Short answer
Start by finding out which municipality you're in: Glenside addresses fall in Cheltenham or Abington, and a Jenkintown address can be in Jenkintown Borough, Abington or Rockledge. Then work out from the back of the house: along the shared line, across the rear, and back to the house with a gate. Cheltenham keeps fences within 5 ft of the line and solid fences out of front yards; Abington wants a boundary survey for fences within 5 ft of a line.
First question: whose code applies?
The 19038 Glenside ZIP is mostly Cheltenham and Abington, with pieces of Springfield and Upper Dublin. The 19046 Jenkintown ZIP covers Jenkintown Borough, parts of Abington including Rydal, and Rockledge, with a sliver of Lower Moreland. Two halves of the same block can answer to different fence codes. Your tax bill or the county property record tells you which municipality you're in.
Rules that shape a twin-lot fence
| Cheltenham | Abington | Jenkintown Borough | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front yard | Up to 4 ft, open only; no solid fences | Not confirmed in our research | Not confirmed |
| Side and rear | Up to 6 ft | Up to 6 ft | Not confirmed |
| Corner lots | Two front yards | Fences within 10 ft of the front line can't block drivers' view | Not confirmed |
| Distance from the line | No more than 5 ft from the line; keep the outside strip accessible and maintained | Within 5 ft of a line needs a building permit and boundary-survey evidence | Not confirmed |
| Finished side | Faces neighbors and the street | Reported but not confirmed in the code text we read | Not confirmed |
Checked October 2026 from the cited code. We confirm Jenkintown's rules with the borough, and every township's with its zoning office, before we install.
Laying out a fence on a narrow lot
- Start behind the front wall. On most twins, the fence leaves the house at the back corner of your half, or partway down the side, so the front yard stays open.
- Settle the shared line. The line between twins runs out from the party wall. Decide with your neighbor whether there will be one fence on the line or one on each side, and put it in writing.
- Plan for the trash cans and the mower. On a narrow side yard, a single walk gate is often the only way to the back. Walk gates run about $350–1,650 installed.
- Keep a maintenance strip where the code wants one. Cheltenham requires the strip between the fence and the line to stay accessible and maintained.
- Watch the corner. On a corner twin in Cheltenham, both street sides are front yards, held to 4 ft and open.
Materials that suit small yards
Jenkintown packs 4,719 people into 0.59 square miles, about 8,000 per square mile, and Cheltenham's housing mixes twins, rowhouses and split-levels among its historic homes. On lots that close, a 6-ft vinyl privacy fence, at about $45–75 per foot installed, is a low-upkeep way to get a private back yard. Shadowbox wood looks good from both sides, which helps when your neighbor sees as much of the fence as you do. Up front, a 4-ft open aluminum or picket fence meets Cheltenham's open-fence rule.
Sharing a fence with the other half of the twin
Twins invite shared fences. If you build one together, agree in writing who owns it, who maintains which side, and what happens when one of you sells. If you're adding to a fence your neighbor already owns, read can I attach my fence to my neighbor's fence first. And if an old fence turns out not to sit on the line, Pennsylvania's 10-year adverse possession rule for occupied lots of half an acre or less can come into play; talk to a real-estate attorney. This isn't legal advice.
We'll measure the lot, mark the party-wall line and gate spots, and tell you which code applies before you see a price.
Common questions
Do I need my twin neighbor's permission to fence my side?
None of the township rules we've read require a neighbor's signature for a fence on your own side. Building on the shared line itself is different; get a written agreement.
Can I put a fence in my front yard in Glenside?
In the Cheltenham part of Glenside, only open fences up to 4 ft. In the Abington part, the front-yard limit isn't confirmed in our research, so we check.
Do I need a survey for a twin-lot fence?
In Abington, if the fence is within 5 ft of a property line, which on a twin it nearly always is, the building code asks for boundary-survey evidence unless the Building Official can establish the line.