Fence laws in New Britain, Connecticut
What the New Britain municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where New Britain sets no rule of its own, the Connecticut rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in New Britain, Connecticut, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Connecticut splits a fence that sits on a property line between the two owners on either side.
- How tall
- New Britain does not give one number, and the answer turns on the zoning district and whether the fence is in the required front yard. The figure is 0 feet, for front yard fence in the S-1, S-2 and S-3 districts.
- Permits
- Connecticut runs one building code across the whole state.
- Pool barriers
- New Britain sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Connecticut lets a landowner sue the neighbor next door over a structure built out of spite.
- Measured from what
- New Britain measures from the ground level at the base of the fence, and then does something for the retaining wall case that almost no other city attempts. The figure is 4 feet, for height guaranteed on the uphill side of a retaining wall.
- Corner lots
- New Britain has no sight triangle, and the answer turns on whether the lot is a corner and which district it is in. The figure is 4 feet, for fence in a required side yard abutting a street.
- Retaining walls
- A wall that holds back earth in Connecticut needs a building permit once it passes three feet. The figure is 3 feet, for height at which a wall that holds back earth needs a building permit. It reaches one and two family homes and townhouses, under the house half of the state building code only.
- Materials
- New Britain regulates chain link by its coating rather than banning it, and the answer turns on the district, the coating and which line the fence follows. The figure is 50 percent, for maximum opacity of a required front yard fence.
- Livestock
- Connecticut tells landowners to build and keep up fences good enough to hold their fields and keep livestock from roaming. The figure is 4 feet, for height of the upper strand on a wire fence outside a city.
Who owns the fence between two properties in New Britain?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut splits a fence that sits on a property line between the two owners on either side. Each one builds and keeps up half of it. The middle of the fence goes on the dividing line. The law calls this a divisional fence.
This one is Connecticut law, not New Britain law. All Connecticut findings
Adjoining proprietors shall each make and maintain half of a divisional fence, the middle line of which shall be on the dividing line
Also on fences on the property line in New Britain
- set in state lawThe same law lists what counts as a fence good enough to hold livestock. Inside cities and next to house lots, a tight board fence stands four and one half feet high, and an open picket fence or a slat rail fence stands four feet high with limits on the gaps. Outside cities the list allows a rail fence four and one half feet high, a stone wall four feet high, or a wire fence of four strands. These heights are floors for holding animals, not caps on a yard fence. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-43Connecticut · Statute
- set in state lawWhen a division fence falls into disrepair, the neighbor can call on the town selectmen to look at it. The selectmen give written notice to the person who has to fix it. Fifteen days pass, and if no repair happens the neighbor can do the work and collect double the cost. That sum becomes a lien on the land. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-51Connecticut · Statute
- no rule, documents checkedThe fence section states no setback from any lot line. A fence may apparently stand on the boundary in every district, and nothing says how close is too close or requires a gap for maintenance. Nothing states which side of a fence has to face the neighbor either, so the finished side question that most Connecticut codes answer in a sentence is left open here. The only distance the section contains is a material rule rather than a placement rule, keeping dark green or black vinyl-clad chain link ten feet back from a property line adjoining a public street in the central business district. Where the ordinance does speak about a shared boundary it speaks about the retaining wall, averaging the ground levels on each side of it to settle a height rather than to settle a position. Section 230-100New Britain · Zoning code
How tall can a fence be in New Britain?
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New Britain answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zoning district and whether the fence is in the required front yard.
New Britain does not give one number. It prints a schedule with a row for each of its twenty four zoning districts and two columns, one for the required front yard and one for everywhere outside it. The single family districts S-1, S-2 and S-3, along with the residential office district and the I-1 industrial district, show a zero in the front yard column, meaning no fence at all is permitted in the required front yard there. Most residential districts allow four feet in front and six behind. The business districts take four in front and eight behind, and the central business district is marked not applicable in front and six behind. Industrial goes furthest, with I-2 allowing ten feet in the front yard and ten beyond it. The schedule applies whether the site holds a permitted use or a special exception use, and the Zoning Board of Appeals may add conditions on top.
The following schedule of permitted fences and walls shall apply according to the District in which the site is located on the Zoning Map, whether such site be used for a permitted use or for a special exception use, except where the Zoning Board of Appeals may require additional conditions.
The answer turns on the zoning district and whether the fence is in the required front yard.
- a single family district front yard
- No fence permitted. 0 ft
- most residential front yards
- Four feet. 4 ft
- behind the front yard at a house
- Six feet. 6 ft
- the I-2 industrial district
- Ten feet, front and back. 10 ft
Also on fence height in New Britain
- no rule, documents checkedConnecticut sets no cap on how tall a fence at a house can be. Local zoning sets it. The fence chapter gives heights only for what counts as a fence good enough to hold livestock, and those are floors, not ceilings. The two spite fence laws give no height at all and turn on proving the structure went up out of spite, so they work as a nuisance claim rather than a building limit. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-43 through 47-56Connecticut · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in New Britain?
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut runs one building code across the whole state. The State Building Inspector and the Codes and Standards Committee write it together, and the Commissioner of Administrative Services signs off. It is built on a national model code and covers how buildings and structures are designed, built and changed. Changes to it are held to a short list of subjects the law names.
This one is Connecticut law, not New Britain law. All Connecticut findings
adopt and administer a State Building Code based on a nationally recognized model building code for the purpose of regulating the design, construction and use of buildings or structures to be erected and the alteration of buildings or structures already erected
Also on permits in New Britain
- no rule, documents checkedSection 230-100 sets out a schedule, a measuring method and four pages of restrictions, and never mentions a permit, an application, a fee or an inspection. The only approval it names runs the other way, noting that the Zoning Board of Appeals may require additional conditions beyond the schedule. So the ordinance tells an owner precisely what is allowed in their district and says nothing about who checks it before the posts go in. This is recorded as silence in the zoning ordinances rather than a finding that New Britain requires nothing, because the city publishes a separate Code of Ordinances and a building permit requirement could sit there. Section 230-100.10New Britain · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in New Britain
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New Britain law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Connecticut puts its public pool barrier rule in the Public Health Code at Section 19-13-B33b. Both the Department of Public Health copy and the state eRegulations copy of that section are published only as PDF files. Neither PDF could be read here, so no barrier height is quoted and no text is repeated from memory.
This one is Connecticut law, not New Britain law. All Connecticut findings
Documents read before writing that:
- Conn. Agencies Regs. 19-13-B33bConnecticut Department of Public Health
- Conn. Agencies Regs. 19-13-B33bConnecticut eRegulations System
Spite fence laws in New Britain
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut lets a landowner sue the neighbor next door over a structure built out of spite. The neighbor has to have put it up on purpose to annoy the landowner or hurt the way the land is used or sold. The law names no height and no fence in particular, so any structure can count. Courts read it together with Section 52-480, which lets a judge order the structure down.
This one is Connecticut law, not New Britain law. All Connecticut findings
An action may be maintained by the proprietor of any land against the owner or lessee of land adjacent, who maliciously erects any structure thereon, with intent to annoy or injure the plaintiff in his use or disposition of his land.
Also on spite fences in New Britain
- set in state lawA Connecticut court can order a spite structure stopped or taken down. The rule reaches an owner, a renter, or anyone else with the right to hold the land. The structure has to be meant to annoy and hurt the person on the land next door. This law names no height either. Conn. Gen. Stat. 52-480Connecticut · Statute
How fence height is measured in New Britain
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New Britain answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
New Britain measures from the ground level at the base of the fence, and then does something for the retaining wall case that almost no other city attempts. Where a retaining wall is involved, the height is taken from the average of the ground levels on each side of that wall, so neither the uphill owner nor the downhill one sets the figure alone. The ordinance then adds a guarantee rather than a limit: a fence or wall on the uphill side of a retaining wall may be at least four feet high notwithstanding anything in the district schedule. That matters in a city with five districts where the schedule allows no front yard fence at all, because it means the owner standing above a retaining wall still gets four feet of barrier for safety. Nothing is said about a berm or about whether a post cap counts toward the height.
The height of a fence or wall shall be measured from the ground level at the base of the fence; excepting that where there is a retaining wall the height shall be measured from the average of the ground levels at each side of the retaining wall, and further excepting that any fence or wall on the uphill side of such a retaining wall may be at least four (4) feet high, notwithstanding the provisions of the schedule contained in Section 230-100.10.
4 ftheight guaranteed on the uphill side of a retaining wall
Also on how height is measured in New Britain
- set in state lawConnecticut names the surface to measure a fence from, and it does it twice in the same chapter. Section 47-48 bans barbed wire along a sidewalk unless it is at least six and one half feet above the ground. Section 47-43 describes fences meant for use next to house lots and puts the lower slat of a slat rail fence no more than six inches from the ground. The ground is the starting point in both. Neither one covers a solid privacy fence. That one is sized by the local zoning commission under section 8-2, and the commission picks the measuring surface as well. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-48Connecticut · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in New Britain
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New Britain answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the lot is a corner and which district it is in.
New Britain has no sight triangle. A search of the zoning ordinances turns up no visibility provision, no obstruction rule, no distance from an intersection and no protected band of heights above the pavement, which makes it one of the few cities in this project with nothing of the kind. What it does instead is hold down the whole street-facing side of a corner lot. On a corner property in a residential or B-1R district the maximum height in the required side yard abutting a street is four feet, the same figure those districts allow in a front yard, so the corner is treated as a second frontage rather than as a triangle to be kept clear. The chain link restrictions push the same way, prohibiting galvanized silver along any property line adjoining a public street on a corner or through lot.
For corner properties, in residential and B-1R districts, the maximum height in the required side yard abutting a street is four (4) feet.
The answer turns on whether the lot is a corner and which district it is in.
- a corner side yard at a house
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a sight triangle
- There is none.
- chain link on that line
- No galvanized silver.
- opacity there
- Half see-through at most.
Also on corner visibility in New Britain
- left to the townThe town decides corner clearance in Connecticut, and state law gives it that power twice. Section 7-148 lets a town set lines past which no structure may be put up, and separately makes keeping the streets clear a town job. Section 8-2 adds the zoning power over the height of structures and the size of yards. Neither one gives a distance, an angle or a triangle, so the shape of a corner clearance is whatever the local ordinance says. Conn. Gen. Stat. 7-148Connecticut · Statute
Retaining wall rules in New Britain
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A wall that holds back earth in Connecticut needs a building permit once it passes three feet. The model code the state starts from allows four feet and measures from the bottom of the footing. Connecticut cuts that to three feet and measures from the finished ground at the bottom of the wall to the finished ground at the top. A wall holding extra weight pushed onto the ground behind it needs a permit at any height. The state code sets the same three foot line for commercial work.
This one is Connecticut law, not New Britain law. All Connecticut findings
Retaining walls that are not higher than 3 feet (914 mm) measured from finished grade at the bottom of the wall to finished grade at the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge.
2022 Connecticut State Building Code, amendment to IRC Section R105.2
3 ftheight at which a wall that holds back earth needs a building permit
Also on retaining walls in New Britain
- set in state lawA wall that holds back earth in Connecticut needs a rail on top once the drop across it is more than four feet, but only when a walking surface, parking lot or driveway sits within two feet of the high side. The state wrote that rule itself, since the model code has none. Grass, planting beds and landscaped areas do not count as a walking surface, so a plain lawn above a wall needs no rail. 2022 Connecticut State Building Code, added IRC Section R404.4.1Connecticut · Building code
Fence materials allowed in New Britain
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New Britain answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district, the coating and which line the fence follows.
New Britain regulates chain link by its coating rather than banning it. In every residential district and in B-1R, galvanized silver chain link is prohibited in the required front yard and, on a corner or through lot, along any property line adjoining a public street. Dark green or black vinyl-clad chain link is allowed in those places, alongside wrought iron or simulated wrought iron and wooden or vinyl picket fencing, or anything else consistent in appearance with a residential neighborhood. Historic districts are stricter, banning galvanized silver outright and keeping the vinyl-clad kind out of the front yard and off any line parallel to the street unless it is the rear line. The central business district applies the same parallel rule and pushes vinyl-clad chain link ten feet back from any street-adjoining line. A front yard fence in a residential district may not exceed fifty percent opacity whatever it is made of.
In all residential zoning districts and in the B-1R zoning district, galvanized silver chain-link fences shall be prohibited in the required front yard area, and also, in the case of corner or through-lots, prohibited along any property line adjoining a public street.
The answer turns on the district, the coating and which line the fence follows.
- galvanized silver chain link
- Not at the street, not in front.
- dark green or black vinyl-clad
- Allowed, but never parallel to the street.
- a front yard fence at a house
- Half see-through at most. 50%
- the central business district
- Vinyl-clad kept ten feet off the street line. 10 ft
Also on materials in New Britain
- set in state lawBarbed wire on a fence between two neighbors in Connecticut takes the neighbor's written consent when it runs within twenty five rods of that neighbor's house or barn. A rod is sixteen and a half feet, so that is about four hundred feet. The consent is not needed when either place is used for raising livestock. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-47Connecticut · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in New Britain
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Connecticut answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Connecticut tells landowners to build and keep up fences good enough to hold their fields and keep livestock from roaming. Outside cities, a fence counts when it is a rail fence four and a half feet high, a stone wall four feet high, or a wire fence of four strands. The wire version spaces the strands no more than twelve inches apart, puts the top strand at least four feet up, and sets posts no more than sixteen feet apart. Inside cities the list runs to a tight board fence four and a half feet high, a picket fence four feet high with gaps under four inches, and chain link at least four feet high on steel posts set in concrete.
This one is Connecticut law, not New Britain law. All Connecticut findings
a wire fence consisting of four strands not more than twelve inches apart, stretched tightly, the lower strand not more than twelve inches and the upper strand not less than four feet from the ground, with good substantial posts not more than sixteen feet apart
4 ftheight of the upper strand on a wire fence outside a city
Also on agricultural fencing in New Britain
- set in state lawThe answer in Connecticut depends on the fence. When the fence around the land is good enough, the owner of the animals pays for all the damage they do inside it. When it is not, the landowner collects nothing. Four things undo that: the animals were loose against the law, they were unruly animals no ordinary fence would hold, the animal owner drove them in, or they came in through a part of the fence that was good enough. In those cases the landowner may hold the animals and collect the damage plus a pound fee. Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-55Connecticut · Statute
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 1 was published by New Britain itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Chapter 823, Section 47-43
- City of New BritainNew Britain Zoning Ordinances, Section 230, Supplementary Use and District Regulations, Section 230-100, Permitted Fences and Walls
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Chapter 925, Statutory Rights of Action and Defenses
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Chapter 916, Injunctions
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Chapter 541, Section 29-252
- Connecticut Department of Public HealthPublic Health Code, Section 19-13-B33b, Public pools
- Connecticut eRegulations SystemRegulations of Connecticut State Agencies, Section 19-13-B33b, Public pools
- Connecticut General AssemblyConnecticut General Statutes, Title 7, Chapter 98, Section 7-148, Scope of municipal powers
- Connecticut Department of Administrative Services, Office of the State Building Inspector2022 Connecticut State Building Code, Amendments to the 2021 International Residential Code
What this page does not cover
A city ordinance is not the only rule that reaches a fence. The zoning district a parcel sits in can change the height allowed on it, and so can an overlay district, a recorded easement, a fire hazard severity zone or a coastal zone. A homeowner association can be stricter than the city and nothing in the municipal code will say so. None of those appear here.
The rules above are the ones New Britain publishes, plus the Connecticut rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Connecticut has the state layer in full.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, ordinances are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean