Washington County, UT Fence Regulations: Neighbor Fence Rules (2026)

Chapter 4 of Title 9, Fencing Of Private Property, defines a 'legal fence' in section 9-4-1 as one with at least four horizontal barriers of wire, board, pole or similar material common in the neighborhood, posts no more than 20 feet apart, a lower barrier no more than 12 inches off the ground, gaps between barriers no wider than 12 inches, a top barrier at least 48 inches high, and posts and barriers built to withstand a 250-pound horizontal strain. Section 9-4-2, Fencing Required, then puts the duty squarely on the landowner: the owners of all farms, subdivisions and other private property must fence their property to prevent domestic animals from trespassing onto it.

This is an 'own the fence line' rule rather than a cost-splitting rule between adjoining neighbors: the code does not create a shared-cost obligation for a boundary fence, and instead ties the standard to whether the excluding owner met the legal fence specification. Section 9-4-4 carves out an exception for areas used primarily for farming, except that the fencing duty still applies to land abutting federal land used for grazing. Failing to meet the legal fence standard does not itself trigger a citation, but it does strip the landowner of the right to collect trespass damages under section 9-4-3, so the incentive to fence runs through that damages rule rather than a direct fencing penalty.