Fence laws in Newton, Massachusetts
What the Newton municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Newton sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Newton, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Newton defines what it is regulating by distance from the boundary, which is why the ordinance is called the regulation of perimeter fences. The figure is 5 feet, for distance from a lot line inside which the ordinance applies.
- How tall
- Newton sells front yard height for setback, and the answer turns on which lot line the fence runs along and what is on the other side of it. The figure is 4 feet, for fence on the front lot line without setback.
- Permits
- Any perimeter fence over four feet in Newton needs a fence permit from the Commissioner of Inspectional Services, who issues it on finding that the fence complies with the ordinance, and the answer turns on the height, whether it is a repair, and where the lot sits. The figure is 4 feet, for height that triggers a fence 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
- Newton measures from the natural grade of the ground where the fence stands, or from the top of a retaining wall where the fence sits on one, up to the top of the fence section or panel. The figure is 24 inches, for height a post, gate or arbor may exceed the limit by.
- Corner lots
- Newton opens the corner rule with a general prohibition rather than a measurement, saying no fence may be erected or maintained on a corner lot in such a manner as to create a traffic hazard, and the answer turns on whether the City Traffic Engineer judges it a hazard. The figure is 4 feet, for fence height in the corner triangle.
- Retaining walls
- Retaining walls stayed in the Newton zoning ordinance when fences moved out of it, and they are treated far more seriously than fences, and the answer turns on the height of the wall and how close another wall stands. The figure is 4 feet, for wall height that triggers a special permit.
- Materials
- Newton bans barbed wire and razor wire from any fence, wholly or in part, and then adds a detail most codes miss: the top of a chain link fence may not carry sharp prongs, and any that exist have to be meshed or turned over, and the answer turns on the material, and whether the lot fronts a scenic road. The figure is 4 feet, for front fence height on a designated scenic road.
- 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 Newton?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Newton answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Newton defines what it is regulating by distance from the boundary, which is why the ordinance is called the regulation of perimeter fences. A fence is a permanent partition or barrier more than twelve inches high, measured from natural grade or from the top of a retaining wall, that borders or runs parallel to and within five feet of a lot line and in whole or in part defines the lot boundary. A retaining wall is expressly not a fence, and neither is a hedge or other landscaping. Fences inside the lot that do not define a boundary, with dog runs, play areas, pools and tennis courts given as the examples, are outside the ordinance altogether, except for any part of them that comes within five feet of a lot line. So the same panel is regulated at the boundary and unregulated in the middle of the garden.
Any permanent partition or barrier more than twelve (12) inches in height from the natural grade (or the top of a retaining wall if a fence is placed on such wall) bordering or parallel to and within five (5) feet of a lot line that in whole or in part defines the boundaries of said lot.
5 ftdistance from a lot line inside which the ordinance applies
Also on fences on the property line in Newton
- 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 Newton?
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Newton answers this, but the answer changes depending on which lot line the fence runs along and what is on the other side of it.
Newton sells front yard height for setback. A fence along a front lot line stops at four feet, and every foot above that has to be paid for with a foot of setback, up to a maximum of six, and any section over four feet standing parallel to the front line has to be open rather than solid. Side and rear lot lines take six feet, and the rear line may go to eight where no part of it is a side line for an adjoining lot, which stops a neighbor being walled in by a rule meant for the back of a deep lot. Three situations lift the figure further: a fence abutting Route 128 or the Massachusetts Turnpike may reach twelve feet, one abutting an MBTA or Commuter Rail line may reach eight, and one whose whole length abuts a nonresidential or public use district may also reach eight. Nonresidential districts take eight throughout, with athletic facilities allowed whatever recreation standards require.
No fence or portion of a fence bordering or parallel to a front lot line shall exceed four (4) feet in height unless such fence is set back from the front lot line one (1) foot for each foot or part thereof such fence exceeds four (4) feet in height, up to a maximum of six (6) feet in height
5-30(d)(1) through (6) and 5-30(e)
The answer turns on which lot line the fence runs along and what is on the other side of it.
- a front lot line
- Four feet, or six with a matching setback and an open top. 4 ft
- a side or rear lot line
- Six feet. 6 ft
- a rear line that is nobody side line, or a rail or nonresidential boundary
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a line abutting Route 128 or the Turnpike
- Twelve feet. 12 ft
Also on fence height in Newton
- 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 Newton?
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Newton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the height, whether it is a repair, and where the lot sits.
Any perimeter fence over four feet in Newton needs a fence permit from the Commissioner of Inspectional Services, who issues it on finding that the fence complies with the ordinance. A refusal may be appealed to the Urban Design Commission, which issues the permit either on compliance or where conditions especially affecting a particular lot would make compliance a substantial hardship, so the hardship route exists but sits with a design body rather than a zoning board. Repair needs no permit at all, and the ordinance defines repair carefully: replacing less than half the length of a fence along any property line with in-kind material. Replace half or more, or rebuild in a different material, and it counts as a new fence. A local historic district adds a Certificate of Appropriateness before the permit application, a wetland adds Conservation Commission review, and a temporary or construction fence up to six feet needs no permit for the duration of the work.
Any person erecting a perimeter fence greater than four (4) feet in height shall first obtain a fence permit from the Commissioner of Inspectional Services.
5-30(c), 5-30(b) and 5-30(f)(4), (5) and (g)(1)
The answer turns on the height, whether it is a repair, and where the lot sits.
- a fence over four feet
- A fence permit from the Commissioner. 4 ft
- replacing less than half the length in kind
- A repair, so no permit. 50%
- a historic district or a wetland
- Another approval before the permit application.
- a temporary or construction fence to six feet
- No permit for the duration.
Also on permits in Newton
- 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 Newton
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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 Newton 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 Newton
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 Newton 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 Newton
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Newton answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Newton measures from the natural grade of the ground where the fence stands, or from the top of a retaining wall where the fence sits on one, up to the top of the fence section or panel. Two refinements follow and both are unusually precise. Fence supports, meaning posts, columns, piers and pilasters, along with gates and arbors, may exceed the height limit by up to twenty four inches, so a decorative post cap is not a violation. And where the top of a section is curved rather than straight, the height is the average of the highest and lowest points of that top, which settles the scalloped or arched panel that would otherwise be measured at its peak. The ordinance prints a diagram to go with it.
In cases where the top of the fence section or panel is curved, the height shall be calculated using the average of the highest and lowest points on the top of the fence section or panel
24 inheight a post, gate or arbor may exceed the limit by
Also on how height is measured in Newton
- no rule, documents checkedMassachusetts 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. M.G.L. c. 49, s. 21Massachusetts · Statute
Fence rules for corner lots in Newton
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Newton answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the City Traffic Engineer judges it a hazard.
Newton opens the corner rule with a general prohibition rather than a measurement, saying no fence may be erected or maintained on a corner lot in such a manner as to create a traffic hazard. Then it gives the triangle: nothing more than four feet above the established street grades within the area bounded by the property lines at the corner and a diagonal drawn between points twenty five feet along each of them. The enforcement clause is the part worth knowing. Where the City Traffic Engineer judges that a fence creates a traffic hazard, the owner has ten days from the Commissioner notice to remove it, which is a removal order rather than a request to modify and a far shorter clock than most cities allow.
No fence on a corner lot shall be erected or maintained more than four (4) feet above the established street grades within a triangular area determined by each of the property lines abutting each corner
5-30(f)(7), Visibility on Corner Lots
The answer turns on whether the City Traffic Engineer judges it a hazard.
- inside the corner triangle
- Four feet above the street grades. 4 ft
- the size of that triangle
- Twenty five feet along each property line. 25 ft
- a fence the Traffic Engineer calls a hazard
- Removed within ten days of notice. 10 days
Also on corner visibility in Newton
- 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 Newton
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Newton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the height of the wall and how close another wall stands.
Retaining walls stayed in the Newton zoning ordinance when fences moved out of it, and they are treated far more seriously than fences. A wall or terraced combination of walls four feet or more in height, holding earth at a higher position, needs a special permit from the City Council, and a berm with a slope of one to one or steeper counts as a retaining wall for this purpose. Where walls stand within twenty five feet of each other, measured front face to front face, the height is taken from the foot of the lowest wall to the top of the highest, so terracing does not divide the number. To grant the permit the Council has to find that the lot has challenging topography which limits its use, that the wall will not adversely affect neighbors or the public, and that it is the minimum structure necessary to allow the property to be reasonably used.
The construction of a retaining wall of 4 feet or more in height requires a special permit.
The answer turns on the height of the wall and how close another wall stands.
- a wall four feet or more
- A special permit from the City Council. 4 ft
- two walls within twenty five feet
- Measured as one, foot of the lowest to top of the highest. 25 ft
- a berm at one to one or steeper
- Treated as a retaining wall.
Also on retaining walls in Newton
- 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 Newton
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Newton answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material, and whether the lot fronts a scenic road.
Newton bans barbed wire and razor wire from any fence, wholly or in part, and then adds a detail most codes miss: the top of a chain link fence may not carry sharp prongs, and any that exist have to be meshed or turned over. The positive standard is a definition rather than a list, requiring appropriate materials, meaning materials normally manufactured for and recognized as fencing, with wrought iron, decorative metals, fired masonry, concrete, stone, wood, vinyl and chain link given as examples, all suitable for exterior use and weather and decay resistant, though untreated or unpainted wood is expressly allowed. Every fence has to be positioned so its finished side faces away from the lot it was built on, and fences should follow the natural contours of the ground. On the seventeen designated scenic roads no stockade fence or other fence with solid sections is permitted along the front lot line at all, stone excepted, and nothing there may exceed four feet.
No fence shall be constructed wholly or in part of barbed wire or razor wire. There shall be no sharp prongs on the top of a chain link or similar fence and all such prongs shall be either meshed or turned over.
5-30(b), 5-30(f)(1), (2) and (6)
The answer turns on the material, and whether the lot fronts a scenic road.
- barbed or razor wire
- Prohibited in any fence.
- a chain link fence
- Prongs meshed or turned over.
- a front lot line on a scenic road
- No solid panels except stone, and four feet at most. 4 ft
Also on materials in Newton
- 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 Newton
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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 Newton 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 Newton
- 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
13 documents, of which 2 were published by Newton 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 NewtonNewton Revised Ordinances, Chapter 5, Article III, Fences
- 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
- City of NewtonNewton Chapter 30, Zoning Ordinance
- 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 Newton 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