Fence laws in Missouri City, Texas
What the Missouri City municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Missouri City sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Missouri City, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Where a residential subdivision in Missouri City backs onto a major street, community fencing along that perimeter is required rather than optional, and the city has adopted design standards for it.
- How tall
- Where the Missouri City zoning appendix sets a fence height it is a floor rather than a ceiling. The figure is 8 feet, for minimum screening fence height beside or behind a business.
- Permits
- Missouri City sets the fence permit line at seven feet, the highest of the Texas cities read for this site, and then makes the permit cover almost any work on the fence: construction, reconstruction, modification, enlargement, extension or alteration. The figure is 7 feet, for height above which a 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
- Missouri City has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Missouri City leaves the measuring rule to the governing body of a municipality.
- Corner lots
- Missouri City leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Missouri City 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
- Where the zoning appendix requires a yard containing an accessory building to be enclosed, the enclosure has to be opaque and at least six feet. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum height of an opaque enclosure round an accessory building.
- 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 Missouri City?
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Missouri City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where a residential subdivision in Missouri City backs onto a major street, community fencing along that perimeter is required rather than optional, and the city has adopted design standards for it. The rule attaches to the subdivision as a whole rather than to the lots inside it, so the fence is one continuous thing under one standard.
The City of Missouri City has adopted design standards for certain types of fencing including community fencing which is required along the perimeter of a residential subdivision, adjacent to a major street.
Frequently Asked Questions, Do I need a permit to install a fence?
Also on fences on the property line in Missouri City
- 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 Missouri City?
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Missouri City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where the Missouri City zoning appendix sets a fence height it is a floor rather than a ceiling. To the side or rear of a business establishment the screening is wooden fencing of at least eight feet with brick pilasters, or masonry of brick, stone or concrete at eight feet. Elsewhere a six foot opaque wall or fence is required to enclose the area an accessory building sits in.
To the side or rear of the business establishment, wooden fencing a minimum eight feet in height with brick pilasters or masonry fencing consisting of brick, stone, or concrete a minimum eight feet in height;
8 ftminimum screening fence height beside or behind a business
Also on fence height in Missouri City
- 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 Missouri City?
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Missouri City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Missouri City sets the fence permit line at seven feet, the highest of the Texas cities read for this site, and then makes the permit cover almost any work on the fence: construction, reconstruction, modification, enlargement, extension or alteration. So a seven foot fence needs nothing and an eight foot one needs a permit even to be altered.
A permit is required prior to the construction, reconstruction, modification, enlargement, extension, or alteration of a fence that exceeds seven feet in height.
Frequently Asked Questions, Do I need a permit to install a fence?
7 ftheight above which a fence needs a permit
Also on permits in Missouri City
- 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 Missouri City
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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 Missouri City 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 Missouri City
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Missouri City 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 Missouri City 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 Missouri City
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Missouri City 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 Missouri City 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 Missouri City
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Missouri City does not set this. It leaves it to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
Texas 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.
This one is Texas law, not Missouri City law. All Texas findings
The commissioners court may: (1) define the appropriate sight distance; (2) prohibit an obstruction of the sight distance by any vegetation, loose earth, or other item except a building or other structure affixed to the ground, if the obstruction is a traffic hazard; and (3) provide for the removal and disposition of an obstruction maintained in violation of an order adopted under this section.
The code hands this to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits, which is not published in the code itself.
Retaining wall rules in Missouri City
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Missouri City 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 Missouri City 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 Missouri City
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Missouri City answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Where the zoning appendix requires a yard containing an accessory building to be enclosed, the enclosure has to be opaque and at least six feet. The test is whether the wall or fence can be seen through rather than what it is made of, which leaves the choice of material to the owner and the performance to the code.
which the accessory building is located shall be completely enclosed by an opaque wall or fence of a minimum height of six feet.
6 ftminimum height of an opaque enclosure round an accessory building
Also on materials in Missouri City
- 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 Missouri City
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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 Missouri City 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 Missouri City
- 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 Missouri City itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of Missouri City, Development ServicesFrequently Asked Questions, Do I need a permit to install a fence?
- Texas LegislatureTexas Local Government Code, Chapter 214, Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures
- City of Missouri CityCode of Ordinances, Appendix A Zoning, Section 9 Supplementary District Regulations
- 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 Missouri City 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