6 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Sumner County, Tennessee.
Verified from official government sources
Gallatin caps residential fences at four feet in the front yard and six feet in side and rear yards, with front fences no more than fifty percent opaque. Hendersonville and the other Sumner cities run similar limits, and lake-subdivision HOAs often matter more.
Gallatin requires a Fence Plan and permit from the Planning Department for any fence four feet or taller, and a building permit on top of that at seven feet. Shorter fences are exempt, and other Sumner cities issue their own permits.
Tennessee's partition-fence law makes adjoining owners share the cost of a boundary fence, and a neighbor who ties into your fence owes a proportional share. It fits Sumner's northern farm country more than a lakefront subdivision.
Tenn. Code Ann. §44-8-202
Partition fences may be erected and repaired at the expense, jointly, of the occupants or owners; or if a person makes a fence a partition fence, by joining to it or using it as such, that person shall pay to the person erecting it that person's proportion of the expense.
In Sumner County a retaining wall over four feet, measured bottom of footing to top, needs a building permit and usually engineered plans. Shorter walls are generally exempt, but drainage and setbacks still matter.
Every residential pool, spa, and hot tub in Sumner County must be enclosed by a barrier at least four feet high with self-closing, self-latching gates. It is a building-code requirement checked at permit and inspection.
No Tennessee statute limits residential fence materials, so wood, vinyl, chain-link, and wrought iron are all lawful across Sumner County. Barbed wire and electric fence read as agricultural, and lake-subdivision HOAs frequently ban chain-link in front yards.
1 cities in Sumner County have their own fence regulations rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
See every category we cover for Sumner County — parking, noise, fences, fires, animals, pools, and more.
Sumner County Ordinance Hub →