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Beverly Hills Fence, Wall and Hedge Heights: Central, Hillside, Trousdale
Beverly Hills does not have one fence rule. The zoning code splits single-family property into three areas, the Central Area, the Hillside Area and Trousdale Estates, and each has its own section on walls, fences and hedges. In the Central Area a front yard wall, fence or hedge is limited to 3 feet in the first 20 percent of the yard and 6 feet beyond it, while a rear yard hedge may reach 16 feet. The same hedge on a Trousdale lot is capped at 8 feet.
Beverly Hills is its own city, so the City of Los Angeles fence rules do not apply inside city limits. A Beverly Hills mailing address does not by itself prove the parcel is inside city limits, so confirm the jurisdiction on the city zoning map before reading any of the numbers below.
Which Beverly Hills area is the house in?
The definitions in BHMC 10-3-100 draw the lines. The Hillside Area is the part of the city "generally located north of Sunset Boulevard other than Trousdale Estates." Trousdale Estates is property north of Doheny Road and east of Schuyler Road, with stated exclusions such as the Greystone Mansion property. The Central Area is everything else.
The city's Single-Family Regulations page maps the three areas to Articles 24, 25 and 26 of the zoning code and links a zoning map for checking a specific lot. The same page says Central Area aesthetic changes go through design review, while "there is no design review process in the Hillside Area of the City."
What are the front yard fence limits in the Central Area?
BHMC 10-3-2420 measures the front yard in two parts, starting at the front lot line:
- In the first 20 percent of the front yard, a wall, fence or hedge may be no taller than 3 feet.
- A wall or fence taller than 18 inches in that first strip must sit at least 3 feet back from the front lot line, with landscaping in front of it. Driveways and walkways that meet the paving rules are excepted.
- Beyond the first 20 percent, the limit is 6 feet, and any part above 3 feet must be "open to public view."
A front yard wall or fence of any height needs a building permit, and so does any wall or fence over 6 feet anywhere on the lot. On a corner lot, the street side yard has its own condition: anything over 3 feet must be open to public view or be set back an average of at least 1 foot, and no less than 6 inches, to leave room for planting.
How do the three areas compare?
Behind the front yard the Central Area allows the most height, and its section adds an alley rule: in a side yard next to an alley, a wall or fence may reach 10 feet and a hedge 16 feet. The table puts the three sections side by side.
| Location | Central (10-3-2420) | Hillside (10-3-2516) | Trousdale (10-3-2616) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front yard, nearest the line | 3 ft in first 20% | none within 3 ft; 3 ft from 3 to 10 ft | 3 ft in first 20% |
| Rest of front yard | 6 ft, open above 3 ft | 6 ft past 10 ft, open above 3 ft | 6 ft, open above 3 ft |
| Side yard only | 7 ft; 10 ft within 5 ft of rear line | 7 ft | 7 ft; 8 ft within 5 ft of rear line |
| Rear yard, wall or fence | 10 ft | 7 ft | 8 ft |
| Rear yard, hedge | 16 ft | 7 ft | 8 ft |
Every section caps thickness at 2 feet and posts at 24 inches, and a wall within 5 feet of, and roughly parallel to, a property line has to be finished on both sides.
What does "open to public view" mean in Beverly Hills?
This phrase decides most front yard designs, and the code defines it with numbers. Under 10-3-100, for any 10-foot length of wall, fence or hedge, opaque material may make up no more than 30 percent of the area. No single opaque element may block more than 50 percent of the open view, looked at straight on or through a 45-degree sweep to either side. Tree foliage more than 8 feet above grade counts as open.
Height is measured on the side closest to the property line, gates and pilasters included, and the code adds that grades "shall not be adjusted" to get around the limits. A hedge is planting more than 12 inches tall that forms a barrier.
How are walls handled in the Hillside Area?
North of Sunset, BHMC 10-3-2516 measures from the front or street side lot line in feet rather than as a share of the yard:
- No wall or fence within 3 feet of the line.
- From 3 to 10 feet back, a maximum of 3 feet.
- More than 10 feet back, up to 6 feet, open to public view above 3 feet.
- Outside front and street side yards, a wall, fence or hedge may reach 7 feet, and never more than 12 feet measured from the side farther from the property line, which matters on a sloped lot.
Hillside is the one area where the fence section itself names two ways around the front yard numbers. A reviewing authority may issue a Hillside R-1 permit for a wall of up to 6 feet in the yard, or a minor accommodation permit under Article 36 for a 6-foot wall or fence between 3 and 10 feet from the line, if it is open to public view and will not have a substantial adverse impact on the scale and massing of the streetscape or the garden quality of the city. Subsection D speaks only of walls and fences, so ask Planning how a front yard hedge on a Hillside lot is treated.
What makes Trousdale Estates different?
BHMC 10-3-2616 uses the Central Area's 20 percent front yard logic, 3 feet and then 6 feet, but sets lower caps further back: 7 feet in a side yard, 8 feet within 5 feet of the rear lot line, and 8 feet in a rear yard, for walls, fences and hedges alike.
The slope rules are what set it apart. On a downslope lot, a new fence on the slope that falls in the upslope neighbor's line of sight to the Los Angeles basin may not rise more than 36 inches above the finished grade of the upslope level pad, and it must be open to public view. An existing fence becomes nonconforming, but replacing more than 50 percent of it within any five-year period brings the whole fence under the rule. Outside the front setback, where the upslope lot faces the Los Angeles basin, a hedge on the slope between the two lots may not rise above the higher of the upslope level pad or 14 feet above the downslope level pad, unless the neighbors agree otherwise. Properties across a street count as neighbors. For these slope rules the section uses its own broader hedge definition: two or more plants, trees included, over 12 inches tall and less than 8 feet apart.
The enforcement clause is unusual: if the city finds a violating hedge on three separate occasions within two years, the owner must remove the plants. Trees that do not form a hedge go through a separate process described on the city's Trousdale Estates View Restoration page: neighbor outreach, then mediation, then a Planning Commission hearing.
What should a buyer check before closing?
A tall hedge or a solid front wall says little about whether it is legal. The Central Area section came from Ordinance 14-O-2669, effective December 5, 2014, and was amended twice in 2022. The Hillside section's history note starts with a 2018 ordinance, amended in 2022 and 2024, and the Trousdale note starts in 2011. Earlier code versions also limited walls and fences, so whether an older wall is lawful as built is a question for the permit record, not the tape measure.
- Confirm the parcel is inside Beverly Hills, then find its area on the city zoning map.
- Measure the front yard depth and mark the 20 percent line, or the 3 and 10 foot lines on a Hillside lot.
- Check whether front yard walls, gates and pilasters have building permits.
- Look at anything over 3 feet in front through the 30 percent opacity test.
- On a Trousdale downslope lot, ask whether any fence sits in a basin sightline and whether more than half of its area was replaced or rebuilt in the last five years.
- Ask the seller about any city hedge notices.
Beverly Hills also limits protected trees in the front yard and how large a house can be. For comparison, see the rules in Pasadena and Burbank. Sellers with an unpermitted wall can start with a home valuation and the selling process; buyers can see how Alla works on the buying side.
Q: Do I need a permit for a 3-foot front yard fence? Yes. In all three sections, any wall or fence in a front yard needs a building permit regardless of height.
This article summarizes Beverly Hills Municipal Code sections 10-3-100, 10-3-2420, 10-3-2516 and 10-3-2616 as posted in October 2026. It is not legal or surveying advice. Confirm the area, measurements and any pending amendments with the Beverly Hills Planning Division before building or relying on a wall. Call Alla at (818) 699-5367 or use the enquiry form.
More on the city in the Beverly Hills area guide.