Margate, FL Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Section 40.702(A)(3) of the Margate Land Development Code measures every wall and fence from the grade of the property where it stands. For single-family attached and detached dwellings the limit is six feet. A residential property can go to eight feet along a side or rear line that is adjacent to, or separated by a canal right-of-way less than 80 feet wide or an alley from, a nonresidential use. Multi-family dwellings get four feet in front setbacks and six feet in all other allowed locations, with the same eight-foot exception. Nonresidential properties can build eight feet.

Location rules decide where those heights apply. On a single-family lot a fence can run along any side or rear lot line but is prohibited in the front setback, defined as the setback where the home has its primary entrance. On an irregular lot the fence can extend off the front corners of the house to meet the side line at a ninety-degree angle but no further than the wall of the house closest to the front line. On a corner lot with an angled entrance facing both streets, the side with the primary driveway is the front. Knee walls or planter boxes up to two and one-half feet high can encroach up to five feet into a front setback. Cul-de-sac lots ending next to arterial roadways on the Broward County Trafficways Plan Map can place fences in the front setback. Multi-family front-setback fences need at least 90 percent see-through visibility.

When a nonresidential property is developed, redeveloped or substantially improved next to a residential use across a narrow canal or alley, an eight-foot stucco block or pre-cast concrete wall is required along the shared line. Vacant or abandoned properties can be secured only with a white split rail fence of no more than three horizontal members and four feet in height.

Hedges have their own limit under Section 40.702(B): six feet along lot lines that are not front or corner setbacks, planted at least two feet inside the lot line.