Fence laws in Waltham, Massachusetts
What the Waltham municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Waltham sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Waltham, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Waltham answers the boundary question inside the definition of setback, which is an unusual place to put a rule and a very clear way to put it. The figure is 0 feet, for setback a fence is required to keep from a lot line or street line.
- How tall
- The zoning code states no maximum fence height, and the answer turns on which part of the city code is being applied. The figure is 6 feet, for height at which a fence becomes a structure for the nuisance property article.
- Permits
- Waltham names no fence permit in the zoning code, and the requirement turns up instead in the fee schedule the city adopted for the Department of Public Buildings in June 2026, and the answer turns on how many dwelling units are on the property and what the fence costs.
- 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
- The one measuring instruction in the whole code is the phrase above grade, and it appears in the nuisance article rather than in the zoning code, and the answer turns on which article is doing the measuring.
- Corner lots
- Waltham 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
- Massachusetts bans barbed wire in one place by name. The figure is 6 feet, for height below which barbed wire may not be used along a sidewalk on a public way. It reaches fences along a sidewalk on a public road only.
- 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 Waltham?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Waltham answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Waltham answers the boundary question inside the definition of setback, which is an unusual place to put a rule and a very clear way to put it. A setback is the required minimum distance from the lot line or street line to the nearest part of the structure, and then the definition says that for the purposes of the chapter, fences, retaining walls, flagpoles and front entrance steps are not subject to setback requirements. So a fence may stand anywhere on the lot, including on the line. The definition of building line says the same thing from the other direction, describing the line beyond which no building or structure may extend and adding that it is not to be construed to prohibit fences which are legally erected. The phrase legally erected is the only condition either definition attaches, and it points at the permit rather than at a distance.
For the purposes of this chapter, fences, retaining walls, flagpoles and front entrance steps shall not be subject to setback requirements.
0 ftsetback a fence is required to keep from a lot line or street line
Also on fences on the property line in Waltham
- 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 Waltham?
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Waltham answers this, but the answer changes depending on which part of the city code is being applied.
The zoning code states no maximum fence height. There is no fence section, the dimensional rules apply to buildings, and the definitions expressly release a fence from the setback rules without putting a height in their place. The only number attached to a fence anywhere in the code sits in the nuisance property article, where a structure is defined to include a fence having a height at any point of six feet or greater above grade. That six feet is not a limit on building. It decides whether the nuisance article can reach the fence at all, so a five foot fence that has fallen into a hazardous or dilapidated condition is outside that article and a six foot one is inside it. The practical effect runs the opposite way from most cities: going over six feet in Waltham does not make the fence unlawful, it makes it enforceable as a structure when it decays.
A combination of materials, whether wholly or partially level with, above or below the surface of the ground, whether permanent or temporary, assembled at a fixed location to give support, shelter or enclosure such as a building, framework, retaining wall, stand, platform, bin, fence (having a height at any point of six feet or greater above grade), parking area sign, flagpole, or mast for an antenna or the like.
The answer turns on which part of the city code is being applied.
- the zoning code
- No maximum height.
- the nuisance article
- Six feet brings the fence in. 6 ft
- an ornamental garden fence inside a lot
- Not a structure under the zoning code.
- a wireless facility
- Its fencing is judged under Article X.
Also on fence height in Waltham
- 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 Waltham?
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Waltham answers this, but the answer changes depending on how many dwelling units are on the property and what the fence costs.
Waltham names no fence permit in the zoning code, and the requirement turns up instead in the fee schedule the city adopted for the Department of Public Buildings in June 2026. Erection of a fence is listed there alongside relocating a building, installing a swimming pool, putting in a wood stove, building a fire escape and demolishing a structure. For any use other than a one, two, three or four family dwelling, the fee for that work runs at twenty two dollars per thousand dollars of estimated construction cost and never falls below one hundred. For those smaller dwellings a separate step covers construction, installation, erection, relocation and demolition at twelve dollars per thousand with a floor of fifty. So the permit is real, it is a building permit rather than a zoning one, and what it costs depends on what the fence costs.
Erection of a fence.
Building Permit Fees, Step 1, paragraph 4(d)
The answer turns on how many dwelling units are on the property and what the fence costs.
- any fence
- A building permit from Public Buildings.
- a one to four family dwelling
- Twelve dollars per thousand, at least fifty.
- any other use
- Twenty two dollars per thousand, at least one hundred.
- the zoning code
- It names no fence permit of its own.
Also on permits in Waltham
- 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 Waltham
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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 Waltham 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 Waltham
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 Waltham 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 Waltham
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Waltham answers this, but the answer changes depending on which article is doing the measuring.
The one measuring instruction in the whole code is the phrase above grade, and it appears in the nuisance article rather than in the zoning code. A fence counts as a structure there when it reaches six feet at any point above grade, and the words at any point matter on a sloping lot, because a fence that is five feet at one end and six and a half at the other is caught. The zoning code has nothing to measure, since it sets no fence height, and correspondingly it names no datum. A berm is not addressed. A fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed, although the definitions treat a retaining wall and a fence alike in releasing both from the setback rules. A fence running down a slope is addressed only by that phrase at any point. Nothing anywhere says whose side of a boundary a height is read from.
Ornamental garden fences erected or placed on the interior of a lot shall not be considered as "structures."
The answer turns on which article is doing the measuring.
- the nuisance article
- Six feet at any point above grade.
- the zoning code
- No height, so no datum.
- an ornamental garden fence
- Not a structure at all.
- a berm or a retaining wall
- Not addressed.
Also on how height is measured in Waltham
- 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 Waltham
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Waltham 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 Waltham 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.
Also on corner visibility in Waltham
- no rule, documents checkedThere is no corner visibility rule for a fence. No sight triangle is drawn anywhere, no leg length is stated, no band of protected height is named, and no provision tells an owner to keep a corner clear. A full text search of the city code for the word visibility returns hawker badges, plastic bag labelling, taxicab roof lights, bicycle lamps and the camouflage standards for wireless equipment, and nothing about a fence at an intersection. The zoning definition of side yard does address corner lots, but it is about which street line the setback is read from and says nothing about sight lines. The nearest thing in force is the nuisance property article, which reaches a fence of six feet or more that has fallen into a hazardous condition, and hazard there means dilapidation rather than a blocked view. Article II, DefinitionsWaltham · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in Waltham
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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 Waltham 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 Waltham
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Massachusetts answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Massachusetts 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.
This one is Massachusetts law, not Waltham law. All Massachusetts findings
Whoever builds or maintains a barbed wire fence within six feet of the ground along a sidewalk located on a public way shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty nor more than fifty dollars.
6 ftheight below which barbed wire may not be used along a sidewalk on a public way
Also on materials in Waltham
- no rule, documents checkedNo material is permitted by name and none is prohibited. Barbed wire does not appear in the zoning code. Razor wire does not appear. An electric fence does not appear. Wood, vinyl and chain link are not mentioned. There is no rule that the finished side has to face outward. The closest the code comes to describing what a fence is made of is the phrase ornamental garden fence, which the definition of structure uses to carve a whole class of fence out of the zoning code when it stands on the interior of a lot, without ever saying what makes a fence ornamental. Two special uses carry their own fencing conditions decided case by case rather than by a materials list: a wireless facility under Article X and a marijuana establishment, whose special permit application has to describe its fencing and gates as security measures. Article II, DefinitionsWaltham · Zoning code
Livestock and boundary fence law in Waltham
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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 Waltham 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 Waltham
- 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
14 documents, of which 3 were published by Waltham 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 WalthamWaltham Zoning Code, Article II, Word Usage; Intent; Definitions
- 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
- City of WalthamCode of the City of Waltham, Chapter 10, Offenses, Article V, Nuisance Property, Section 10-80, Definitions
- Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title XX, Chapter 143, Section 94, Powers and duties of board
- City of WalthamCity of Waltham Ordinance No. 36639, Department of Public Buildings Amendment, adopted 2026-06-23
- 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 Waltham 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