Fence laws in Framingham, Massachusetts
What the Framingham municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Framingham sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Framingham, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Framingham decides which side of a screening wall gets the planting by who has to look at it, and the answer turns on the height of the wall and what it faces. The figure is 54 inches, for height above which planting is required.
- How tall
- Framingham does not write a fence height rule. The figure is 6 feet, for wall or fence allowed in a required setback.
- 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
- Framingham 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 Framingham corner clearance rule protects a band rather than setting a ceiling, and the band has a top as well as a bottom, and the answer turns on whether the obstruction sits inside the protected band. The figure is 30 inches, for floor of the protected band above curb level.
- 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 Framingham requires a screen it does not require a fence, and the answer turns on what the Planning Board decides the screen should be made of. The figure is 6 feet, for top of the opaque band the Board may require.
- 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 Framingham?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Framingham answers this, but the answer changes depending on the height of the wall and what it faces.
Framingham decides which side of a screening wall gets the planting by who has to look at it. A wall or fence over four and a half feet has to have plantings on the side facing the residential district, and the Planning Board may require plantings on both sides, so the default protects the neighbors and the discretion covers the owner. The requirement sits inside the buffer strip rules, which apply where a development adjoins or faces a residential district or use, or where the Board finds screening necessary for public safety or to prevent adverse impacts on neighboring properties. Four feet six inches is the trigger, which is low, and it means most of the fences these rules reach will carry planting on at least one face.
Walls or fences exceeding four and one-half feet in height shall have plantings on the side facing the residential district, and may be required to have plantings on both sides.
The answer turns on the height of the wall and what it faces.
- a wall or fence over four and a half feet
- Planted on the side the houses see. 54 in
- where the Planning Board requires it
- Planted on both sides.
- a shorter screen
- No planting requirement attached.
Also on fences on the property line in Framingham
- 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 Framingham?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
Framingham answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Framingham does not write a fence height rule. It writes a list of things allowed to project into a setback, and a fence is on it with a number attached: walls and fences no greater than six feet above the natural grade may be permitted in a setback, alongside uncovered steps and ramps. Because the setbacks are the part of the lot a structure may not otherwise occupy, that six feet is the figure that matters at a boundary, and the rest of the lot is governed by whatever the district allows a structure to be. The datum is natural grade, meaning the ground as it stands rather than a level created for the project, so raising a yard does not raise the fence with it.
Uncovered steps and ramps, and walls and fences no greater than six feet in height above the natural grade, may be permitted in a setback.
Section IV.E.5.b, Projections into Setbacks
6 ftwall or fence allowed in a required setback
Also on fence height in Framingham
- 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 Framingham?
Compare permits across all 50 states
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 Framingham 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 Framingham
Compare pool barriers across all 50 states
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 Framingham 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 Framingham
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 Framingham 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 Framingham
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
Framingham 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 Framingham 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 Framingham
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
Framingham answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the obstruction sits inside the protected band.
The Framingham corner clearance rule protects a band rather than setting a ceiling, and the band has a top as well as a bottom. In any district where a front setback is required, nothing may be built and no vegetation maintained between a plane two and a half feet above curb level and a plane seven feet above curb level, inside the area bounded by the sidelines of the intersecting streets and a line joining points twenty five feet from where those sidelines meet. Two consequences follow from the ceiling. A tree whose canopy starts above seven feet is untouched, which is why street trees survive at corners. And a solid fence fails not for being tall but for filling the band, so cutting it down to thirty inches works and building it higher does not. A separate landscaping rule sends sight distances at intersections and driveways to the Massachusetts Highway Design Manual.
In any district where a front setback is required, no building, fence or other structure may be erected and no vegetation may be maintained between a plane two and one-half feet above curb level and a plane seven feet above curb level within that part of the lot bounded by the sidelines of intersecting streets
Section IV.E.5.c, Corner Clearance
The answer turns on whether the obstruction sits inside the protected band.
- below two and a half feet above the curb
- Outside the rule. 30 in
- inside the band
- Nothing built and nothing grown. 7 ft
- the size of the area
- Twenty five feet along each street sideline. 25 ft
Also on corner visibility in Framingham
- 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 Framingham
Compare retaining walls across all 50 states
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 Framingham 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 Framingham
Compare materials across all 50 states
Framingham answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the Planning Board decides the screen should be made of.
Where Framingham requires a screen it does not require a fence. An opaque screen may be walls, fences, berms or evergreen plantings or any combination, and the Planning Board may require evergreen trees or shrubs instead of fences where it thinks that is more appropriate, so a developer cannot insist on the cheapest option. The performance standard is the part that decides what works: the screen has to be opaque in all seasons of the year, which is why the planting option is evergreen and why a deciduous hedge will not do. The screen has to be opaque from the ground to a height of between two and a half and six feet as the Board determines, and where planting is used the evergreens go no more than five feet apart on center. A berm used for the same purpose needs a top at least three feet wide, a side slope no steeper than three to one, and no more than a quarter of its surface in mulch or other non-living material.
An opaque screen may be comprised of walls, fences, berms, or evergreen plantings, or any combination thereof, providing that the Planning Board may require evergreen trees or shrubs instead of fences when deemed appropriate.
Section III, Opaque Screens and Berms
The answer turns on what the Planning Board decides the screen should be made of.
- a screen of any kind
- Opaque in all seasons.
- the height it has to be opaque to
- Two and a half to six feet, as the Board decides. 6 ft
- an evergreen screen
- Planted no more than five feet on center. 5 ft
Also on materials in Framingham
- 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 Framingham
Compare agricultural fencing across all 50 states
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 Framingham 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 Framingham
- 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 Framingham 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 FraminghamFramingham Zoning By-Law
- 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 Framingham 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