HOA Fence Approval in Northwest Arkansas

The city permit and the HOA approval are two different gates. Here’s how to get through both without buying material twice.

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The Short Answer

If your neighborhood has covenants, your fence needs two approvals: the city’s (a permit in some towns, none in others) and your HOA’s architectural committee. They do not talk to each other. The city will not enforce your covenants and your HOA cannot waive a city rule, so whichever one is stricter is the one you build to.

HOA approval is the step that comes up on more of our jobs than any other, and it is the one that costs people money when it gets skipped. Here is what the committee actually wants, what covenants usually add on top of the city code, and the Northwest Arkansas specifics that catch people off guard.

Get the HOA Approval Before You Order Material

Committees meet on their own schedule, often monthly, and many covenants give them 30 to 45 days to respond. Order cedar for a fence the committee then rejects and you own a pile of cedar. The order of operations that works:

Read your covenants first. The fence section is usually short: a height cap, allowed materials, sometimes a color or stain requirement, sometimes a front-yard ban.
Get a written quote that states the height, material, style and where the fence runs. That is most of what the application asks for.
Submit the application with a simple site drawing and a photo or cut sheet of the style. Ask when the committee next meets.
Get the approval in writing and keep it. A verbal okay from a board member is not an approval.
Then pull the city permit if your town requires one, and then order material.

What the Committee Will Ask For

Architectural review forms vary, but almost every one in Northwest Arkansas wants the same handful of things:

A site plan or sketch showing the property lines, the house, and where the fence and gates go.
Height, usually with the cap stated in the covenants right on the form.
Material and style: cedar or treated pine, privacy or shadowbox, aluminum, chain link, vinyl. A photo or manufacturer cut sheet of the exact style helps more than a description.
Color or stain, if the covenants regulate it. Some require natural wood, some require a specific stain, some ban painted fences.
Which side faces out. Many covenants require the finished side toward the street and the neighbors, with posts and rails on your side.
Your contractor and sometimes proof of insurance.

Our written quote covers height, material, style and the fence line, so it doubles as most of your application. Ask us for a copy of the style photo to attach.

Rules HOAs Add That the City Does Not

These are the restrictions that show up in NWA covenants again and again. None of them is a city rule, and the city will not tell you about them.

A height cap below the city’s. Fayetteville publishes no residential height limit and Siloam Springs allows 7 feet, but a covenant capping fences at 6 feet still wins.
No fence in front of the house, even in towns that would allow a short one.
Material limits. Chain link is the one most often banned outright; some covenants require wood or ornamental metal only, and some ban vinyl.
Color and stain. Fayetteville publishes no fence color rule, and we have not found one in any other NWA city code we have read. Plenty of covenants have one.
Finished side out. Springdale and Bella Vista write this into city code, Prairie Grove requires it on street-facing runs, and Bentonville makes you label the finished side on the permit application. Everywhere else it is the HOA, if anyone.
Matching the neighborhood. A required style so every fence on the street looks the same, common in newer subdivisions.
Maintenance. A duty to keep the fence stained, plumb and repaired, with fines if you do not.

Northwest Arkansas Specifics

Bella Vista is a two-approval town by design. Every fence needs a city fence permit (§109-141) and approval from the POA’s Architectural Control Committee, which reviews all fences. The code says it plainly: where the private restriction is stricter it controls, and the city does not enforce private restrictions (§109-007). One trap: the ACC measures fence height from natural grade, the ground as it was when the lot was first sold, not the finished grade after the builder shaped it. On Bella Vista’s slopes that can be a different number.
Farmington lets covenants override the city on dogs. The city caps a household at five adult dogs and cats, and says outright that a subdivision covenant allowing fewer supersedes the city limit (§6.04.03). If your covenants say two dogs, the city will not help you keep a third.
Rogers and Fayetteville stay out of neighbor disputes. Rogers’ own FAQ calls a disagreement over a shared fence a civil matter between the property owners, not a code violation. Fayetteville’s code has no cost-sharing rule for a fence on the line. If you want the neighbor to split the cost, that is an agreement you make with them, and your HOA usually will not referee it either.
Your covenants are public record. Declarations of covenants, conditions and restrictions are recorded with the county circuit clerk, and in Washington County they are searchable online. If the HOA is inactive or you cannot get a copy from the board, the recorded document is still binding and still findable.

Sources: Bella Vista Ch. 109 §109-007 and §109-141; Farmington Municipal Code §6.04.03; City of Rogers FAQ; Fayetteville Code of Ordinances (fence sections contain no cost-sharing provision)

When the HOA and the City Disagree

Stricter wins. That is the whole rule, and it cuts both ways.

HOA stricter than the city: covenants cap you at 6 feet in a town that allows 8. You build 6. The city permit for an 8-foot fence does not protect you from the HOA.
City stricter than the HOA: the committee approves a 6-foot fence along your front property line in Springdale, where the city caps front-yard fences at 3 feet. You build 3. The HOA approval does not protect you from the city.
They regulate different things: the city cares about sight lines at the corner, easements and the right-of-way; the HOA cares about how the fence looks from the street. You have to satisfy both lists, not the overlap.

The one thing an HOA cannot do is authorize a fence the city prohibits. If the committee approves something that blocks a sight triangle or sits in a drainage easement, the approval is worth nothing when the city inspector shows up.

What Happens If You Skip It

Fines, often daily, until the fence is brought into compliance.
An order to modify or remove the fence at your expense. Rebuilding a fence to a different height or style costs more than building it right once.
A lien on the property for unpaid fines, which surfaces when you sell.
A problem at closing. Buyers’ lenders and title companies ask about open HOA violations.

We put the application together for you. We order no material until your approval is in writing, and if the HOA turns the fence down, you get your deposit back.

HOA Fence FAQ

Do I need HOA approval if the city does not require a permit?

Yes. Springdale, Rogers and Farmington do not require a fence permit for an ordinary residential fence, and none of that has any bearing on your covenants. The city permit and the HOA approval are separate; skipping one because the other is not needed is the most common way people end up rebuilding a fence.

Can the HOA make me take down a fence I already built?

If the covenants give the association enforcement power and the fence violates them, yes: fines, an order to modify or remove, and a lien for unpaid fines are the usual tools. The city will not step in on your behalf; Rogers, for one, says in its own FAQ that fence disputes between owners are civil matters, and Bella Vista’s code says the city does not enforce private restrictions.

How long does approval take?

Read your covenants; many give the committee 30 to 45 days and treat silence past that as a denial or, in some documents, as approval. Committees that meet monthly can take the full window. Submit before you schedule the install, and ask the board when the next meeting is.

What if my HOA is inactive or I cannot reach anyone?

The recorded covenants still bind the lot whether or not anyone is enforcing them today, and a future board can enforce them later. Pull the declaration from the county circuit clerk, build to what it says, and keep a record of your attempts to submit. That record is your protection if the association wakes up.

Can the HOA require the finished side to face out?

Yes, and most do. Springdale and Bella Vista require it by city code as well, Prairie Grove requires it on street-facing runs, and Bentonville makes you label the finished side on the permit drawing. In every other town it is the covenants alone. Either way, plan on posts and rails facing your yard.

Does the HOA have any say over my dog fence?

Over the fence, yes, the same as any other fence. Over the dogs, sometimes: Farmington’s code says a covenant that allows fewer dogs than the city’s five-animal cap supersedes the city limit (§6.04.03). The town’s own rules on chaining and enclosure size still apply regardless of what the HOA says; those are in our dog fence guide.

Who pays for a fence on the property line?

Whoever agrees to. No Northwest Arkansas city we have read has a cost-sharing rule for residential fences, and Rogers explicitly calls it a civil matter. If a neighbor is contributing, put the split, the style and who owns the fence in writing before the posts go in.

How do I find my covenants?

Three places: the packet you received at closing, the HOA board or management company, or the county circuit clerk, where the declaration is recorded against your subdivision. Washington County records are searchable online. Search for the subdivision name, not your address.

Building in an HOA Neighborhood?

We build your architectural review application: the site drawing, fence height, material and style, a photo of the exact fence, and our license and insurance. Where the HOA lets a contractor submit, we send it in. Where the owner has to sign, we hand you a packet that is ready to send. The decision is the committee’s and we cannot promise a yes. We order no material until your approval is in writing, and if the HOA turns the fence down, you get your deposit back. Quotes are free.

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Sources: Bella Vista Ch. 109 Zoning and Development, §109-007 and §109-141; Farmington Municipal Code §6.04.03; City of Rogers FAQ; Fayetteville Code of Ordinances §164.09 and related fence sections; Springdale Code of Ordinances Ch. 130 Art. 6 §2.3; Prairie Grove Municipal Code Ch. 11.44; Bentonville Community Code Art. 50-7. Code checked August 2026. Covenants are private contracts and vary by subdivision; this page describes how they interact with city rules, not the terms of any particular HOA.