Fence laws in Everett, Massachusetts
What the Everett municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Everett sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Everett, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Everett says what happens when the fence turns out to be over the line, and the answer has two parts, and the answer turns on whether the owner removes it after notice.
- How tall
- Every private swimming pool in Everett has to be completely surrounded at all times, filled or not, by a fence or wall of at least five feet, with a saving provision for fences that already existed when the ordinance took effect, which pass at four, and the answer turns on whether the fence predates the ordinance and what it is made of. The figure is 5 feet, for fence required around a private pool.
- Permits
- Before anyone builds a fence on the line of a public way in Everett, the bounds of that street have to be ascertained from the city engineer.
- 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
- Everett 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
- Everett 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
- Everett writes its barbed wire rule upside down compared with almost every other city, and the answer turns on the height of the fence and what stands next to it. The figure is 8 feet, for lowest a wire topped fence may be.
- 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 Everett?
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Everett answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the owner removes it after notice.
Everett says what happens when the fence turns out to be over the line, and the answer has two parts. Where an encroachment is made upon any street or way and the party who made it neglects or refuses to remove it after notice, the city services commission may remove it at the expense of the owner. And the same subsection then adds prosecution on top, requiring the person offending to be caused to be prosecuted. So an encroaching fence in Everett is both a bill and a criminal matter, which is a harder line than the usual notice and order to modify, and it is the reason the section opens by telling an owner to get the street bounds from the city engineer before building.
If any encroachment shall be made upon any street or way, and the party making it neglects or refuses to remove the same after notice so to do, the city services commission may remove the same at the expense of the owner
The answer turns on whether the owner removes it after notice.
- a fence encroaching on a street
- Notice, then removal at the owner expense.
- the person who put it there
- Also prosecuted for the offense.
Also on fences on the property line in Everett
- 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 Everett?
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Everett answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence predates the ordinance and what it is made of.
Every private swimming pool in Everett has to be completely surrounded at all times, filled or not, by a fence or wall of at least five feet, with a saving provision for fences that already existed when the ordinance took effect, which pass at four. The enclosure has to be more than a barrier. No opening, hole or gap may exceed four inches, picket fences included, and any fence, wall, gate or door that does have gaps or holes has to be covered on the inside with canvas or a similar substance so the pool is impervious to view from outside. A building may form part of the enclosure. An elevated platform with steps and railings around an above ground pool expressly does not count. Gates match the height of the fence, carry a self-closing and self-latching device at least four feet up and out of reach of small children, reach the ground, and stay locked whenever the pool is not in use.
Every such fence or wall shall be so constructed as not to have any openings, holes, gaps larger than four (4) inches except for doors and gates and except for picket fences in which case, the gap between pickets shall not exceed four (4) inches.
The answer turns on whether the fence predates the ordinance and what it is made of.
- a new pool enclosure
- Five feet. 5 ft
- a fence that predates the ordinance
- Four feet is enough. 4 ft
- gaps in the enclosure
- Four inches, and covered so the pool cannot be seen. 4 in
Also on fence height in Everett
- 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 Everett?
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Everett answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Before anyone builds a fence on the line of a public way in Everett, the bounds of that street have to be ascertained from the city engineer. It is a short sentence and it puts a step ahead of the work rather than a permit condition on it, which means the obligation falls on the person building rather than on a reviewer checking a plan afterwards. It also catches buildings as well as fences, so the same rule governs anything put on a street line. The section is old, carried forward from the 1976 Revised Ordinances and amended in 1995, and it sits in the streets chapter rather than in zoning, which is why a reader looking for a fence rule in the land use code would not find it.
No person shall erect, or cause to be erected, any fence or building on the line of any public way without first ascertaining the bounds of the street from the city engineer.
Also on permits in Everett
- 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 Everett
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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 Everett 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 Everett
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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 Everett 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 Everett
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Everett 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 Everett 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 Everett
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Everett 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 Everett 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 Everett
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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 Everett 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 Everett
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Everett answers this, but the answer changes depending on the height of the fence and what stands next to it.
Everett writes its barbed wire rule upside down compared with almost every other city. Instead of saying wire may go on top of a fence of at least six feet, it says no fence carrying barbed or razor wire on top may be erected to a height of less than eight feet above ground level on any side. The effect is the same in practice but the drafting is stricter, because the eight feet has to hold on every side of the fence rather than at the tallest point. Then comes the flat ban: any fence with barbed or razor wire mounted on the top is prohibited on or adjacent to residential use property, so the wire is out wherever people live and out of reach everywhere else. Elsewhere the code names chain link among the materials prohibited for the barriers around outdoor dining areas.
No person shall erect any fence to a height of less than eight (8) feet above ground level on any side that has barbed wire or razor wire mounted on the top of such fence.
The answer turns on the height of the fence and what stands next to it.
- a fence with wire on top
- Never less than eight feet on any side. 8 ft
- the same fence on or next to housing
- Prohibited outright.
- a barrier around outdoor dining
- Chain link is a prohibited material.
Also on materials in Everett
- 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 Everett
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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 Everett 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 Everett
- 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 Everett 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 Everett, MassachusettsCity of Everett Code, Chapter 17, Streets, Sidewalks and Other Outdoor Spaces, Section 17-7, Fences or Buildings on Lines of Public Ways
- 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 Everett, MassachusettsCity of Everett Code, Chapter 4, Buildings and Building Regulations, Section 4-2, Enclosures for Private Swimming Pools
- 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 Everett 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