6 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Mobile County, Alabama.
Verified from official government sources
Alabama's Dillon's Rule bars counties from zoning, so unincorporated Mobile County sets no fence-height limit, and no state statute caps residential fence height. Height rules exist only inside cities like Mobile, Prichard, Saraland, and Citronelle.
Unincorporated Mobile County requires no permit to build a residential fence; Alabama's Dillon's Rule gives the county no general fence-permit power. Permits are a city matter for Mobile, Prichard, Saraland, and Citronelle.
Alabama shares boundary-fence cost by statute. Ala. Code §35-7-3 makes a partition fence between improved lands the joint expense of both adjoining occupants, so a neighbor who benefits pays a proportionate share.
Ala. Code §35-7-3
Partition fences between improved lands are to be erected and repaired at the joint expense of the occupants; or if any person makes a fence a partition fence by joining to or using it as such, he must pay to the person erecting it his proportion of the expense, taking into consideration the condition of such fence at the time it is so joined to or used.
Unincorporated Mobile County requires no permit for a residential retaining wall, and no Alabama statute sets a statewide height trigger. Permit and engineering requirements apply only inside the cities that enforce building codes.
No Mobile County ordinance and no Alabama statute impose a residential pool-barrier rule on unincorporated land. The 48-inch barrier standard applies only inside cities that enforce the building code, plus insurers who require it.
No Alabama statute and no Mobile County rule restrict residential fence materials. Wood, vinyl, chain-link, aluminum, and wrought iron are all lawful. Only city ordinances or recorded HOA covenants limit material choices.
1 cities in Mobile County have their own fence regulations rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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