Fence laws in Brockton, Massachusetts
What the Brockton municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Brockton sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Brockton, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Brockton keeps an accessory structure well clear of the boundary and lets a fence sit on it, and the answer turns on whether the thing is a fence or an accessory structure. The figure is 5 feet, for setback of an accessory structure from a lot line.
- How tall
- Brockton gives the familiar pair of numbers, six feet on the rear and sides and four at the front, and then adds a taper that very few cities write down, and the answer turns on which side of the lot the fence is on, and how near the front line it runs. The figure is 6 feet, for fence on the rear or sides of the lot.
- Permits
- Massachusetts runs one building code for the whole state, written by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards under this law.
- 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
- Brockton never says what a fence height is measured from. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Corner lots
- On a Brockton corner lot nothing over three and a half feet may be built inside the triangle formed by the two street lines and a straight line joining points twenty feet from where they meet, measured along those street lines, and the answer turns on whether the obstruction is built or grown. The figure is 42 inches, for tallest structure allowed in the corner triangle.
- 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 Brockton requires a screen it describes the effect rather than the material, asking for an attractive wall, fence or dense planting at least six feet high and of sufficient density not to be seen through, and the answer turns on which use abuts which, and whether a wall or planting is required. The figure is 6 feet, for height of the required screen.
- 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 Brockton?
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Brockton answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the thing is a fence or an accessory structure.
Brockton keeps an accessory structure well clear of the boundary and lets a fence sit on it. A detached accessory structure has to be at least five feet from the side and rear lot lines, no closer to the street than the front yard setback of the house, and at least ten feet from the principal structure, and on a corner lot it may not stand between the side street and the front yard setback line of the buildings that front that street. Nothing in the fence subsection imposes any setback at all, so the fence rules are about height and the accessory structure rules are about distance. The screening requirements work the same way, measuring a planting strip in width from the line rather than setting the fence back from it.
No accessory structure is located closer than five (5) feet to the side and rear lot lines.
The answer turns on whether the thing is a fence or an accessory structure.
- a detached accessory structure
- Five feet off the side and rear lines. 5 ft
- the same structure near the house
- Ten feet from the principal structure. 10 ft
- a fence
- No setback is stated, only a height.
Also on fences on the property line in Brockton
- 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 Brockton?
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Brockton answers this, but the answer changes depending on which side of the lot the fence is on, and how near the front line it runs.
Brockton gives the familiar pair of numbers, six feet on the rear and sides and four at the front, and then adds a taper that very few cities write down. A side yard fence that runs out to meet the front property line is held to four feet for its first ten feet, measured from that line, and after that ten foot stretch it may return to the six feet the side yard otherwise allows. The effect is a stepped fence rather than a straight one, keeping the corner of the lot nearest the street open while letting the back of the side yard be private. A corner lot is separately governed by the sight rule in the subsection above, which overrides all of this within twenty feet of the intersection.
Fences shall not exceed six (6) feet on the rear and sides of the lot and shall not exceed four (4) feet on the front of the lot.
The answer turns on which side of the lot the fence is on, and how near the front line it runs.
- the rear and sides
- Six feet. 6 ft
- the front of the lot
- Four feet. 4 ft
- the first ten feet of a side fence from the front line
- Four feet, then it may step back up. 10 ft
Also on fence height in Brockton
- no rule, documents checkedMassachusetts 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. M.G.L. c. 49Massachusetts · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Brockton?
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts 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.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Brockton law. All Massachusetts findings
To formulate, propose, adopt and amend rules and regulations relating to (i) the construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, demolition, removal, inspection, issuance and revocation of permits or licenses
Pool fence requirements in Brockton
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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 Brockton 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 Brockton
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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 Brockton 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 Brockton
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Brockton law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Massachusetts 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.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Brockton law. All Massachusetts findings
Documents read before writing that:
- M.G.L. c. 49, s. 21Massachusetts General Court
- M.G.L. c. 40A, s. 3Massachusetts General Court
Fence rules for corner lots in Brockton
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Brockton answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the obstruction is built or grown.
On a Brockton corner lot nothing over three and a half feet may be built inside the triangle formed by the two street lines and a straight line joining points twenty feet from where they meet, measured along those street lines. The datum is the plane of the established grades of the streets rather than the ground the fence stands on, so a lot that sits above the road does not get to keep its extra height. The rule then goes beyond a dimension. No trees, hedges or obstructions of any kind that will materially obstruct the view of a driver approaching the main street intersection may be placed or maintained in that area, which catches a shrub that clears three and a half feet at planting and does not clear it three years later.
On a corner lot no fence, wall or structure more than three and one-half (3½) feet high above the plane of the established grades of the streets shall be erected on a front or side yard herein established
The answer turns on whether the obstruction is built or grown.
- a fence, wall or structure in the triangle
- Three and a half feet above the street grades. 42 in
- the size of that triangle
- Twenty feet along each street line. 20 ft
- trees, hedges or anything grown there
- Barred if it materially obstructs a driver view.
Also on corner visibility in Brockton
- left to the townMassachusetts 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. M.G.L. c. 85, s. 8Massachusetts · Traffic code
Retaining wall rules in Brockton
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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 Brockton 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 Brockton
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Brockton answers this, but the answer changes depending on which use abuts which, and whether a wall or planting is required.
Where Brockton requires a screen it describes the effect rather than the material, asking for an attractive wall, fence or dense planting at least six feet high and of sufficient density not to be seen through. That standard applies to a business use directly abutting a residential use or zone, and to an apartment building of four or more units directly abutting a one, two or three family house, so the trigger is the difference in intensity rather than the zone boundary. An industrial use abutting housing does not get the fence option at all and has to plant instead, using a screen at least ten feet wide with at least two rows of alternating evergreen and deciduous trees no more than five feet apart. And an industrial use required by law to build sound attenuation walls has to buy them with landscaping, at a hundred feet of densely planted buffer for every ten feet of wall height.
Any business use which directly abuts a residential use and/or zone must be screened from the residential use and/or zone by an attractive wall, fence or dense planting at least six (6) feet in height and of sufficient density not to be seen through.
27-24.2, 27-24.3, 27-24.4 and 27-24.5
The answer turns on which use abuts which, and whether a wall or planting is required.
- a business abutting housing
- A wall, fence or planting at least six feet and solid to the eye. 6 ft
- an industrial use abutting housing
- A ten foot planting screen, two rows of trees. 10 ft
- a sound attenuation wall
- A hundred feet of planting for every ten feet of wall. 100 ft
Also on materials in Brockton
- 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 Brockton
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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 Brockton 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 Brockton
- 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
12 documents, of which 1 was published by Brockton 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 BrocktonBrockton Code of Ordinances, Appendix C, Zoning, Article III, General Regulations and Permitted Modifications
- 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
- 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 Brockton 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