Fence heights in Brisbane

The ground it is measured from

The 2 metres on Council’s page is measured from the fence’s natural ground surface, not simply from wherever the grass is today. The Building Regulation 2021 defines the term in its dictionary:

So the reference is the ground as it stood on the day the first plan of survey for the lot was registered. On a block that has been cut or filled since then, that may not be the level you are standing on now, which is worth knowing before a fence goes up along a raised or dug-out boundary.

Screens and walls count too

A fence is often more than palings. A lattice screen on top, or a retaining wall underneath, changes what Council measures: its boundary fence page says the height includes screens, fences and retaining walls in combination.

That is why a screen added later matters as much as the fence itself. Fixing a screen or anything else to a dividing fence also raises a separate question under Queensland’s fencing Act, set out in attaching things to a fence. A retaining wall needs its own approval in some cases; Council covers that on its retaining wall page.

Where the 2 metres comes from

Queensland’s Building Regulation 2021 lists building work for a fence no higher than 2m above its natural ground surface, and not for a regulated pool, in schedule 1, the regulation’s accepted development (self assessable) schedule. The words are in the regulation itself, schedule 1, section 1.

Below the height is not the same as anything goes. Council adds that building work still has to comply with the standards in the National Construction Code and the Queensland Development Code, covering matters such as structural sufficiency, size, fire separation and setbacks from the boundary.

Planning rules can apply as well

Building approval turns on height and pool fencing. Council’s page names a second layer, planning, and it can apply to some fences. Council says a proposed fence may be subject to City Plan’s requirements when you are doing either of these:

• building a new dwelling house on a site that a relevant neighbourhood plan or overlay covers
• building a new dual occupancy or multiple dwelling (units or apartments), or renovating an existing one.

If a project does not meet those requirements, Council says planning approval may be needed. Its advice before any boundary fence is to look up your property’s zones and overlays on City Plan online, and to understand the development application process. The planning requirements themselves are in City Plan, which this guide does not set out.

For advice when a proposed fence does not meet the general or planning requirements, Council’s boundary fence page gives its number: 07 3403 8888.

If the fence does not fit the rules

The fence Act asks a different question

Queensland’s dividing fence Act deals with what neighbours owe each other over a dividing fence; Council’s page is about when a fence needs approval. How neighbours share the cost of a dividing fence is on the Queensland Government’s fence owner page. A pool fence is a separate case again: section 9(1) of the Act says “Parts 3 to 6 do not apply in relation to a fence, or a part of a fence, that is a barrier of a regulated pool.”

The other palings follow the Act section by section: what may be attached to a fence, when a fence is damaged and needs urgent repair, what runs beside parks and State land, and where the line is when neighbours disagree about it.