Fence laws in New Bedford, Massachusetts
What the New Bedford municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where New Bedford sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in New Bedford, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- New Bedford defines a yard as a space open to the sky between a building and a lot line, unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving and other customary yard accessories, so a fence is written into the definition of the empty space rather than treated as an intrusion into it, and the answer turns on what is standing near the line. The figure is 5 feet, for width of the screening strip along a line.
- How tall
- New Bedford sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- Where a street or property line separates a residential use or district from an adjoining nonresidential one, the nonresidential owner has to screen it with vegetation, planting or fencing and maintain it, and the ordinance then adds a sentence that hands the choice to a person: fencing has to be of a type approved by the Inspector of Buildings, and the answer turns on what the screen hides and whether the Planning Board reduces it. The figure is 6 feet, for height of a required screen wall or fence.
- 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
- New Bedford 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 corner rule applies in residence districts and works in two halves, and the answer turns on whether the obstruction is built or planted. The figure is 42 inches, for tallest structure in the corner triangle.
- 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
- New Bedford handles barbed wire with a height rather than a ban, and the sentence does two things at once, and the answer turns on the zone and how high above grade the wire sits. The figure is 8 feet, for height below which barbed wire is barred.
- 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 New Bedford?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
New Bedford answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is standing near the line.
New Bedford defines a yard as a space open to the sky between a building and a lot line, unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving and other customary yard accessories, so a fence is written into the definition of the empty space rather than treated as an intrusion into it. That is why the ordinance never needs to grant a fence permission to stand on a boundary. Two other things near a line are measured. A required screen occupies a strip at least five feet wide along the property line or around the perimeter of a storage area, with the rest of that strip landscaped where the screen itself is a wall or fence. And a swimming pool or fish pond with more than two feet of water has to stay three feet from any building and six feet from any property line, and may not reach into a front yard or past the front sidewall of the house.
Yard: A space open to the sky, located between a building or structure and a lot line, unoccupied except by fences, walls, poles, paving, and other customary yard accessories.
Section 2100 definition of Yard, with 3332 and 2338
The answer turns on what is standing near the line.
- a fence in a required yard
- Part of the definition, so no permission is needed.
- a required screen along a line
- A strip at least five feet wide. 5 ft
- a pool or fish pond
- Six feet from any property line, and out of the front yard. 6 ft
Also on fences on the property line in New Bedford
- 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 New Bedford?
Compare fence height across all 50 states
New Bedford law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Massachusetts 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.
This one is Massachusetts law, not New Bedford law. All Massachusetts findings
Documents read before writing that:
- M.G.L. c. 49Massachusetts General Court
- M.G.L. c. 49, § 21Massachusetts General Court
Also on fence height in New Bedford
- no rule, documents checkedThe New Bedford zoning chapter never puts a general height on a residential fence. The dimensional regulations in Section 2700 cover lot area, frontage, yards and the height of buildings and say nothing about a fence, and the general regulations that follow deal with fences only in specific situations: around a pool or a fish pond, along a line facing housing where barbed wire is concerned, and as screening between a business and a home. Each of those carries its own figure. What is missing is the number a homeowner wants, the one that says how tall a back yard fence may be, and it is missing throughout. The corner rule at Section 2740 is the only general limit that reaches a fence anywhere on an ordinary lot, and it applies only inside twenty feet of a street intersection. Section 2700, Dimensional RegulationsNew Bedford · Zoning code
Do I need a permit for a fence in New Bedford?
Compare permits across all 50 states
New Bedford answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the screen hides and whether the Planning Board reduces it.
Where a street or property line separates a residential use or district from an adjoining nonresidential one, the nonresidential owner has to screen it with vegetation, planting or fencing and maintain it, and the ordinance then adds a sentence that hands the choice to a person: fencing has to be of a type approved by the Inspector of Buildings. There is no list of acceptable types, so the standard is whatever that official accepts. A screen other than planting has to be at least six feet above ground level, and where it hides a storage area it rises to match the height of the material stored, with the stored material itself capped at ten feet. Any of these requirements may be reduced by a special permit from the Planning Board where the Board finds the reduction is not inconsistent with public health and safety.
Fencing shall be of a type approved by the Inspector of Buildings.
3330 through 3340, Screening and Landscaping
The answer turns on what the screen hides and whether the Planning Board reduces it.
- a screen that is not planting
- At least six feet above ground level. 6 ft
- a screen hiding stored material
- As tall as the pile, and the pile stops at ten feet. 10 ft
- a special permit from the Planning Board
- The requirement may be reduced.
Also on permits in New Bedford
- 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 New Bedford
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 New Bedford 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 New Bedford
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 New Bedford 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 New Bedford
Compare how height is measured across all 50 states
New Bedford 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 New Bedford 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 New Bedford
Compare corner visibility across all 50 states
New Bedford answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the obstruction is built or planted.
The corner rule applies in residence districts and works in two halves. The built half caps a fence, wall or structure at three and a half feet above the plane of the established grades of the streets, inside the triangle drawn by the two street lines and a line joining points twenty feet from their intersection. The grown half is written separately and names only trees and hedges, barring any that will materially obstruct the view of a driver approaching the intersection. Splitting the two matters because the built half is a measurement a tape settles and the grown half is a judgement about what a driver can see, and a hedge that passes the first can still fail the second as it fills out.
no trees or hedges which will materially obstruct the view of a driver of a vehicle approaching the street intersection shall be placed or maintained within such area.
2740, Vision Clearance on Corner Lots in Residence Districts
The answer turns on whether the obstruction is built or planted.
- a fence, wall or structure
- Three and a half feet above the street grades. 42 in
- the triangle itself
- Twenty feet along each street line. 20 ft
- a tree or hedge
- Judged on whether it blocks a driver view.
Also on corner visibility in New Bedford
- 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 New Bedford
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 New Bedford 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 New Bedford
Compare materials across all 50 states
New Bedford answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone and how high above grade the wire sits.
New Bedford handles barbed wire with a height rather than a ban, and the sentence does two things at once. In a residential zone it is prohibited, and on a property line abutting a residential zone it is prohibited below eight feet above grade. So an industrial yard backing onto houses may still use wire, but only up where nobody on either side can reach it, which makes the rule about contact rather than about appearance. Eight feet is higher than the six most cities use for the same purpose. The section says nothing about razor wire, electric fences or any other material, so barbed wire is the only thing New Bedford names.
Barbed wire is prohibited in all residential zones, or on property lines abutting residential zones below a height of eight (8) feet above grade.
The answer turns on the zone and how high above grade the wire sits.
- a residential zone
- Prohibited.
- a line facing a residential zone
- Prohibited below eight feet. 8 ft
Also on materials in New Bedford
- 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 New Bedford
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 New Bedford 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 New Bedford
- 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 New Bedford 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 New BedfordNew Bedford Code of Ordinances, Chapter 9, Comprehensive 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 New Bedford 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