Fence laws in Boston, Massachusetts
What the Boston municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Boston sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Boston, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Boston regulates the ground at the boundary instead of the fence on it, which is the reverse of almost every other city on this site, and the answer turns on the district and which yard the lot line touches. The figure is 5 feet, for height a yard may be raised in an H district.
- How tall
- Boston sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- A screening fence in Boston is not something an owner simply builds, and the answer turns on what separates the two districts and whether the use changes. The figure is 60 feet, for street width that breaks the across the street test.
- Pool barriers
- Massachusetts sets a pool fence height in law, but only for public and semipublic outdoor inground pools. The figure is 6 feet, for fence height around a public or semipublic outdoor inground swimming pool. It reaches public and semipublic outdoor inground pools, not a pool at a home only.
- Spite fences
- Massachusetts has a spite fence law, and it is the best known one in the country. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a maliciously built fence may be treated as a private nuisance.
- Measured from what
- Outside the residential and H districts, Boston measures the permitted level of a rear or interior side yard against something no other code on this site uses: the lowest window sill in the lowest room designed for human occupancy that relies on natural light or ventilation from a window opening on that yard.
- Corner lots
- Boston leaves corner clearance to the municipal board or officer in charge of laying out public ways in each town or city. It reaches things that stick out into or sit on or over a public road only.
- Retaining walls
- Massachusetts needs no permit for a wall that holds back dirt when it is four feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. The figure is 4 feet, for height at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit. It reaches one and two family homes and townhouses up to three stories only.
- Materials
- Where Boston does describe a fence it describes it closely, and it gives opacity figures that run in opposite directions for two different jobs, and the answer turns on what the fence is screening and what it faces. The figure is 60 percent, for opacity required facing housing.
- Livestock
- Massachusetts calls a fence legal and sufficient at four feet tall and in good repair. The figure is 4 feet, for height of a legal and sufficient fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Boston?
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Boston answers this, but the answer changes depending on the district and which yard the lot line touches.
Boston regulates the ground at the boundary instead of the fence on it, which is the reverse of almost every other city on this site. In an R district every required yard has to sit, along every lot line it abuts, at a level no higher than grade level, or no higher than the abutting lot where that lot is higher. In an H district the same holds except for rear yards and for side yards that do not meet a street, and those may be up to five feet above grade level. So an owner who wants privacy by raising the yard runs into a limit before a fence is even considered, and a neighbor on higher ground sets the level their side of the line may be brought to. In the mixed use districts the only thing given a height in this article is a refuse enclosure, which may be a fence or wall of up to eight feet above average natural grade if it stands in a side or rear yard.
In R district every yard required by this code, and in H districts every yard so required except rear yards and except also side yards not abutting a street line, shall, along every lot line on which such yard abuts, be at a level no higher than grade level or, if the grade level of the abutting lot is higher be at a level no higher than such higher level.
The answer turns on the district and which yard the lot line touches.
- a required yard in a residential district
- No higher than grade, or than the neighbor if they are higher.
- a rear or interior side yard in an H district
- Up to five feet above grade level. 5 ft
- a refuse enclosure in a mixed use district
- Eight feet above average natural grade. 8 ft
Also on fences on the property line in Boston
- set in state lawMassachusetts splits a fence on the line in equal shares between the two neighbors. That holds as long as both of them are working their land, and any deal the two make instead wins over it. Massachusetts also still appoints fence viewers in every town to settle arguments about those shares. M.G.L. c. 49, § 3Massachusetts · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Boston?
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Boston law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Massachusetts sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The six foot figure in Chapter 49 is what turns a spite fence into a nuisance case, not a cap on height. Chapter 49 covers fence viewers, fences on the line and boundary fights, and nowhere limits an ordinary fence. Height comes from town zoning bylaws.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Boston law. All Massachusetts findings
Documents read before writing that:
- M.G.L. c. 49Massachusetts General Court
- M.G.L. c. 49, § 21Massachusetts General Court
Also on fence height in Boston
- no rule, documents checkedThe Boston Zoning Code sets no height for a fence around a house. Article 22 is the article on yards, and every sentence in it is about the level of the ground rather than about anything built on it. The fence heights that do appear in the code sit inside the neighborhood district articles, under screening and buffering, and they apply to commercial and industrial projects whose lot lines abut a street, a park or a residential area. They are also written as ranges rather than ceilings, so they tell a business what it must build rather than what a homeowner may not. A Boston resident reading the zoning code therefore finds no front yard figure, no back yard figure and no measuring rule, and the height question is left to the state building code and to the common law of the Commonwealth. the whole article, Sections 22-1 through 22-6Boston · Zoning code
Do I need a permit for a fence in Boston?
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Boston answers this, but the answer changes depending on what separates the two districts and whether the use changes.
A screening fence in Boston is not something an owner simply builds. Where a manufacturing, industrial or marine economy reserve lot has a yard abutting or across the street from a residential or H district, and the lot is used for something forbidden in that district, the yard has to be screened by a concealing fence or wall or landscaped, and the design of whichever is chosen must be approved by the design section of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The obligation does not end at approval, because the plantings, fencing or wall have to be adequately maintained afterwards. Two definitions limit how often this bites: two districts do not count as abutting if a rail right of way or a river runs between them, and they do not count as across the street from each other if the street is sixty feet wide or more. The requirement is triggered by a change of use as well as by new building, and by an alteration amounting to a reconstruction or extension.
In either case, the design of the screening or landscaping must be approved by the design section of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and the plantings, fencing or wall must be adequately maintained thereafter.
The answer turns on what separates the two districts and whether the use changes.
- an industrial lot facing housing
- A concealing fence or wall, or landscaping, with design approval.
- a rail right of way or river between them
- They do not abut, so the rule does not apply.
- a street sixty feet wide or more between them
- They are not across the street from each other. 60 ft
Also on permits in Boston
- set in state lawMassachusetts runs one building code for the whole state, written by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards under this law. The board makes the rules on building work and on issuing permits. The tenth edition is built on the 2021 International Codes, and its chapter 51 adopts the 2021 International Residential Code with Massachusetts changes. The list of work that needs no permit sits in that code, not in the law itself. M.G.L. c. 143, § 94Massachusetts · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Boston
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts sets a pool fence height in law, but only for public and semipublic outdoor inground pools. Those need a six foot fence held down at ground level. A board or stockade fence may be five feet, and anything over five feet has to be chain link. The section does not reach a pool behind a house, which falls under the state building code instead.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Boston law. All Massachusetts findings
Every public and semipublic outdoor inground swimming pool shall be enclosed by a fence six feet in height and firmly secured at ground level provided that any board or stockade fence or structure shall be at least five feet in height, but if over five feet in height, the fence shall be chain link.
6 ftfence height around a public or semipublic outdoor inground swimming pool
Spite fence laws in Boston
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts has a spite fence law, and it is the best known one in the country. A fence, or anything built like one, that goes over six feet for no reason and was put up or kept up out of spite to annoy a neighbor counts as a private nuisance. The neighbor can sue for money over the harm to the comfort or use of their property. Both the height and the spite have to be there.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Boston law. All Massachusetts findings
A fence or other structure in the nature of a fence which unnecessarily exceeds six feet in height and is maliciously erected or maintained for the purpose of annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property shall be deemed a private nuisance.
6 ftheight above which a maliciously built fence may be treated as a private nuisance
How fence height is measured in Boston
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Boston answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Outside the residential and H districts, Boston measures the permitted level of a rear or interior side yard against something no other code on this site uses: the lowest window sill in the lowest room designed for human occupancy that relies on natural light or ventilation from a window opening on that yard. The reasoning is plain once stated. The point of the yard is to keep light and air reaching that room, so the thing that may not be built up past is the sill of the window doing the work. A front yard in those districts gets a simpler rule and has to be at grade level along every lot line it abuts. The same instinct shows up in Section 22-3, which lets an underground garage or other accessory structure in a rear or side yard rise no more than five feet above grade level, piers, railings and parapets included.
the level of the lowest window sill in the lowest room designed for human occupancy or so occupied, and relying upon natural light or natural ventilation from windows opening on such yard
Also on how height is measured in Boston
- no rule, documents checkedMassachusetts puts a fence height in law and never says what it is measured from. Chapter 49 makes a fence over six feet a private nuisance when it is kept up to annoy a neighbor, and gives the six feet no starting point, which is what decides the answer on a slope or on top of a wall. The Zoning Act does not settle it either. Its section 3 is a list of things a local rule may not do, and it touches height only in passing, for child care buildings and for ham radio masts. Neither place gives a way to measure a fence. M.G.L. c. 49, s. 21Massachusetts · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Boston
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Boston does not set this. It leaves it to the municipal board or officer in charge of laying out public ways in each town or city.
Massachusetts leaves this to the town. The public ways chapter lets the town board or officer in charge of laying out roads give permits for signs, awnings and other things that stick out into or over a public road. The same section lets that board set the fees and write its own rules and fines for them. The chapter runs from direction signs to snow clearing to bicycles, and never measures a corner. Zoning covers the rest, so both routes end at the local bylaw and neither one prints a triangle.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Boston law. All Massachusetts findings
The municipal board or officer having charge of the laying out of public ways may grant permits for the placing and maintaining of signs, advertising devices, clocks, marquees, public telephones, telephone booths and other appurtenances thereto, permanent awnings and other like structures projecting into or placed on or over public ways in its town or city
The code hands this to the municipal board or officer in charge of laying out public ways in each town or city, which is not published in the code itself.
Retaining wall rules in Boston
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts needs no permit for a wall that holds back dirt when it is four feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. A wall holding up extra weight on the soil behind it, such as a driveway or a building, needs a permit at any height. Massachusetts dropped the first chapter of the model residential code and wrote its own, so this permit list is state text rather than a pointer to a model code. Other laws and the trade codes can still call for a permit.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Boston law. All Massachusetts findings
Retaining walls that are not over four feet (1,219 mm) in height measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge.
4 ftheight at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit
Fence materials allowed in Boston
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Boston answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence is screening and what it faces.
Where Boston does describe a fence it describes it closely, and it gives opacity figures that run in opposite directions for two different jobs. A screening fence along a lot line that abuts a park, a residential subdistrict or a residential use has to be a solid wall or a stockade or board type wooden fence built to be at least sixty percent opaque, because the job is hiding an industrial yard from housing. A fence screening a parking, loading or storage area has to be a steel picket, stockade or board type fence that is no more than fifty percent opaque, because there the job is letting a passerby see into the lot. And along a neighborhood business lot line facing a public street or park the material is named outright: it must be a metal picket fence. Each one sits on the inside edge of a planting strip at least five feet wide.
Such screening shall consist of trees and shrubs densely planted in a strip at least five (5) feet wide on the inside edge of a steel-picket or stockade or board-type wooden fence.
The answer turns on what the fence is screening and what it faces.
- a lot line facing housing or a park
- Solid or at least sixty percent opaque. 60%
- a fence screening parking or storage
- No more than fifty percent opaque. 50%
- a business lot line on a street or park
- A metal picket fence.
Also on materials in Boston
- set in state lawMassachusetts bans barbed wire in one place by name. A fence running along a sidewalk on a public road may not carry barbed wire anywhere within six feet of the ground, and building or keeping one is a fine of twenty to fifty dollars. The rule sits in the public ways chapter, not the fence chapter, and it reaches only a fence beside a sidewalk. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 86, 6Massachusetts · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Boston
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts calls a fence legal and sufficient at four feet tall and in good repair. It can be rails, timber, boards, iron or stone. Brooks, rivers, ponds, creeks, ditches and hedges count too, and so does anything else the town fence viewers judge just as good. Height is the only number in it.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Boston law. All Massachusetts findings
Fences four feet high, in good repair, constructed of rails, timber, boards, iron or stone, and brooks, rivers, ponds, creeks, ditches and hedges, or other things which the fence viewers consider equivalent thereto, shall be deemed legal and sufficient fences.
4 ftheight of a legal and sufficient fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Boston
- set in state lawMassachusetts lets a landowner hurt by loose farm animals sue the owner of those animals, or hold the animals until the damage is paid. The section names horses, mules, asses, cattle, sheep, goats and swine, and it puts no fence condition on that right. Another section points the same way by making the town field driver pick up farm animals found loose on public roads or on common and unimproved land. M.G.L. c. 49, s. 29Massachusetts · Statute
Documents behind this page
13 documents, of which 2 were published by Boston itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Section 3, Maintenance of partition fences
- City of BostonBoston Zoning Code, Article 22, Yard Regulations
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Fences, Fence Viewers, Pounds and Field Drivers, full chapter listing
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Section 21
- City of BostonBoston Zoning Code, Article 65, Dorchester Neighborhood District, Section 65-39, Screening and Buffering Requirements
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XX, Chapter 143, Section 94, Powers and duties of board
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XX, Chapter 140, Section 206, Enclosure of swimming pools
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 40A, Section 3, Subjects which zoning may not regulate
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XIV, Chapter 85, Section 8, Permits for signs and other structures projecting into or over ways
- Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards780 CMR 51.00: Massachusetts Residential Code, Chapter R1, Scope and Application, Tenth Edition, amendments to the 2021 International Residential Code
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XIV, Chapter 86, Section 6, Barbed wire fences
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Fences, Fence Viewers, Pounds and Field Drivers
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title VII, Chapter 49, Fences, Fence Viewers, Pounds and Field Drivers
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 Boston publishes, plus the Massachusetts rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Massachusetts 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