Fence laws in Temple, Texas
What the Temple municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Temple sets no rule of its own, the Texas rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Temple, Texas, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Framing and posts on a Temple fence that can be seen from a public street go on the inside of the lot, out of sight from the street.
- How tall
- Forty eight inches is the ceiling in a Temple front yard setback, and how much of it can be solid is the second question, and the answer turns on whether the fence is in the front yard setback, and whether it is solid. The figure is 36 inches, for solid barrier in the front yard setback. It reaches single- and two-family dwellings only.
- Permits
- An electric fence around permitted outdoor storage in a Temple commercial or industrial district has to sit inside an ordinary fence or wall of six to eight feet, standing at least a foot back from it and three inches back at the gate. The figure is 60 feet, for maximum spacing between warning signs on an electric fence.
- 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
- Temple has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- A required buffer between a nonresidential or multifamily use and residential or agricultural land is six to eight feet of wood, masonry, stone or precast concrete, and Temple measures whether it screens anything by counting holes: no more than twenty square inches of opening in each square foot, which is about fourteen percent and the tightest figure of any Texas city read for this site. The figure is 20 inches, for square inches of opening allowed in each square foot of a buffer fence.
- Corner lots
- Temple leaves corner clearance to the commissioners court of each county, for intersections on county roads outside city limits.
- Retaining walls
- Temple 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
- Temple publishes a list of fifteen allowed materials and then refuses a permit for anything not made for fencing, naming fibrous masonry products, landscape timbers, railroad ties, latticework panels, plywood, corrugated steel panels and fiberglass panels.
- 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 Temple?
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Temple answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Framing and posts on a Temple fence that can be seen from a public street go on the inside of the lot, out of sight from the street. The code then adds a detail almost no other city writes down: unless a continuous masonry beam runs under a wooden privacy fence, a rot board has to be fixed along the base of the pickets to stop them warping.
Fence framing and posts on fences visible from a public street must be placed to the interior of the lot so that they are not visible from the street.
Also on fences on the property line in Temple
- 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 Temple?
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Temple answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is in the front yard setback, and whether it is solid.
Forty eight inches is the ceiling in a Temple front yard setback, and how much of it can be solid is the second question. Up to thirty six inches the barrier may be solid in any allowed material. Above thirty six inches it has to be open, at least fifty percent see through, so that it does not block the view within ten feet of the back of curb or the edge of the pavement. Behind the front yard setback the limit is eight feet above the adjacent grade.
A fence, wall, screen, enclosure or similar barrier erected in the front yard setback of a single- or two-family dwelling as set forth in Sec. 4.5 must not exceed 48 inches in height above the adjacent grade. A barrier that does not exceed 36 inches in height may be made of a solid allowed material listed in Sec. 7.7.5.
The answer turns on whether the fence is in the front yard setback, and whether it is solid.
- a solid barrier in the front yard setback
- Thirty six inches. 36 in
- an open barrier in the front yard setback, at least fifty percent see through
- Forty eight inches. 48 in
- behind the front yard setback
- Eight feet above adjacent grade. 8 ft
Also on fence height in Temple
- 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 Temple?
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Temple answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
An electric fence around permitted outdoor storage in a Temple commercial or industrial district has to sit inside an ordinary fence or wall of six to eight feet, standing at least a foot back from it and three inches back at the gate. The controller and an emergency entry key safe go in one accessible place for the whole fence, warning signs appear at least every sixty feet, and the fence may only be energized when the public has no legal access to the property. In the agricultural district an electric fence needs proof to the electrical inspector that it will hold animals, stay out of public reach and pose no hazard to life.
The electric fence must be surrounded by a non-electrical fence or wall six to eight feet in height.
60 ftmaximum spacing between warning signs on an electric fence
Also on permits in Temple
- 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 Temple
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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 Temple 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 Temple
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Temple 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 Temple 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 Temple
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Temple answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A required buffer between a nonresidential or multifamily use and residential or agricultural land is six to eight feet of wood, masonry, stone or precast concrete, and Temple measures whether it screens anything by counting holes: no more than twenty square inches of opening in each square foot, which is about fourteen percent and the tightest figure of any Texas city read for this site. Gates match the fence for height and screening. An evergreen hedge at six feet planted on thirty six inch centers is the alternative.
Structural buffering must be from 6 to 8 feet in height above the adjacent grade. Fences or walls used for buffering must not contain openings of more than 20 square inches in each square foot of wall or fence surface.
20 insquare inches of opening allowed in each square foot of a buffer fence
Also on how height is measured in Temple
- 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 Temple
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Temple 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 Temple 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 Temple
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Temple 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 Temple 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 Temple
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Temple answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Temple publishes a list of fifteen allowed materials and then refuses a permit for anything not made for fencing, naming fibrous masonry products, landscape timbers, railroad ties, latticework panels, plywood, corrugated steel panels and fiberglass panels. Two entries in the allowed list carry their own conditions: chain link has to be installed as manufactured with no slats or tarps added, and latticework is allowed only as a two foot decorative top on a six foot fence. Barbed wire is confined to the agricultural and industrial districts and razor wire to the industrial ones, both needing a permit and both kept six feet off the ground.
Permits must not be issued for materials not manufactured specifically for fencing, such as fibrous masonry products, landscape timbers, railroad ties, latticework panels, plywood, corrugated steel panels or fiberglass panels.
Also on materials in Temple
- 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 Temple
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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 Temple 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 Temple
- 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 Temple itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Texas LegislatureTexas Agriculture Code, Chapter 143, Subchapter F, Removal of Adjoining Fences
- City of TempleTemple Unified Development Code, Article 7, Section 7.7 Screening and Buffering, last amended 7 July 2022
- 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 Temple 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