Fence laws in Lynn, Massachusetts
What the Lynn municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Lynn sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Lynn, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- A Lynn fence may be placed up to and along any lot line, with no setback of any kind, and the ordinance then settles which way it faces, and the answer turns on what runs under or beside the boundary.
- How tall
- Lynn splits the lot by frontage area rather than by yard, which matters because the frontage area is defined by the street rather than by the house, and the answer turns on whether the fence stands in the frontage area or behind it. The figure is 4 feet, for fence or wall in the frontage area.
- Permits
- Lynn puts its permit threshold at seven feet, which is a foot higher than most cities, and then adds a warning almost no ordinance bothers to write down: a fence built under that threshold is erected at the property owner risk, and the answer turns on whether the fence passes seven feet. The figure is 7 feet, for height below which no building permit is needed.
- 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
- Lynn 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
- Lynn does not draw a sight triangle. The figure is 4 feet, for fence height along both streets of a corner lot.
- Retaining walls
- Lynn treats a retaining wall in the frontage area exactly as it treats a fence, capping both at four feet, and then adds a rule about what happens when an owner tries to get around that by stacking, and the answer turns on where the wall stands and whether another wall is behind it. The figure is 4 feet, for separation required between stacked walls.
- Materials
- Lynn disposes of wire in one short sentence with no zone attached and no exception for industry, security or a utility: barbed wire and concertina wire are prohibited, and the answer turns on the material, and whether the fence is doing screening work. The figure is 12 feet, for tallest screen allowed at a loading facility.
- 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 Lynn?
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Lynn answers this, but the answer changes depending on what runs under or beside the boundary.
A Lynn fence may be placed up to and along any lot line, with no setback of any kind, and the ordinance then settles which way it faces. Fence posts or supporting rails have to face inward toward the property being fenced, and the finished face has to be oriented toward the abutting property or the thoroughfare, so the neighbor and the street get the good side. A third placement rule keeps a fence out of a required landscape buffer by putting it on the outside: fences and walls have to be positioned exterior to required landscaping, which means the planting stands between the fence and whatever the buffer is protecting. Two prohibitions cut the other way, barring a fence from any existing or required drainage or utility easement.
Fences may be placed up to and along any lot line.
The answer turns on what runs under or beside the boundary.
- an ordinary boundary
- Right on the line.
- the side facing out
- The finished face, with the posts turned in.
- a drainage or utility easement
- No fence at all.
Also on fences on the property line in Lynn
- 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 Lynn?
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Lynn answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence stands in the frontage area or behind it.
Lynn splits the lot by frontage area rather than by yard, which matters because the frontage area is defined by the street rather than by the house. A fence or retaining wall inside it may be up to four feet. Behind it, internal to the lot, the figure is six feet, unless the fence is required as screening, in which case the screening standard governs instead and can call for more. Retaining walls are treated more generously than fences once past the front setbacks, where they may be built to any height. The ordinance is new, adopted in July 2025, and it replaced a much older scheme, so these are current numbers rather than inherited ones.
Fences and retaining walls located in the frontage area of a lot may be up to four feet in height.
The answer turns on whether the fence stands in the frontage area or behind it.
- the frontage area
- Four feet. 4 ft
- behind the frontage area
- Six feet, unless screening requires more. 6 ft
- a retaining wall behind the front setbacks
- Any height.
Also on fence height in Lynn
- 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 Lynn?
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Lynn answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence passes seven feet.
Lynn puts its permit threshold at seven feet, which is a foot higher than most cities, and then adds a warning almost no ordinance bothers to write down: a fence built under that threshold is erected at the property owner risk. The point is that skipping the building permit also skips the inspection that would have caught a fence over the line or in an easement, and the owner rather than the city carries the consequence of getting it wrong. The sentence sits directly under the one allowing a fence to be placed up to and along any lot line, so the two are meant to be read together. Above seven feet a building permit applies in the ordinary way.
Fences up to 7 feet high do not require a Building Permit and are erected at the property owner’s risk.
The answer turns on whether the fence passes seven feet.
- a fence up to seven feet
- No building permit, and no inspection either. 7 ft
- a fence above seven feet
- A building permit.
Also on permits in Lynn
- 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 Lynn
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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 Lynn 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 Lynn
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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 Lynn 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 Lynn
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Lynn 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 Lynn 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 Lynn
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Lynn answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Lynn does not draw a sight triangle. It handles the corner by widening the area the four foot limit applies to, saying that on corner lots the frontage area includes both the primary and the secondary frontage. So a corner lot in Lynn has two front yards for fence purposes and is held to four feet along both streets, where an interior lot is held to four feet along one and six along the rest. That is a blunter instrument than a triangle and a stricter one, because it reaches the whole length of the side street rather than just the twenty or so feet nearest the junction, and it does not depend on anyone measuring a driver line of sight.
On corner lots, the frontage area includes both the primary and secondary frontage.
4 ftfence height along both streets of a corner lot
Also on corner visibility in Lynn
- 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 Lynn
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Lynn answers this, but the answer changes depending on where the wall stands and whether another wall is behind it.
Lynn treats a retaining wall in the frontage area exactly as it treats a fence, capping both at four feet, and then adds a rule about what happens when an owner tries to get around that by stacking. Successive retaining walls have to be built with a minimum horizontal separation distance of four feet, so two four foot walls cannot be stood one behind the other to make an eight foot face, and the terrace between them has to be wide enough to plant. Behind the required front setbacks the cap disappears entirely and a retaining wall may be built to any height, which is the opposite of the usual arrangement where a wall near the house is the one most tightly controlled.
Successive retaining walls must be built with a minimum horizontal separation distance of four feet.
The answer turns on where the wall stands and whether another wall is behind it.
- two walls in a row
- Four feet of horizontal separation. 4 ft
- a wall in the frontage area
- Four feet, the same as a fence.
- a wall behind the front setbacks
- Any height.
Also on retaining walls in Lynn
- set in state lawMassachusetts 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. 780 CMR 51.00, R105.2Massachusetts · Building code
Fence materials allowed in Lynn
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Lynn answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material, and whether the fence is doing screening work.
Lynn disposes of wire in one short sentence with no zone attached and no exception for industry, security or a utility: barbed wire and concertina wire are prohibited. Razor wire is not named, though concertina is the form razor wire usually takes. Where the ordinance does specify what a fence should be made of, it is in the screening standards rather than the fence standards, and it asks for compatibility rather than a material list. An outdoor loading facility, including every dock and any area used to store or stage materials, has to be screened by a wall or a fully closed fence between six and twelve feet high, built of materials compatible with the principal building in texture and quality.
Barbed wire and concertina wire are prohibited.
The answer turns on the material, and whether the fence is doing screening work.
- barbed or concertina wire
- Prohibited, with no exception stated.
- a screen around a loading dock
- A wall or fully closed fence, six to twelve feet. 12 ft
Also on materials in Lynn
- 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 Lynn
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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 Lynn 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 Lynn
- 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 Lynn 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 LynnLynn Zoning Ordinance, version of 7 July 2025 as adopted
- 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 Lynn 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