Fence laws in Haverhill, Massachusetts

Who owns the fence between two properties in Haverhill?

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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Massachusetts 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.

This one is Massachusetts law, not Haverhill law. All Massachusetts findings

The occupants of adjoining lands enclosed with fences shall, so long as both of them improve the same, maintain partition fences in equal shares between their enclosures, unless they otherwise agree.

M.G.L. c. 49, § 3Massachusetts General Court · Read 13 September 2026

How tall can a fence be in Haverhill?

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Haverhill answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.

Haverhill states the thing most codes leave a reader to work out from silence. The fence section of the dimensional regulations is one sentence long and it says a fence, wall or other enclosure is not regulated except as provided in Table 1, the table of use and parking regulations attached to the chapter. So the absence of a height limit in Haverhill is a decision rather than an oversight, and an owner has a sentence to point at rather than an argument from what the code does not say. The exception routes any regulation there is through the use table rather than through a dimensional standard, which means it attaches to particular uses rather than to fences in general.

A fence, wall or other enclosure is not regulated except as provided in Table 1.

4.2.1, FencesCity of Haverhill · Read 21 September 2026

Do I need a permit for a fence in Haverhill?

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Haverhill answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the enclosure is the fence itself or a gate in it.

Haverhill gives swimming pools their own chapter with an article called Fencing, and it is two short sections. No pool may be maintained, constructed or installed unless a fence at least four feet high completely encloses it, which is a condition on the pool rather than a permit for the fence. Then comes the gate rule, and it is written as a performance standard rather than a specification: an entranceway is permitted provided it is constructed so as to be as effective as a fence when closed or secured. Nothing is said about self-closing hinges, self-latching hardware or latch height, all of which other cities specify, so what counts is whether the closed gate does the same job as the fence beside it.

Said fence may have appropriate entranceways, provided that said entranceways are so constructed as to be as effective as a fence when closed or secured.

225-3 and 225-4City of Haverhill · Read 21 September 2026

The answer turns on whether the enclosure is the fence itself or a gate in it.

a swimming pool

A fence at least four feet, completely enclosing it. 4 ft

a gate in that fence

As effective as the fence when closed.

Pool fence requirements in Haverhill

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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 Haverhill 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.

M.G.L. c. 140, § 206Massachusetts General Court · Read 13 September 2026

6 ftfence height around a public or semipublic outdoor inground swimming pool

Spite fence laws in Haverhill

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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 Haverhill 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.

M.G.L. c. 49, § 21Massachusetts General Court · Read 13 September 2026

6 ftheight above which a maliciously built fence may be treated as a private nuisance

How fence height is measured in Haverhill

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Haverhill 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 Haverhill 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 Haverhill

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Haverhill 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 Haverhill 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

M.G.L. c. 85, s. 8Massachusetts General Court · Read 13 September 2026

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 Haverhill

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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 Haverhill 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.

780 CMR 51.00, R105.2Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards · Read 13 September 2026

4 ftheight at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit

Fence materials allowed in Haverhill

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Haverhill answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the fence encloses.

The one place Haverhill names a material is the storage yard for towed vehicles, and it names three things at once. The yard has to be fenced with a chain link fence of at least six feet, it has to hold at least twenty five vehicles, and it has to be screened so the towed cars are not visible to or from public view. Requiring chain link rather than banning it is the reverse of what most cities do, and it sits oddly beside the screening requirement, since chain link screens nothing on its own and the slats or planting that make it opaque have to come from somewhere. The zoning definitions supply the other material language in Haverhill, defining a security barrier as a locked impenetrable wall, fence or berm that completely seals an area from unauthorized entry or trespass.

The premises used by a company to store towed motor vehicles shall comply with all zoning ordinances and have such storage area fenced with a chain link fence of at least six feet in height and with sufficient area to store at least 25 motor vehicles.

242-8City of Haverhill · Read 21 September 2026

The answer turns on what the fence encloses.

a towed vehicle storage yard

Chain link, at least six feet. 6 ft

the same yard seen from a street

Screened so the cars are not visible.

a security barrier as the code defines it

Locked, impenetrable, and sealing the area completely.

Livestock and boundary fence law in Haverhill

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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 Haverhill 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.

M.G.L. c. 49, s. 2Massachusetts General Court · Read 13 September 2026

4 ftheight of a legal and sufficient fence