Fort Collins, CO Fence Regulations: Neighbor Fence Rules (2026)

Chapter 20's exterior property maintenance article, §§ 20-30 to 20-34, is the only place Fort Collins Code addresses fences between neighboring lots. Section 20-30 declares dilapidated fences or walls a nuisance and a menace to public welfare for locations visible from a public street or sidewalk. Section 20-32 then sets the actual maintenance standard: all fences and walls shall be structurally sound and maintained in good repair so that there are no broken, loose, damaged, removed or missing parts. Repairs must use materials comparable in composition, color, size, shape, design and quality to what was originally used, though the Section expressly does not stop an owner from replacing the fence outright.

Section 20-33 puts the abatement duty on the owner of the private property on which the nuisance condition occurs, meaning the person who owns the ground the fence sits on, not a shared or prorated obligation between the two neighbors on either side. The Code is silent on cost-sharing for a truly shared boundary fence, on spite fences built to annoy a neighbor, or on removing a fence that blocks a view; those disputes fall to private civil law, such as a survey, an easement claim or a small-claims suit, rather than a Fort Collins ordinance. Separate provisions in the Land Use Code, not this Article, set fence height limits and ban barbed wire and electric fencing in residential zones.