Fence laws in Alexandria, Virginia
What the Alexandria municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Alexandria sets no rule of its own, the Virginia rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Alexandria, Virginia, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Alexandria has the most neighbor-aware boundary rule in this project, and the answer turns on whether the neighboring house has a low opening facing the line. The figure is 5 feet, for step-back from the shared lot line past a neighboring opening.
- How tall
- Alexandria starts from a rule almost nobody else writes down: every part of a required yard has to be open and unobstructed from the lowest point to the sky, and a fence stands there only because it appears on a list of permitted obstructions, and the answer turns on the yard, whether the fence is open or closed, and what the lot abuts. The figure is 4 feet, for open fence permitted in any required yard.
- Permits
- A fence of any height needs no building permit in Virginia.
- Pool barriers
- Virginia handles pool fences through its statewide building code.
- Spite fences
- Alexandria has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Alexandria leaves the measuring rule to the zoning ordinance of a locality.
- Corner lots
- The Alexandria triangle is drawn between two points thirty feet from the intersecting curb line, which is larger than most and takes the curb rather than the property line as its origin. The figure is 30 feet, for distance from the intersecting curb line to each corner of the triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Virginia writes its own statewide code and sets the bar lower than the model code does. The figure is 3 feet, for depth of unbalanced fill at or above which a retaining wall needs a building permit.
- Materials
- Alexandria sorts fences into open and closed and lets that pair do the work a material list does elsewhere, and the answer turns on whether the fence is open or closed and whether the lot is in a historic district.
- Livestock
- Virginia describes a lawful fence several ways and any one of them counts, as long as the livestock cannot get through. The figure is 42 inches, for minimum height of a barbed wire or board lawful fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Alexandria?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Alexandria answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the neighboring house has a low opening facing the line.
Alexandria has the most neighbor-aware boundary rule in this project. Outside the two historic districts, where a principal dwelling on the abutting lot has any opening with a sill or threshold lower than the proposed structure, measured from grade and facing the shared lot line, a fence over four feet standing within three feet of that line has to move back five feet. The step-back runs the width of the opening plus five feet in each direction along the line, so the shape of the setback is drawn by the neighboring windows rather than by a uniform figure. Arbors, trellises, pergolas, sheds and accessory dwellings are caught by the same rule. On a corner lot the secondary front yard fence takes a different approach again: two feet back from the edge of the sidewalk, or where the houses on that block face that street, no closer than half the distance between the secondary front lot line and the front wall of the house.
if a principal dwelling on an abutting lot has any openings with sill or threshold heights lower than the height of the following proposed accessory buildings and structures, as measured from grade, facing the shared lot line and within three feet of the shared lot line, the following accessory structures and buildings shall be located at least five feet from the shared lot line along the width of the openings and for a minimum of five feet in each direction, along the shared lot line, beyond the width of the openings
The answer turns on whether the neighboring house has a low opening facing the line.
- a fence over four feet near the line
- Five feet back past a low window. 5 ft
- the trigger distance
- Within three feet of the line. 3 ft
- a corner lot with a sidewalk
- Two feet off the sidewalk. 2 ft
- a block where the houses face that street
- Half the distance to the house wall. 50%
Also on fences on the property line in Alexandria
- set in state lawIn Virginia neighbors split a fence on the property line down the middle. Both build it, both keep it up, and both pay the same share. Two things end that duty: one neighbor choosing to leave their land open, or the two of them agreeing to something else. Va. Code § 55.1-2821Virginia · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Alexandria?
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Alexandria answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, whether the fence is open or closed, and what the lot abuts.
Alexandria starts from a rule almost nobody else writes down: every part of a required yard has to be open and unobstructed from the lowest point to the sky, and a fence stands there only because it appears on a list of permitted obstructions. That list sets the heights. In all yards, including the front, an open fence may reach four feet, and a wall only two. In any yard except a front yard, an open or a closed fence may reach six. On a corner or through lot a fence of up to six feet is allowed in the secondary front yard under its own section. The tallest allowance is reserved for a boundary the city treats as a problem rather than a privilege: a fence of up to ten feet is permitted in a required side or rear yard on a residential lot where that yard abuts a lot developed with a non-residential use, so living next to a business buys four extra feet.
Open and closed fences which do not exceed ten feet in height shall be permitted in any required side or rear yard on any residential lot when such yard abuts a lot developed with a nonresidential use.
The answer turns on the yard, whether the fence is open or closed, and what the lot abuts.
- an open fence in any yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a wall in any yard
- Two feet. 2 ft
- any yard except a front yard
- Six feet, open or closed. 6 ft
- a yard abutting a business
- Ten feet. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Alexandria
- no rule, documents checkedVirginia sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The state fence chapter says nothing about height, and the statewide building code lets a fence of any height go up with no building permit. Counties and cities set the limit in their zoning rules. Va. Code §§ 55.1-2800 through 55.1-2841Virginia · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Alexandria?
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Virginia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence of any height needs no building permit in Virginia. The Uniform Statewide Building Code puts no number on it at all, where most states stop the pass at six or seven feet. Two fences are left out: one needed to keep people on foot safe under Section 3306, and one used as the barrier for a swimming pool. A zoning permit from the county or city is a separate question from the building permit this section covers.
This one is Virginia law, not Alexandria law. All Virginia findings
Fences of any height unless required for pedestrian safety as provided for by Section 3306 or used for the barrier for a swimming pool.
Also on permits in Alexandria
- no rule, documents checkedThe supplemental zone regulations set out what a fence may be, where it may stand and how tall it may get, and never mention an application, a fee or an inspection for one. There is no fence permit section and no height at which a review starts. Two approvals appear and neither is a general permit. The board of architectural review may waive the fence heights in the two historic districts and may waive the corner clearance there as well, both of which are relief from a rule rather than a requirement to seek permission. Whether an Alexandria fence needs a building permit is a question for the state building code, which exempts fences below a stated height and is a separate document that was not read for this page. This is recorded as silence in the zoning ordinance rather than a finding that Alexandria requires nothing. Sections 7-202 and 7-1700Alexandria · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Alexandria
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Virginia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Virginia handles pool fences through its statewide building code. That code sends swimming pools and pool enclosures to the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, 2021 edition. Virginia states no height of its own, so the numbers come from that private code and not from Virginia text.
This one is Virginia law, not Alexandria law. All Virginia findings
Swimming pools, swimming pool enclosures, and aquatic recreational facilities, as that term is defined in the ISPSC, shall comply with applicable provisions of the ISPSC.
Spite fence laws in Alexandria
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Alexandria law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Virginia has no spite fence law. Chapter 28 of Title 55.1 is the state fence chapter, and its eight parts cover electric fences, lawful fences, cattle guards, animals that get onto other land, no fence areas, fences on a property line, unincorporated communities and cutting trees. None of them mentions a fence built to bother a neighbor, and none sets a height that starts a claim.
This one is Virginia law, not Alexandria law. All Virginia findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Va. Code §§ 55.1-2800 through 55.1-2841Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code § 55.1-2821Virginia General Assembly
How fence height is measured in Alexandria
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Alexandria does not set this. It leaves it to the zoning ordinance of a locality.
Virginia does not set this. The county or city does. Section 15.2-2280 lets a locality split its land into districts and, in each one, set rules for the size, height, area, bulk, place, building, changing, repair and removal of structures. That word structures covers a fence, so a fence falls inside it. The section never says how a height is taken, so the local ordinance gives both the limit and the point the measuring starts from.
This one is Virginia law, not Alexandria law. All Virginia findings
The size, height, area, bulk, location, erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, maintenance, razing, or removal of structures;
The code hands this to the zoning ordinance of a locality, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Alexandria
- no rule, documents checkedThe permitted obstructions list sets two feet, four feet, six feet and ten feet without saying what any of them is measured from. No grade is named there, a berm is not addressed and a fence on a retaining wall is not addressed. Two nearby rules are exact, which is what makes the gap visible. The corner clearance is measured above the curb grade, and holds tree branches to eight feet measured from grade. The neighbor step-back compares the height of a proposed fence with the sill or threshold height of an opening in the house next door, also measured from grade, which is a comparison between two elevations on two different lots and only works because that section says which datum it uses. The fence sections themselves say only that the corner lot setbacks are a minimum horizontal distance, which settles the direction of a measurement but not its starting height. Section 7-202Alexandria · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Alexandria
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Alexandria answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The Alexandria triangle is drawn between two points thirty feet from the intersecting curb line, which is larger than most and takes the curb rather than the property line as its origin. Inside it, no structure, fence, shrubbery or other obstruction may rise more than four feet above the curb grade. The one written exception is narrow and sensible: the trunk of a tree is allowed, but not branches or foliage below eight feet measured from grade, so a mature shade tree can stand at the corner as long as it is limbed up and a young dense one cannot. The requirement can be set aside in the historic districts, where the board of architectural review may waive it where doing so is consistent with the historic character of the district, and where it does that it may also waive any yard or setback requirement made necessary by the waiver. The fence provisions for corner lots yield to this section by name.
within the area enclosed by a diagonal line connecting two points located 30 feet from the intersecting curb line, there shall be no structure, fences, shrubbery or other obstruction to vision more than four feet above the curb grade
30 ftdistance from the intersecting curb line to each corner of the triangle
Also on corner visibility in Alexandria
- set in state lawVirginia prints a real triangle in its code, and it is about signs rather than fences. Section 33.2-1216 bans an advertisement at a public road crossing where it would block the clear view between a point 20 feet back on the side road and points 400 feet away along the main road. The next clause draws a second triangle at a railroad crossing, 400 feet along the road and 500 feet along the track. Every one of these rules covers advertising, so none of them reaches a fence on a house lot. Va. Code 33.2-1216Virginia · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Alexandria
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Virginia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Virginia writes its own statewide code and sets the bar lower than the model code does. A wall that holds back earth gets a pass from the permit only while it holds back less than three feet of unbalanced fill, which is the dirt piled on the high side with nothing on the low side to push back. Virginia measures the dirt and not the wall, the same way Utah does, and it stops a foot sooner. No other state read here sets it lower. Two things end the pass: a wall built to hold Class I, II or III-A liquids, and a wall carrying a surcharge, which means a load pressing on the dirt behind it on top of the ordinary fill. Skipping the permit does not excuse work that breaks another part of the code, and a zoning permit from the county or city is a separate question.
This one is Virginia law, not Alexandria law. All Virginia findings
Retaining walls supporting less than three feet of unbalanced fill that are not constructed for the purpose of impounding Class I, II, or III-A liquids or supporting a surcharge other than ordinary unbalanced fill.
13VAC5-63-80 B, Section 108.2, item 7
3 ftdepth of unbalanced fill at or above which a retaining wall needs a building permit
Fence materials allowed in Alexandria
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Alexandria answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is open or closed and whether the lot is in a historic district.
Alexandria sorts fences into open and closed and lets that pair do the work a material list does elsewhere. An open fence is allowed in any yard at four feet; a closed one only gets in behind the front yard, where both reach six. No section here names wood, chain link, masonry or wire, and no section bans a material outright. What replaces the list is a person. In the Old and Historic Alexandria District and the Parker-Gray District, the board of architectural review may waive or modify both the four foot allowance in a front yard and the six foot one behind it, on a finding that the proposed fence would be architecturally appropriate and consistent with the character of the district. That is a judgment about how a fence looks rather than what it is made of, made case by case, and it is the only place in these provisions where the appearance of a fence is regulated at all.
In the Old and Historic Alexandria and the Parker-Gray Districts, the requirement of sections 7-202(A)(1) and 7-202(C)(1) may be waived or modified by the board of architectural review where the board finds that a proposed fence would be architecturally appropriate and consistent with the character of the district.
The answer turns on whether the fence is open or closed and whether the lot is in a historic district.
- an open fence
- Allowed in every yard.
- a closed fence
- Only behind the front yard.
- a historic district
- The board decides.
- a named material
- None listed or banned.
Also on materials in Alexandria
- set in state lawVirginia puts the electric fence first in its fence chapter, and the rule is about the box rather than the wire. On land used for farming, an electric fence cannot be sold, handed out, built, put in, kept or used unless a controlling device holds down the charge running through it. That device has to carry the Underwriters Laboratories label under UL 69, or meet the matching standard from the International Electrotechnical Commission. One device can feed only one connected run of fence, and it has to be grounded when it goes into service. A device that meets neither standard can be used only while it stays inside the current limits the next section prints. Breaking any of this is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Va. Code 55.1-2801Virginia · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Alexandria
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Virginia answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Virginia describes a lawful fence several ways and any one of them counts, as long as the livestock cannot get through. One is a fence at least five feet high. One is barbed wire at least 42 inches high with at least four strands, fixed to posts set no more than 12 feet apart, unless a stay or brace sits halfway between them. One is boards, planks or rails at least 42 inches high with at least three boards. A cattle guard strong enough to turn livestock counts too.
This one is Virginia law, not Alexandria law. All Virginia findings
2. Made of barbed wire, at least 42 inches high, consisting of at least four strands of barbed wire, firmly fixed to posts, trees, or other supports substantially set in the ground, spaced no farther than 12 feet apart unless a substantial stay or brace is installed halfway between such posts, trees, or other supports to which such wires are also fixed;
42 inminimum height of a barbed wire or board lawful fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Alexandria
- set in state lawIn Virginia the damages follow the fence. When livestock get into land that is already fenced in by a lawful fence, the owner of the animal pays the real damage. The fence has to be there first, which makes the landowner the one who builds, unless the county has changed the rule. Va. Code 55.1-2810Virginia · Statute
- set in state lawA county board can flip that rule for all or part of the county. By ordinance it can declare the line of every lot or tract, or a stream, to be a lawful fence, which means no fence has to be built at all for the damages rule to work. It can also name a different kind of fence than the one the state describes. Where that ordinance is in place, the owner of livestock may not let them off their own land. Va. Code 55.1-2814Virginia · Statute
Documents behind this page
7 documents, of which 1 was published by Alexandria itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Virginia General AssemblyCode of Virginia, Title 55.1, Chapter 28, Article 6, Section 55.1-2821, Obligation to provide division fences
- City of AlexandriaAlexandria Zoning Ordinance, Article VII, Supplemental Zone Regulations
- Virginia General AssemblyCode of Virginia, Title 55.1, Chapter 28, Trespasses; Fences, full chapter listing
- Virginia Department of Housing and Community DevelopmentVirginia Administrative Code, 13VAC5-63-80, Section 108 Application for permit
- Virginia Department of Housing and Community DevelopmentVirginia Administrative Code, 13VAC5-63-336, Chapter 31 Special construction, Section 3109.1
- Virginia General AssemblyCode of Virginia, Title 15.2, Chapter 22, Planning, Subdivision of Land and Zoning
- Virginia General AssemblyCode of Virginia, Title 33.2, Chapter 12, Outdoor Advertising in Sight of Public Highways
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 Alexandria publishes, plus the Virginia rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Virginia 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