Fence laws in Somerville, Massachusetts

Who owns the fence between two properties in Somerville?

Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states

Somerville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence sits on the shared line or inside it.

The general permission is as wide as it gets: fences may be placed up to and along any lot line, so no setback is required from any boundary. Then comes the sentence that almost no other city in this project writes. A fence installed directly onto a shared side or rear lot line requires the consent of the abutting property owner. That turns the boundary itself into something the two neighbors decide together, and it gives a plain reason to build a few inches inside the line instead, since a fence wholly on one owner land needs nobody to agree. The other limit on position is an easement: a fence is prohibited inside any existing or required drainage or utility easement, with no route to consent there at all. Retaining walls in the frontage area are also spaced, with successive walls needing four feet of horizontal separation.

Fences installed directly onto a shared side or rear lot line require consent of the abutting property owner.

Section 10.5.1.aCity of Somerville · Read 23 September 2026

The answer turns on whether the fence sits on the shared line or inside it.

anywhere inside the lot

Up to and along any lot line. 0 ft

directly on a shared side or rear line

The neighbor has to consent.

a drainage or utility easement

Prohibited.

two retaining walls

Four feet apart in the frontage area. 4 ft

How tall can a fence be in Somerville?

Compare fence height across all 50 states

Somerville answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence is in the frontage area or behind it.

Somerville draws the line off the frontage area rather than off a setback or a yard. A fence in the frontage area may be four feet tall and no more than half solid. A fence behind the frontage area, internal to the lot, may be six feet, unless a screening requirement calls for something else. Posts and gate posts that are architectural features built into the design of the fence get half a foot more in each case, four and a half feet in front and six and a half behind. The one route above six feet runs the wrong way round compared with most cities: the Review Boards may require a fence behind the frontage area to be as tall as eight feet, as a condition of granting a Special Permit or Site Plan Approval, to answer a neighbor who is worried about privacy. So eight feet in Somerville is something a board makes an applicant build, not something an applicant asks for.

Fences located in the frontage area of a lot may be up to four (4) feet in height and up to fifty percent (50%) opaque.

Section 10.5.1.bCity of Somerville · Read 23 September 2026

The answer turns on whether the fence is in the frontage area or behind it.

the frontage area

Four feet, half open. 4 ft

behind the frontage area

Six feet. 6 ft

an architectural post

Half a foot more. 6.5 ft

a privacy condition from a Review Board

Up to eight feet, required rather than allowed. 8 ft

Do I need a permit for a fence in Somerville?

Compare permits across all 50 states

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

Somerville answers the permit question in one sentence and then adds a clause most ordinances leave unsaid. Fences do not require a building permit and are erected at the property owners risk. The first half is common enough. The second half is the city telling an owner plainly that nobody is going to inspect the fence, check the line or stand behind the result, which pairs with the rule immediately above it requiring a neighbor to consent before a fence goes directly on a shared line. Where a fence does meet a decision maker it is through something else: the Review Boards may require a taller privacy fence as a condition of a Special Permit or Site Plan Approval, and a fence used to satisfy a screening requirement is reviewed as part of that requirement rather than on its own.

Fences do not require a Building Permit and are erected at the property owners risk.

Section 10.5.1.aCity of Somerville · Read 23 September 2026

Pool fence requirements in Somerville

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 Somerville 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 Somerville

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 Somerville 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 Somerville

Compare how height is measured across all 50 states

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

The one measuring rule Somerville writes is the one that catches the trick most often used to get a taller fence. Any portion of a retaining wall that stands above the ground level of the higher grade has to meet the requirements for fences. So the wall holding the soil is not counted, and everything above the top of the soil is counted, which means a four foot wall with a four foot fence on it reads as a four foot fence rather than an eight foot one. Behind the frontage area a retaining wall may be built to any height at all, because the part below the higher grade is not a fence in any sense the ordinance cares about. What the section never supplies is a datum for a fence standing on flat ground. No grade is named, no curb, no finished ground level, and nothing says whose side of a shared line the height is read from.

Any portion of a retaining wall that exists above the ground level of a higher grade must comply with the requirements for fences (see §10.5.1 Fences).

Section 10.5.2.aCity of Somerville · Read 23 September 2026

Fence rules for corner lots in Somerville

Compare corner visibility across all 50 states

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

Somerville answers the corner without drawing a triangle. On a corner lot the frontage area rule applies to both the primary and the secondary frontage, so a fence along either street is held to four feet and no more than half solid, and only the part of the lot behind both frontage areas gets six feet. That is a different shape of answer from the usual clipped corner: instead of protecting a wedge at the intersection, it protects the whole length of both streets. Neither the fence section nor the landscaping standards state a sight triangle, a leg length, or a band of protected height, and neither carves out an exception for an open fence, because the opacity limit already does that work. The result is a rule that is easy to apply from a plan and does not need anyone to judge a line of sight.

Fences located in the frontage area of a lot, for both the primary and secondary frontage, may be up to four (4) feet in height and up to fifty percent (50%) opaque.

Section 10.5.1.cCity of Somerville · Read 23 September 2026

4 ftfence height in either frontage area of a corner lot

Retaining wall rules in Somerville

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 Somerville 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 Somerville

Compare materials across all 50 states

Somerville answers this, but the answer changes depending on the material and which way the fence is turned.

The material rules are short and there are only two of them. Barbed wire and concertina wire are prohibited, with no exception for an industrial site or a utility yard. And the orientation rule is written from the frame rather than from the face: fence posts or supporting rails must face inward toward the property being fenced, and the finished face has to be turned toward the abutting property or the thoroughfare. Saying it that way closes an argument, because an owner cannot claim that the side with the rails on it is the finished one. Beyond those two, no material is permitted by name and none is prohibited. Wood, vinyl, chain link and masonry are all unmentioned. What replaces a materials list in the frontage area is the opacity limit, since a fence there may be no more than half solid whatever it is made of.

Fence posts or supporting rails must face inward toward the property being fenced and the finished face must be oriented towards the abutting property or thoroughfare.

Section 10.5.1.aCity of Somerville · Read 23 September 2026

The answer turns on the material and which way the fence is turned.

barbed or concertina wire

Prohibited outright.

the frame

It faces the fence owner yard.

anything else

Not named either way.

a fence in the frontage area

Half open, whatever it is made of. 50%

Livestock and boundary fence law in Somerville

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 Somerville 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