Fence laws in Fall River, Massachusetts
What the Fall River municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Fall River sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Fall River, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The boundary answer is hidden in a definition rather than written as a rule. The figure is 0 feet, for setback stated from a property line for a fence.
- How tall
- Fall River states no maximum height for a residential fence, and the answer turns on what the fence is screening, if anything. The figure is 6 feet, for top of the range for a solid parking lot buffer fence.
- 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
- Fall River 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
- The visibility rule is not in the zoning chapter at all.
- 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
- Massachusetts bans barbed wire in one place by name. The figure is 6 feet, for height below which barbed wire may not be used along a sidewalk on a public way. It reaches fences along a sidewalk on a public road only.
- 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 Fall River?
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Fall River answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The boundary answer is hidden in a definition rather than written as a rule. A yard is defined as required open space unoccupied and unobstructed by any structure, and then the definition lists what does not count as an obstruction: entrance stairs, ramps, stoops, fences, walls, poles, posts and other customary yard accessories, ornaments and furniture. So a fence in a required front, side or rear yard leaves that yard legally open, which is the technical way of permitting a fence to stand anywhere in it, up to and on the line. No distance from a neighbor is stated anywhere in the chapter. The city also keeps the old Massachusetts office of fence viewers, whose whole job under state law is settling disputes between abutters about a boundary fence, and the city code adds only that they have to keep a record of their official business.
A required open space unoccupied and unobstructed by any structure or portion of a structure, covered or uncovered, with the exception of any entrance stairs, ramps or stoops, fences, walls, poles, posts and other customary yard accessories, ornaments and furniture.
0 ftsetback stated from a property line for a fence
Also on fences on the property line in Fall River
- 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 Fall River?
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Fall River answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence is screening, if anything.
Fall River states no maximum height for a residential fence. The zoning chapter has no fence section, the dimensional tables regulate buildings, and the definitions article says in its own words that a fence is not a building. The two fence heights the code does state are both there to screen something else. A parking or loading area of more than five spaces has to sit ten feet off a side or rear line, and that drops to five feet where the setback carries a solid wall or fence between five and six feet tall with suitable plantings, so the fence is buying back five feet of land. And the definition of manufacturing requires open storage to be enclosed by a tight wall or fence of at least the same height as the material stored, which is a height set by the pile rather than by the code. Neither reaches a fence between two houses.
for side and rear lot lines the setback need only be five feet if the setback includes a solid wall or fence, five feet to six feet in height complemented by suitable plantings
The answer turns on what the fence is screening, if anything.
- a fence between two houses
- No height stated anywhere.
- a parking lot buffer fence
- Five to six feet, and it halves the setback. 6 ft
- open storage at a manufacturing use
- At least as tall as what is stored.
- a fence that blocks a driver
- The street chapter reaches it whatever its height.
Also on fence height in Fall River
- 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 Fall River?
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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 Fall River 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
Also on permits in Fall River
- no rule, documents checkedNo permit, approval or application for a fence appears anywhere in the code. There is no fence permit, no zoning certificate for a fence and no fee. The one piece of municipal machinery aimed at fences is much older than a permit system: Fall River still keeps fence viewers as a city office, with a division of the administration chapter to itself, and the city code adds only that they have to keep a record of all their official business, open at all times to the Mayor and City Council. Fence viewers exist under Massachusetts general law to settle disputes between abutters over a division fence, so the city has an officer for arguments about fences and no officer for approving them. A fence that forms part of a required parking lot buffer or a required screen is reviewed as part of that site plan, and the Building Inspector may waive those buffer standards. Chapter 86, ZoningFall River · Zoning code
Pool fence requirements in Fall River
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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 Fall River 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 Fall River
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 Fall River 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 Fall River
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Fall River 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 Fall River 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
Also on how height is measured in Fall River
- no rule, documents checkedThere is no rule for measuring a fence, which follows from there being no general height to measure. The five to six feet named for a parking lot buffer fence carries no datum, and neither does the requirement that a storage enclosure match the height of what is stored. No grade is named, no curb, no finished ground level. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed. A fence running down a slope is not addressed, and nothing says whose side of a boundary a height is read from. The code is precise about horizontal measurement by comparison, fixing a ten foot parking setback from a front lot line, a five foot one from a side or rear line where a fence is provided, and a four foot minimum width for a landscaping strip. Section 86-444Fall River · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Fall River
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Fall River answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The visibility rule is not in the zoning chapter at all. It sits in the streets chapter, under the heading obstruction of visibility, and it is two sentences. An owner has to clear brush or shrubs where the growth obstructs visibility or causes a safety hazard, and nobody may erect a fence or any other structure that obstructs visibility and causes a safety hazard. Both parts of that second sentence have to be true, so a fence that blocks a view without creating a hazard is not caught by the words as written. There is no triangle, no leg length, no protected band of height, no datum and no exception for an open fence. The rule also is not limited to corners, so it reaches a fence beside a driveway in the middle of a block as readily as one at an intersection.
No person shall erect a fence or any other structure which obstructs visibility and which causes a safety hazard.
Also on corner visibility in Fall River
- 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 Fall River
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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 Fall River 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 Fall River
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts 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.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Fall River law. All Massachusetts findings
Whoever builds or maintains a barbed wire fence within six feet of the ground along a sidewalk located on a public way shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty nor more than fifty dollars.
6 ftheight below which barbed wire may not be used along a sidewalk on a public way
Also on materials in Fall River
- no rule, documents checkedNo material is permitted by name and none is prohibited. Barbed wire does not appear in the code. Razor wire does not appear. An electric fence does not appear. Wood, vinyl and chain link are not mentioned. There is no rule that the finished side has to face outward, which most cities in this project carry. The two adjectives the code applies to a fence both belong to screening duties rather than to fences in general: a parking lot buffer fence has to be solid, and open storage at a manufacturing use has to be enclosed by a tight wall or fence. In the Industrial Park District a use may be screened by a solid wall, fence or planting of a nature and height the district requires. Outside those three places, what a fence in Fall River is made of is not a question the code asks. Section 86-9Fall River · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Fall River
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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 Fall River 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 Fall River
- 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
15 documents, of which 4 were published by Fall River 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 Fall RiverCode of the City of Fall River, Chapter 86, Zoning, Article II, Definitions
- 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 Fall RiverCode of the City of Fall River, Chapter 86, Zoning
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XX, Chapter 143, Section 94, Powers and duties of board
- City of Fall RiverCode of the City of Fall River, Chapter 2, Administration, Article V, Division 8, Fence Viewers
- 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
- City of Fall RiverCode of the City of Fall River, Chapter 66, Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places
- 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 Fall River 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