Fence laws in Kyle, Texas
What the Kyle municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Kyle sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Kyle, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where a one or two family lot in Kyle turns a side or rear yard toward a collector, an arterial, a highway or a public or private park, a masonry wall or fence is required rather than any fence the owner prefers.
- How tall
- Eight feet along a common property boundary in Kyle, and the answer turns on where the fence is, what it encloses, and how steeply the ground falls. The figure is 8 feet, for fence along a common property boundary.
- 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
- Kyle has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Kyle measures a fence from where it comes out of the ground to the top of its highest part, and then closes the usual loophole: anything the fence is built on counts toward the height, including an artificial earthen berm or another foundation accent.
- Corner lots
- Within twenty five feet of where two rights of way meet, a Kyle fence fails on either of two counts: more than thirty percent solid, or more than three feet high. The figure is 25 feet, for distance from the intersection of rights of way.
- Retaining walls
- Kyle 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
- Kyle bans building a fence out of trash, rubbish, re-purposed household or commercial sundries, waste or hazardous materials, and names barbed and concertina wire inside that same list rather than giving wire a rule of its own. The figure is 8 feet, for height above which security wire is allowed on a sensitive facility fence.
- 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 Kyle?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Kyle answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a one or two family lot in Kyle turns a side or rear yard toward a collector, an arterial, a highway or a public or private park, a masonry wall or fence is required rather than any fence the owner prefers. The requirement follows the roadway rather than the lot, so the same house can need masonry on one boundary and nothing on the next. The Director of Planning may waive it for unique circumstances. The finished side of every screening fence faces away from whatever is being screened.
For one and two family residential parcels, masonry walls or fences are required adjacent to collectors, arterials, highways or public/private parks. This requirement only applies to side and rear yards adjacent to said roadways.
Also on fences on the property line in Kyle
- 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 Kyle?
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Kyle answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the fence is, what it encloses, and how steeply the ground falls.
Eight feet along a common property boundary in Kyle. In the front yard of a one or two family property the limit drops to three feet, which is the lowest front yard figure of the Texas cities read for this site. Side and rear boundaries between one or two family lots inside a subdivision are screened at six feet. Ten feet is reached only around a hazardous or sensitive facility such as an electrical substation, a public utility site, a pool, a prison or a chemical or equipment storage yard, and then only where the ground slopes at an average of twenty percent or more across fifteen feet either side of the fence line, or where the fence runs as a continuous perimeter around a subdivision.
All fences enabled by this subsection and along a common property boundary shall be no more than eight feet in height, unless otherwise restricted by this section.
The answer turns on where the fence is, what it encloses, and how steeply the ground falls.
- along a common property boundary
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- the front yard of a one or two family property
- Three feet. 3 ft
- side and rear boundaries between one or two family lots inside a subdivision
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a hazardous or sensitive facility on steep ground, or a continuous subdivision perimeter
- Six to ten feet. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Kyle
- 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 Kyle?
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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 Kyle 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 Kyle
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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 Kyle 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 Kyle
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Kyle 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 Kyle 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 Kyle
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Kyle answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Kyle measures a fence from where it comes out of the ground to the top of its highest part, and then closes the usual loophole: anything the fence is built on counts toward the height, including an artificial earthen berm or another foundation accent. So a six foot fence on a two foot berm is an eight foot fence in Kyle, where in most codes it is a six foot fence on higher ground.
All mixes of media used in the construction of a fence will be included in the fence height measurement, including artificial earthen berms or other foundation accents.
Also on how height is measured in Kyle
- 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 Kyle
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Kyle answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Within twenty five feet of where two rights of way meet, a Kyle fence fails on either of two counts: more than thirty percent solid, or more than three feet high. The rule catches berms and vegetation on the same terms as a fence, so a hedge planted in the corner is judged by the same two numbers.
No fence, berm, vegetation, or other structure more than 30 percent solid and more than three feet high shall be located within 25 feet of the intersection of any rights-of-way.
25 ftdistance from the intersection of rights of way
Also on corner visibility in Kyle
- 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 Kyle
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Kyle 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 Kyle 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 Kyle
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Kyle answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Kyle bans building a fence out of trash, rubbish, re-purposed household or commercial sundries, waste or hazardous materials, and names barbed and concertina wire inside that same list rather than giving wire a rule of its own. The exceptions are narrow. A livestock yard fence may use barbed or concertina wire freely. A fence around a hazardous or sensitive facility may carry it only on the part of the fence eight feet or more above the ground, and that fence has to be masonry unless state or federal law forbids masonry, in which case the applicant produces proof of the law.
Fences shall not be constructed of trash, rubbish, re-purposed household or commercial sundries, waste and/or hazardous materials, including barbed or concertina wire, or other dangerous components.
8 ftheight above which security wire is allowed on a sensitive facility fence
Also on materials in Kyle
- 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 Kyle
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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 Kyle 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 Kyle
- 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 Kyle itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of KyleCode of Ordinances, Chapter 54 Landscaping and Screening Requirements
- 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 Kyle 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