Fence laws in Lubbock, Texas
What the Lubbock municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Lubbock sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Lubbock, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A fence along the outside edge of a new Lubbock subdivision is optional, and once it exists the code takes it over. The figure is 30 feet, for maximum spacing between stone or brick columns in a subdivision perimeter fence.
- How tall
- Lubbock writes two numbers and nothing between them, and the answer turns on whether the fence is in a required front setback, and whether the use is apartments. The figure is 48 inches, for residential fence or wall within a required front setback.
- 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
- Lubbock has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Lubbock puts the question the other way from most codes.
- Corner lots
- The Lubbock visibility triangle runs twenty five feet along each property line from the street corner in every district except the mixed use ones, where it is ten feet from the back of curb instead, and the answer turns on whether the lot is in a mixed use district. The figure is 25 feet, for each leg of the visibility triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Lubbock 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
- Lubbock bans cast off and secondhand material, plywood, particleboard, rope, string and wire products, fiberglass panels, barbed wire, concertina, razor wire, electrified components, embedded glass shards, and anything damaged or unsafe.
- 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 Lubbock?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Lubbock answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence along the outside edge of a new Lubbock subdivision is optional, and once it exists the code takes it over. It has to be one consistent design for the whole subdivision, at least six feet tall, with stone or brick columns no more than thirty feet apart, kept out of the public right of way, installed by the subdivider, and maintained afterwards by a homeowners association, a property owners association, a public improvement district or a tax increment financing reinvestment zone. Naming who maintains it is the unusual part, because that is the question a shared perimeter fence usually fails on ten years later.
A fence or wall may be provided along the perimeter of a new subdivision adjacent to public right-of-way.
30 ftmaximum spacing between stone or brick columns in a subdivision perimeter fence
Also on fences on the property line in Lubbock
- 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 Lubbock?
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Lubbock answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is in a required front setback, and whether the use is apartments.
Lubbock writes two numbers and nothing between them. Inside a required front setback a residential fence or wall stops at forty eight inches. Everywhere else on the lot it runs to ten feet, which is two feet above what most large Texas cities allow. Apartments get their own line: a six foot fence may reach into the required front or side street setback if it is ornamental metal at less than fifty percent opacity.
Except as permitted in Subsection b.5.G., Apartment Fencing, below, the maximum height of a residential fence or wall within a required front setback shall be 48 inches.ii. The maximum height for any other residential fence or wall shall be 10 feet.
The answer turns on whether the fence is in a required front setback, and whether the use is apartments.
- within a required front setback
- Forty eight inches. 48 in
- anywhere else on a residential lot
- Ten feet. 10 ft
- apartments, in a required front or side street setback
- Six feet, in ornamental metal at less than fifty percent opacity. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Lubbock
- 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 Lubbock?
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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 Lubbock 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 Lubbock
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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 Lubbock 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 Lubbock
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Lubbock 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 Lubbock 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 Lubbock
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Lubbock answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Lubbock puts the question the other way from most codes. A fence or wall is allowed in any required setback, and the only two things that limit it are the height table and the visibility triangle. So the setback lines that hold a house back do not hold the fence back at all, and a reader looking for a fence setback distance in this code will not find one.
Fences and walls are permitted in any required setbacks, subject to the height limits in Subsection b.5.E., Height and Openness, above, and subject to the visibility triangle established in Section 39.02.023, Measurements.
Also on how height is measured in Lubbock
- 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 Lubbock
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Lubbock answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the lot is in a mixed use district.
The Lubbock visibility triangle runs twenty five feet along each property line from the street corner in every district except the mixed use ones, where it is ten feet from the back of curb instead. The triangle is a volume rather than a flat area: twelve feet of clear height over vehicle ways and eight feet over sidewalks. A fence is not shut out of it entirely, and that is the part worth knowing. A shrub or fence may stand inside the triangle as long as it stays under three feet.
A triangular area that includes that portion of public right-of-way and any private property within a triangle formed by a diagonal line extending through points on the two property lines 25 feet from the street corner intersection of the property lines in all districts except for the MU districts. In the MU districts, the lines extend 10 feet from the back of curb.
39.02.023, Visibility Triangle
The answer turns on whether the lot is in a mixed use district.
- any district other than mixed use
- Twenty five feet along each property line from the corner. 25 ft
- a mixed use district
- Ten feet from the back of curb. 10 ft
- a fence or shrub standing inside the triangle
- Three feet. 3 ft
Also on corner visibility in Lubbock
- 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 Lubbock
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Lubbock 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 Lubbock 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 Lubbock
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Lubbock answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Lubbock bans cast off and secondhand material, plywood, particleboard, rope, string and wire products, fiberglass panels, barbed wire, concertina, razor wire, electrified components, embedded glass shards, and anything damaged or unsafe. The approved list runs the other way and includes one item most cities refuse: sheet, roll or corrugated metal is allowed, but only built with metal posts, metal frames, metal brackets and metal caps. Masonry, ornamental metal, cedar, whitewood, composite, vinyl and chain link are all approved outright, and split rail or painted pipe rail needs a parcel of an acre or more.
Residential fences not associated with the permitted keeping of livestock are prohibited from being composed of the following materials:i. Cast off, secondhand, or other items not originally intended to be used for constructing or maintaining a fence, such as, but not limited to:a. Plywood or particleboard;b. Rope, string, or wire products (except as where provided); andc. Fiberglass panels.
Also on materials in Lubbock
- 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 Lubbock
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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 Lubbock 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 Lubbock
- 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 Lubbock itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of LubbockUnified Development Code, Division 2.4, Land Use Standards
- 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
- City of LubbockUnified Development Code, Division 2.5, Measurements and Allowances
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 Lubbock 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