Fence laws in Medford, Massachusetts
What the Medford municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Medford sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Medford, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Medford drops the buffer requirement entirely where the land does the work already, and the answer turns on the relative level of the abutting land. The figure is 3 feet, for width of the buffer strip beside front yard parking.
- How tall
- Medford never says how tall a fence may be, and the answer turns on the yard, and how close the fence is to a street line. The figure is 4 feet, for front yard fence the yard rules do not reach.
- Permits
- Where a lot subject to the buffer requirements is to be occupied by a use that needs a special permit, the special permit granting authority gets a power over the buffer and a limit on it in the same sentence, and the answer turns on whether the use needs a special permit. The figure is 7 feet, for fence allowed under a special permit.
- 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
- Medford 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
- Medford 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
- Where a residential lot borders a nonresidential use, Medford requires a planted buffer strip at least three feet wide and six feet high at the time of occupancy, with shrubs no more than fifteen feet on center, half of them evenly spaced, maintained as a dense year round screen and possibly irrigated, and the answer turns on the material of the fence and whether the director approves it. The figure is 6 feet, for height of the substituted fence.
- 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 Medford?
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Medford answers this, but the answer changes depending on the relative level of the abutting land.
Medford drops the buffer requirement entirely where the land does the work already. Where the surface of the abutting street or lot is elevated above the finished surface of the lot by at least the height the buffer strip would have been, no landscaped area, wall or fence is required. That is a rare piece of drafting, because it measures the purpose rather than the obligation: a screen exists to block a view, and a bank that already blocks it makes the screen pointless. The ordinary requirement it replaces is a buffer strip along the boundary, three feet wide where parking sits in a front yard and planted with dense material or an opaque fence of uniform appearance, and a wider one along a line shared with or opposite a residential district where a parking area holds more than four cars.
no landscaped area, wall or fence shall be required.
The answer turns on the relative level of the abutting land.
- abutting ground already higher by the buffer height
- No buffer, wall or fence required.
- parking in a front yard
- A three foot buffer strip, planted or an opaque fence. 3 ft
- a parking area of more than four spaces facing housing
- Screened to the extent the buffer section requires.
Also on fences on the property line in Medford
- 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 Medford?
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Medford answers this, but the answer changes depending on the yard, and how close the fence is to a street line.
Medford never says how tall a fence may be. It says which fences the yard requirements do not apply to, and the numbers fall out of that. In a required front yard the yard requirements do not reach fences, hedges or walls less than four feet above the grade, so four feet is the point at which a front fence starts having to meet the front yard depth like a building would. In a required side yard the same exemption runs at less than four feet within fifteen feet of a street line, and not over six feet everywhere else, so a side fence steps down as it approaches the road. Rear yards get a different treatment entirely: no structure may be built in a rear yard except one accessory to a one or two family dwelling, which may occupy up to a quarter of the rear yard area.
Side yard requirements shall not apply to terraces, steps or other similar features at or below the elevation of the floor of the first story, nor to fences, hedges, or walls less than four feet above the grade in the required yard within 15 feet of a street line, and not over six feet above the grade in the required yard in all other cases.
The answer turns on the yard, and how close the fence is to a street line.
- a front yard
- Under four feet above grade is exempt. 4 ft
- a side yard within fifteen feet of a street line
- Under four feet. 15 ft
- a side yard elsewhere
- Not over six feet. 6 ft
Also on fence height in Medford
- 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 Medford?
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Medford answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the use needs a special permit.
Where a lot subject to the buffer requirements is to be occupied by a use that needs a special permit, the special permit granting authority gets a power over the buffer and a limit on it in the same sentence. It may specify substitute materials, change the extent of the strip and set minimum and maximum dimensions, increasing the requirement to suit the proposed use and its relationship to the streets, the neighboring uses and the neighborhood. What it may not do is decrease or eliminate the requirement. Inside that power, fencing up to seven feet may be allowed in place of plantings or alongside them, which is a foot more than the six the ordinary substitution allows, and it is the only route in Medford to a seven foot screen.
Fencing up to seven feet in height, may be allowed in lieu of or in conjunction with plantings.
The answer turns on whether the use needs a special permit.
- a use needing a special permit
- Fencing up to seven feet in place of planting. 7 ft
- the authority trying to reduce the buffer
- It may not decrease or eliminate the requirement.
Also on permits in Medford
- 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 Medford
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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 Medford 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 Medford
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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 Medford 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 Medford
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Medford 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 Medford 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 Medford
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Medford 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 Medford 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 Medford
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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 Medford 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 Medford
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Medford answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material of the fence and whether the director approves it.
Where a residential lot borders a nonresidential use, Medford requires a planted buffer strip at least three feet wide and six feet high at the time of occupancy, with shrubs no more than fifteen feet on center, half of them evenly spaced, maintained as a dense year round screen and possibly irrigated. A fence may be put in its place, and the ordinance names the one exception in the same breath: any fence other than a chain link fence, not exceeding six feet, complemented by suitable plantings and set at the border with the nonresidential use, may be substituted if the director of the office of community development approves. So chain link is the single material that cannot buy its way out of the planting. The director or the building commissioner may instead require a solid wall where noise or visual impact calls for one.
A fence, other than a chain link fence not to exceed six feet in height complemented by suitable plantings and located at the border of the lot with the nonresidential use, may be substituted for such landscaped buffer strip if and as approved by the director of the office of community development.
94-6.3.2, Landscaping, buffers, and screening
The answer turns on the material of the fence and whether the director approves it.
- a fence that is not chain link
- May replace the planted buffer, with the director approving. 6 ft
- chain link
- Not a substitute for the planting.
- noise or visual impact
- A solid wall may be required instead.
Also on materials in Medford
- 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 Medford
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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 Medford 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 Medford
- 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 Medford 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 MedfordMedford Revised Ordinances, Chapter 94, Zoning
- 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 Medford 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