Check your fence rules

Greater Victoria is thirteen local governments with thirteen different fence laws, and they disagree about more than numbers — about how height is measured, whether a retaining wall counts, and whether a fence is even a "structure". Tell it where you are and what the fence has to do, and it returns what your own bylaw says, with the clause it came from.

What you enter

Your municipality — one of the thirteen
Whether the fence runs along the street or in the side or rear yard
Whether it sits on a retaining wall, is on a corner, is near water, is for deer, or encloses a pool

How it is calculated

A deterministic lookup against the thirteen bylaws, read in full on 29 September 2026 — sixteen documents, about 2,600 pages
No score, no ranking, no estimate. It reports what the bylaw says and nothing else
Where a bylaw sets no limit, it says so. Metchosin and Colwood genuinely do not limit residential fence height, and that silence is the answer, not a gap to fill

What it is not

These are the general residential figures. Zone-specific rules, covenants, strata bylaws and site-specific development zones can override them.
An absence in a bylaw is not a permission. Where a municipality is silent on something, the tool flags it as unresolved rather than treating it as allowed.
A bylaw can be amended at any council meeting. Confirm the current rule for your exact address before you build.

Which municipality is the property in?Greater Victoria is thirteen separate local governments, and the boundary runs down the middle of some residential streets.Where on the lot does the fence run?

Anything else true about this fence?The fence sits on top of a retaining wallThe lot is on a street cornerThe fence line is near the sea, a lake, a wetland or a streamI am trying to keep deer outIt will enclose a swimming poolIt is a strata lot, or the title carries a covenant

Before you use the figures below — in Victoria these override them

The figures below are the general case. Where one of these applies they do not hold, and in some of them no fence is permitted at all. Check each one before you price anything.

A strata bylaw, or a restrictive covenant on your title — Either can forbid a fence Victoria would allow, dictate its style, height and colour, or require written approval first. Where the ground is common or limited common property you do not control it alone. If you rent, you cannot authorise a fence at all — the owner has to ask.
An easement or right of way crossing your land — A fence is generally not permitted across an easement unless that easement allows it, and it is on your title rather than in any bylaw. Search the title before you set the line.
A heritage conservation area, or a designation on your own property — Victoria has two heritage conservation areas containing twelve districts between them; the largest is Old Town. Inside most of them a heritage alteration permit is required for new construction, subdivision, major alterations to an existing building, and alterations to a building, structure or feature that is protected — by a heritage designation bylaw, by being on the Heritage Register, by a heritage covenant, or by the conservation area’s own schedule of protected properties. Regular maintenance is exempt where materials, design and appearance do not change. A fence is a structure, so a new one is capable of needing a permit in these districts even though Victoria asks for no fence permit anywhere else in the city. The City’s published summary neither lists fences as needing a permit nor exempts them, and the exemptions are set in the conservation area’s own schedule in the Official Community Plan, which means the answer is address-specific. Ask Development Services before ordering materials, not after.

Victoria: what the bylaw says

Up to 1.83 m in the side and rear yards.

Maximum height, side and rear: 1.83 m (6.0 ft)
How it is measured: natural grade; on a slope, re-measured at the highest natural grade adjacent to each corner or edge and then at intervals of no more than 2.5 m
Where the rule lives: Schedule S of the Zoning Regulation Bylaw — Zoning Regulation Bylaw, Schedule S — Fences (Bylaw No. 23-025, adopted July 27, 2023)
Permit: None for a residential fence.
Prohibited materials: barbed wire; razor wire; razor sharp stainless steel strips or similar material; any electrified fence
If you get it wrong: Maximum penalty — Not published in Schedule S.

What we could not settle from the bylaw

Section 28 of the Highway Access Bylaw, which Schedule S 4.a incorporates for driveway sight triangles, has not been read. The repeal of the former standalone Fence Bylaw No. 93-112 is corroborated but the repealing text was not read in the source.

Ask whoever quotes you

Who is calling BC 1 Call before the auger goes in? Locating buried services before excavation is the contractor's duty under WorkSafeBC OHS 20.79, not mine.
Is the fence on the property line or inside it — and do you have that in writing?

Want a quote that already respects these rules?

We pass your request to one vetted contractor for your area — never to a call list. If no partner is active for Victoria yet, a person reviews it and tells you so rather than leaving you waiting.

Request help

One local provider, only if you ask. No spam, no call lists.

A person reviews every request; we text or email you when a vetted local installer is matched for your area. Nothing is sold or passed to a call list.

Exactly what will be shared

Your name, email, postal code and municipality, homeowner status, timing and project type
The summary you built with our tools, if any: what heats your home, the system you are considering, home size and ducts, your estimate and rebate ranges, and a preferred assessment time
Not shared: your browsing history, the quote documents you uploaded, or anything you did not enter here.

NamePostal codeEmailPhoneEmail or phone — at least one.

Assumed unless you change it: Not sure yet · 1–3 months.

Connect me with one vetted local installer for a home assessment or quote. I consent to Greater Victoria Fencing storing my details to respond to this request and, if I asked for a fence contractor, sharing them with one vetted local fence contractor. Privacy. (v2026-09-22.v2)

Local facts this tool reads

Every figure below is quoted from the source shown or is our labelled estimate. Verified dates are the day we last checked the source; a figure whose check is overdue is withheld rather than shown.

Maximum fence height in the street-facing part of a lot in Victoria: 1.22 m (4.0 ft); City of Victoria · quoted · verified 2026-09-29
Maximum fence height elsewhere on a lot in Victoria: 1.83 m (6.0 ft); City of Victoria · quoted · verified 2026-09-29
Who must locate buried services before the post holes are dug: The employer — that is, the fence contractor, not the homeowner; WorkSafeBC · quoted · verified 2026-09-29
Who pays, in practice: A fence wholly on your side is yours and so is the bill; a fence on the line makes the neighbours equal partners, generally each paying half; People's Law School · quoted · verified 2026-09-29

Your next step

Height is the municipality's question. Who pays is a property-line question, and the answer ranking first in BC gets it wrong.

Then settle who pays

Guides that use this tool

Last updated 2026-09-29. Estimates are our labelled calculations from published local evidence; official figures are quoted from the sources shown. Methodology · Sources · Report a correction.