Fence laws in Cambridge, Massachusetts
What the Cambridge municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Cambridge sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Cambridge, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Every part of a required Cambridge yard has to be open to the sky and unobstructed, and the ordinance then lists what may stand there anyway.
- How tall
- Cambridge sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- The one place Cambridge requires a fence rather than restricting one is around a dumpster, and it comes attached to a license rather than to a building permit, and the answer turns on whether the site is a construction site and whether a waiver is granted.
- 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
- Cambridge 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
- Cambridge 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
- Cambridge splits its wire rule into a flat ban and a height rule, and the two behave very differently, and the answer turns on the material, and how high above the ground it sits. The figure is 10 feet, for height below which dangerous materials are banned.
- 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 Cambridge?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Cambridge answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Every part of a required Cambridge yard has to be open to the sky and unobstructed, and the ordinance then lists what may stand there anyway. A fence heads that list, in company with awnings, arbors, flagpoles and recreational and laundry drying equipment, which tells a reader what kind of thing the ordinance thinks a fence is: light domestic equipment rather than building. Because the exception carries no dimension, a fence may sit anywhere in the required yard including on the boundary itself. The same logic governs private open space, where a fence is not counted as an obstruction when calculating the open space ratio. The contrast is with a bicycle structure in the same list, which is allowed only if anything over six feet meets the accessory building rules, so the ordinance does know how to attach a height when it wants to.
Every part of a required yard shall be open to the sky and unobstructed, except that the following features may be located within a required yard:
Also on fences on the property line in Cambridge
- 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 Cambridge?
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Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge
- no rule, documents checkedCambridge sets no height for a fence. The zoning ordinance mentions one twice and both times it is in a list of things that do not count as an obstruction: once for private open space, which has to be open and unobstructed to the sky except for trees, plantings, arbors, fences, flagpoles, sculpture, fountains and drying apparatus, and once for required yards, which have to be open to the sky and unobstructed except for awnings, arbors, fences, flagpoles and laundry drying equipment. Neither list attaches a figure. The city ordinance that does address fences directly, in the public peace title, is about dangerous materials and says nothing about how tall anything may be. So the question of height in Cambridge is answered by the state building code and by the Massachusetts spite fence statute rather than by the city. 5.22.1 and 5.24.1Cambridge · Zoning code
Do I need a permit for a fence in Cambridge?
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Cambridge answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the site is a construction site and whether a waiver is granted.
The one place Cambridge requires a fence rather than restricting one is around a dumpster, and it comes attached to a license rather than to a building permit. No person or business may operate, keep, store or maintain a dumpster without first obtaining a dumpster license, and every dumpster the chapter governs has to be screened or fenced off from view from public ways, sidewalks and adjoining properties, with construction sites the only category outside the requirement. The Commissioner of Inspectional Services may waive it. The definition of dumpster is wide, reaching any container, receptacle, compactor unit, trailer or roll-off used for refuse, and excluding only household trash cans of fifty gallons or less and recycling receptacles of ninety six gallons or less.
All dumpsters governed by this chapter shall be screened or fenced off from view from public ways, sidewalks, and adjoining properties at all sites other than construction sites, unless requirements are waived by the Commissioner of Inspectional Services.
8.25.090, with 8.25.010 and 8.25.020
The answer turns on whether the site is a construction site and whether a waiver is granted.
- a dumpster at an ordinary site
- Screened or fenced off from the street and the neighbors.
- a construction site
- Outside the requirement.
- a waiver from Inspectional Services
- The requirement drops away.
Also on permits in Cambridge
- 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 Cambridge
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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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge
Compare spite fences across all 50 states
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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge
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Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge
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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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge
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Cambridge answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material, and how high above the ground it sits.
Cambridge splits its wire rule into a flat ban and a height rule, and the two behave very differently. Razor wire and razor ribbon may not be erected or maintained anywhere in the city, full stop, with no exception for industrial land, a utility, a government site or a security need, which is stricter than almost every city on this site. Barbed wire, spikes, other dangerous materials and any electric charge strong enough to cause a shock get a different treatment: they are prohibited within ten feet of ground level. That is a rule about reach rather than about the material, and it means the same barbed wire that is unlawful at six feet is lawful at eleven, on top of a tall wall or a building. The section dates from a 1984 ordinance and sits in the offenses against property chapter rather than in the zoning code.
No person shall erect or maintain anywhere in the City a fence equipped with or having razor wire or razor ribbon.
The answer turns on the material, and how high above the ground it sits.
- razor wire or razor ribbon
- Banned everywhere in the city.
- barbed wire, spikes or a shocking charge below ten feet
- Prohibited. 10 ft
- the same materials above ten feet
- The prohibition does not reach them.
Also on materials in Cambridge
- 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 Cambridge
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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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge
- 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
14 documents, of which 3 were published by Cambridge 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 CambridgeCambridge Zoning Ordinance, Article 5.000, Development Standards
- 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 CambridgeCambridge Code of Ordinances, Title 9, Chapter 9.04, Section 9.04.040, Construction of fences, Dangerous materials
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XX, Chapter 143, Section 94, Powers and duties of board
- City of CambridgeCambridge Code of Ordinances, Title 8, Chapter 8.25, Section 8.25.090, Screening and fencing requirements
- 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 Cambridge 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