Fence laws in Hampton, Virginia
What the Hampton municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Hampton sets no rule of its own, the Virginia rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Hampton, Virginia, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Hampton lifts a fence out of the setback rules in the same sentence that sets its height, and the answer turns on whether the line is private, an alley or a public right-of-way. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a residential property line.
- How tall
- In a Hampton residential, mixed density or residential townhouse district a fence, screen, wall, natural fence, hedge or thick growth of shrubs or trees may reach six feet in a side or rear yard and four feet in a front yard, and the answer turns on the district and the yard. The figure is 6 feet, for fence, wall or hedge in a side or rear 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
- Hampton has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Hampton leaves the measuring rule to the zoning ordinance of a locality.
- Corner lots
- Hampton writes its corner rule in one sentence and takes the curb as both the origin and the datum. The figure is 20 feet, for distance from the intersection of the curb lines.
- 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
- Across most of Hampton no material is named for a fence and none is banned outright, with one exception that runs citywide: electrified fences are prohibited except as allowed by section 24-40 of the city code, a separate document that was not read for this page, and the answer turns on the 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 Hampton?
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Hampton answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the line is private, an alley or a public right-of-way.
Hampton lifts a fence out of the setback rules in the same sentence that sets its height. In a residential, mixed density or townhouse district a fence, wall or hedge is permitted and is not subject to any residential setback requirement, so the boundary is open to it and the only limit is how tall it gets. Two things then pull it back. A fence may not project or encroach into a city right-of-way or easement without written permission from the city or an approved encroachment agreement under chapter 34 of the city code, which makes the public line the one that matters rather than the private one. And in the Buckroe Bayfront districts a single-family lot backing onto a rear alley has to keep its fence at least five feet off, which is the only stated setback figure in the fence section. A fence may also be placed in any district on vacant property owned by the city or another public body.
No fence, screen, wall, natural fence, hedge, or thick growth of shrubs or trees shall project or encroach into a City right-of-way or easement without the written permission of the City of Hampton or an approved encroachment agreement pursuant to chapter 34 of the City Code, as amended.
The answer turns on whether the line is private, an alley or a public right-of-way.
- a private boundary
- No setback applies. 0 ft
- a city right-of-way or easement
- Written permission first.
- a bayfront lot on a rear alley
- Five feet back. 5 ft
- vacant city land
- A fence is allowed there.
Also on fences on the property line in Hampton
- 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 Hampton?
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Hampton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and the yard.
In a Hampton residential, mixed density or residential townhouse district a fence, screen, wall, natural fence, hedge or thick growth of shrubs or trees may reach six feet in a side or rear yard and four feet in a front yard. Three uses get six feet in the front yard instead: a commercial communication tower, utility infrastructure housing a government function, and a utility building or substation. The Buckroe Bayfront districts rewrite the rule and are the only place in this project that sets a floor as well as a ceiling. In a front yard there the fence has to be at least twenty four inches tall and no more than forty two, so a low fence is required rather than merely allowed, and pillars, posts and gateways may go above it. In a rear or side yard the range is thirty six inches to six feet. The same subsection warns that other parts of the city code may force a shorter fence for visibility, and that the safety rule wins.
a fence, screen, wall, natural fence, hedge or thick growth of shrubs or trees shall be permitted and shall not be subject to any residential setback requirements provided that the height of any such permitted feature not exceed six (6) feet in side or rear yards, and four (4) feet in front yards, or such lesser height as may be prescribed by law
The answer turns on the district and the yard.
- a residential side or rear yard
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a residential front yard
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a Buckroe Bayfront front yard
- Between two feet and three and a half. 42 in
- the minimum there
- Twenty four inches. 24 in
Also on fence height in Hampton
- 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 Hampton?
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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 Hampton 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 Hampton
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence and wall section runs to six subsections and never mentions an application, a fee, an inspection or a height at which review starts. No fence permit exists in this part of the zoning ordinance. Two approvals appear and neither is a general permit. A fence reaching into a city right-of-way or easement needs written permission from the city or an approved encroachment agreement under a separate chapter, which is consent to use public land rather than a permit to build. Electrified fencing is allowed only as another chapter of the city code provides, so that approval, if there is one, sits outside the zoning ordinance. A third obligation is not a permit but changes what an application has to show: a fence, screen or wall counts as impervious area under the Chesapeake Bay preservation overlay, which puts it into the site calculations for any lot in that overlay. Section 1-18Hampton · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Hampton
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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 Hampton 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 Hampton
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Hampton 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 Hampton 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 Hampton
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Hampton 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 Hampton 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 Hampton
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence section states six feet, four feet, twenty four inches, thirty six inches and forty two inches and never says what any of them is measured from. No grade is named, a berm is not addressed, and a fence built on a retaining wall is not addressed, which leaves the sloping boundary between two Hampton lots unanswered. The corner rule one section earlier is exact, counting three feet higher than the curb level, and that datum sits in the street rather than on either lot, so it settles nothing about a fence away from an intersection. The Buckroe Bayfront rules add a horizontal measurement instead of a vertical one, spacing wrought iron bars four to six inches apart and requiring at least five eighths of an inch of thickness. Pillars, posts and gateways in those districts are allowed to be taller than the fence, but the code does not say by how much. Section 1-18(1) and (2)Hampton · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Hampton
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Hampton answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Hampton writes its corner rule in one sentence and takes the curb as both the origin and the datum. On a corner lot nothing may rise more than three feet above the curb level within twenty feet of the point where any two curb lines meet, and the list of what counts is broad: planting, structure, fences, shrubbery or obstruction. Measuring from the intersection of the curb lines rather than from the property lines pulls the protected area into the street and away from the lot, which usually makes it smaller than a triangle drawn from the right-of-way. There is no upper edge to the protected zone, so unlike codes that guard a band between two and a half and eight or ten feet, nothing in Hampton is exempt for sitting high above the sightline, and a tree canopy is not written out of it. The fence section points at this rule by name and the Buckroe Bayfront subsection says the safety provisions take precedence.
there shall be no planting, structure, fences, shrubbery, or obstruction from vision more than three (3) feet higher than the curb level, within twenty (20) feet of the intersection of any two (2) curb lines
20 ftdistance from the intersection of the curb lines
Also on corner visibility in Hampton
- 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 Hampton
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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 Hampton 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 Hampton
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Hampton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district.
Across most of Hampton no material is named for a fence and none is banned outright, with one exception that runs citywide: electrified fences are prohibited except as allowed by section 24-40 of the city code, a separate document that was not read for this page. The Buckroe Bayfront districts then go the other way and write one of the tightest material lists anywhere in this project. Five things are permitted and nothing else: wood, as picket fences with corner posts; wrought iron, vertical, at least five eighths of an inch thick with four to six inches between the bars; brick; stone; and natural fences, meaning a hedge or a thick growth. Specifying the dimension of the iron and the gap between bars is the sort of instruction usually left to a design guideline rather than written into a zoning ordinance. Elsewhere the code protects one kind of fence by name, saying the rules are not to be read as barring an open-mesh fence around a school or playground site.
Wrought iron: vertical, five-eighths-inch minimum dimension, four-inch to six-inch spacing.
The answer turns on the district.
- most of the city
- No material named.
- an electrified fence
- Prohibited outside one code section.
- a Buckroe Bayfront lot
- Wood picket, iron, brick, stone or hedge.
- a school or playground
- Open mesh is protected.
Also on materials in Hampton
- 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 Hampton
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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 Hampton 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 Hampton
- 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 Hampton 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 HamptonHampton Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article II, Regulations Applicable to Many or All Zoning Districts
- 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 Hampton 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