Fence Regulations in Alabama (2026)

Bessemer limits fences and walls in a required front yard to three and one-half feet, requires them to be decorative…

General Birmingham fence requirements prohibit any fence, wall, or planting that obstructs traffic visibility and…

Front-yard fences that extend into Hoover's setback top out at 4 feet and can't block the corner-lot sight triangle…

Huntsville bans barbed wire, razor wire, and electric fencing on residential lots, and requires all fences to use…

When a buffer strip or privacy fence is required to separate conflicting land uses in unincorporated Jefferson County…

Madison requires clear visibility at intersections. No fence, wall, berm or planting may obstruct the sight triangle…

Mobile caps sight-obstructing fences at 3 feet in a required front or corner-lot side yard, and allows up to 8 feet…

Montgomery caps fences and walls on office or residential lots at seven feet (eight feet in the R-20-t, R-24-t, PGH-35…

In residential districts, a fence in the front setback of a non-corner lot must be at least 50 percent open and…

Vestavia Hills caps residential fences at eight feet under Zoning Ordinance Section 4.5.3, no matter the material, and…

Birmingham requires a fence permit (with a Council-adopted fee) before any fence or wall can be erected or placed on…

A fence in Auburn counts as an accessory structure under the Zoning Ordinance once it stands three feet or taller and…

A fence proposed inside a recorded easement in Hoover needs a City permit, and before it issues, the owner must sign a…

Huntsville requires a building permit for fence construction because the city deleted the standard code exemption for…

In the designated U.S. Highway 280 Corridor, Jefferson County requires a site plan submitted to the Department of…

No. Effective March 1, 2017, Madison's Building Department stopped issuing fence permits. Fences in the Historic…

Mobile requires a permit for every fence or wall built in the city, per the Sec. 11-34 fee schedule: $5 if no…

No fence can go up, be altered or be structurally changed anywhere in Vestavia Hills without a permit issued by the…

Tuscaloosa's zoning ordinance doesn't create a standalone fence permit. Under Sec. 25-147, compliance review for…

Madison County does not require a building permit to put up a fence as long as it stands 7 feet or less. The exemption…

Alabama's partition-fence law (Ala. Code § 35-7-1 et seq.) makes a boundary fence between improved lands a shared…

Madison lets fences be placed up to the property line in interior side and rear yards. The Zoning Ordinance sets height…

Adjoining property owners in Mobile must split the cost of building and repairing a shared partition fence or wall…

Fences may be placed anywhere on a lot or on the property line between privately owned lots, but are prohibited within…

Auburn's residential building code amendment requires a protective guard atop any retaining wall taller than 6 feet…

A retaining wall is defined in Birmingham's ordinance as a block, brick, or stone structure erected to retain or…

Huntsville requires a building permit and a state-licensed engineer's sealed design for any retaining wall holding back…

Under Sec. 1502.08 of Jefferson County's U.S. Highway 280 Corridor Overlay, any retaining wall over eight feet tall…

Retaining walls in Madison must be set back at least one foot from any dedicated easement or right-of-way. Unlike…

Madison County exempts retaining walls from a building permit only up to 4 feet, measured from the bottom of the…

Mobile exempts retaining walls of 4 feet or less from a building permit: taller walls, or any wall holding back a…

Montgomery, Alabama exempts retaining walls up to 4 feet tall, measured from the bottom of the footing, from a building…

A retaining wall may exceed the normal fence/wall height limits if the Director of Planning finds it does not…

Inside Hoover's Highway 280 Overlay District, a retaining wall over eight feet that's visible from public property must…

Hoover bans barbed wire, razor wire, and electrified fencing in and around single-family residential zones, though the…

The Zoning Ordinance bans fabric, rolled plastic, plastic tarps, fiberboard, plywood, and sheet metal in fences and…

Mobile prohibits barbed wire or other unsafe fencing material along or adjacent to any building line, with a narrow…

Bessemer caps front-yard fences and walls at three and one-half feet under Appendix B, Section 8.7(2) of the zoning…

Birmingham's Walls and Fences ordinance lists allowed materials by yard: natural wood is permitted in front, side, and…

Huntsville's fence code bans barbed wire, concertina or razor wire, and electric fencing on any residentially zoned lot…

Jefferson County's Sec. 1502.06 bans chain link, plastic, or wire fencing visible from public property inside the U.S…

Madison limits fence and wall materials to an approved list: wood; brick, stone or cast-stone; decorative block; stucco…

Within Montgomery, Alabama's SmartCode Sub-Urban (T3) Transect zones, the zoning code bars barbed wire and razor wire…

Vestavia Hills limits residential fence material to chain link, masonry, vinyl, composite or wood under Zoning…