Talks on Elon Musk's $6 Million Austin Home Delayed Until July

A high-profile neighbor is stirring discontent among residents of an upscale Austin suburb, but they’ll have to wait another month before presenting their grievances to the City Council.

That neighbor is Elon Musk. Residents of West Lake Hills are voicing concerns over what they describe as unneighborly behavior, including a 16-foot chain-link fence encircling the property and a constant flow of security guards.

The property, valued at $6.24 million, was a focal point of a heated Zoning and Planning Commission meeting in April. It was slated for discussion by the West Lake Hills City Council in May, then postponed to June, and now delayed another month.

West Lake Hills City Secretary Terry Blanchard told the American-Statesman that the applicant requested that the agenda item be moved to the July 9 council meeting.

Fence, security guards and parties lead to neighbor complaints of ‘E’s house’

According to a New York Times article published last month, neighbors in the West Lake Hills area nearby Musk’s home were growing increasingly frustrated by the happenings over at his home.

Security personnel reportedly change shifts three times per day, and in one instance, a passing driver shouted late at night that he was looking for a party at “E’s house,” the Times reported.

The dispute escalated to city meetings focused on city ordinances, permits and exceptions known as variances.

Musk purchased the home in 2022 through a limited liability company named after the street where the property is located. The home sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood, positioned at the bottom of about 2 acres of sloping land off a narrow public road. Living across the street is the president of the neighborhood homeowners association, Paul Hemmer.

“I call that place Fort Knox,” Paul Hemmer, a retired real estate agent who lives across the street and is president of the neighborhood homeowners association, told the Times.

Hemmer, a retired real estate agent, told the Times he became so frustrated that he began flying a drone over the property to look for possible city code violations. He also keeps a video camera pointed at the house 24/7. Last year, he filed complaints with West Lake Hills officials about Musk’s towering fence, increased traffic, and his belief that the billionaire was running a security operation from the home.

Musk did not obtain permits for a metal gate and the fence built around the property, with the construction on the property violating six city ordinances.

Musk’s home violations per an April Zoning and Planning Commission meeting agenda:

• A keypad-activated vehicle gate that led to traffic and cars “stacking” into the public street and was opening and closing at all hours.
• A front yard fence that had 0% transparency in some areas and a chain-link fence in the front-yard fence setback.
• A front-yard fence and gate encroaching 30 feet into the fence setback.
• A side-yard chain-link fence with 0% transparency encroaching about 21.5 feet into front-yard setback.
• A solid wall with no transparency encroaching about 45 feet into front yard setback.
• A fence exceeding the required 6-foot maximum height on both the west side property (exceeds by 10.5 feet) and the front of the property (exceeds by 2 feet).

Musk sought retroactive permission for the projects, but the Zoning and Planning Commission unanimously voted against recommending variances for the homeowner. Jim Pledger, one of the six commissioners, told the Times that if an exception were made, “we’d incentivize people to break the rules.”

Musk owns another nearby property that some have described as a “compound” for his extended family, including his children and their mothers. The $35 million estate features two large homes and a third house located nearby, including a 14,400-square-foot Tuscan-style mansion and a six-bedroom residence.

For the past six months, however, Musk reportedly hasn’t been staying in the Austin-area homes. Given his work with President Donald Trump, the billionaire has spent most of his time in Washington in 2025. When not there, he reportedly resides in a modest $50,000 house in Boca Chica, located just outside Starbase — the site of his SpaceX launch facility — where workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of forming a new city in May.

Amid fallout from his “first buddy” relationship with Trump last week, coupled with the rough year his companies have experienced so far, Musk is expected to dedicate more time to his businesses. Many of those operations are based in the greater Austin area, increasing the likelihood he might encounter his upset neighbors soon.