces, fountains with plumbing, wind turbines, solar panels, radio towers, swimming pools, including prefabricated above-ground pools over 5,000 gallons, freestanding satellite dishes over 12 feet tall, retaining walls over 4 feet tall, etc.
4 ftretaining wall height above which a building permit is required
Also on retaining walls in Fort Worth
- 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 Fort Worth
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Fort Worth answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where the ordinance requires a screening fence, it also says what the fence is made of: wood, brick, stone or reinforced concrete, with other materials allowed only if the development services director accepts them as designed for fencing and resistant to sunlight and moisture. Above six feet the specifications get tighter still. A wood screening fence needs metal posts set three feet into concrete, select or number one grade boards of spruce, cedar or redwood, and the stockade, picket and slat styles are prohibited outright.
Screening fences shall be constructed of wood, brick, stone or reinforced concrete products. The development services director or his or her designee may approve other materials provided the material is expressly designed for fence installation and is resistant to sunlight and moisture.
Also on materials in Fort Worth
- 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 Fort Worth
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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 Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth
- 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 Fort Worth itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of Fort WorthZoning Ordinance, Chapter 5 Supplemental Use Standards, Section 5.305 Fences
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- City of Fort Worth, Development ServicesNuts and Bolts, Residential Building Permits
- 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 Fort Worth 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