Fence laws in Weymouth, Massachusetts
What the Weymouth municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Weymouth sets no rule of its own, the Massachusetts rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Weymouth, Massachusetts, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- The same answer covers sheds as well as fences, and the two are treated very differently at a boundary, and the answer turns on whether the thing is a fence or an accessory structure, and how many stories it has. The figure is 5 feet, for setback for a one story accessory structure.
- How tall
- Weymouth sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- Weymouth draws its permit line at six feet and says so in one sentence: fences six feet or under do not require a permit, and the answer turns on whether the fence passes six feet. The figure is 6 feet, for height below which no permit is needed.
- 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
- Weymouth 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 department singles out the corner rule as the thing most likely to catch a homeowner out, and it is stricter than most. The figure is 30 feet, for distance from the corner the restriction reaches.
- 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 Weymouth?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Weymouth answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the thing is a fence or an accessory structure, and how many stories it has.
The same answer covers sheds as well as fences, and the two are treated very differently at a boundary. A one story accessory use structure may be built with a permit no closer than five feet from a side or rear lot line, and anything over one story has to meet the ordinary structure setbacks in the town Schedule of District Regulations. No distance at all is stated for a fence, which is consistent with the permit answer above, where a fence of six feet or under needs nothing from the town. So in Weymouth the shed moves back five feet and the fence does not have to move at all. The department cites Section 120-55 of the Zoning Ordinance for the accessory structure rule.
One-story accessory use structures can be built with a permit no closer than five feet from a side lot line and/or the rear lot line
Requirements for adding a fence or shed, citing Zoning Ordinance Section 120-55
The answer turns on whether the thing is a fence or an accessory structure, and how many stories it has.
- a one story shed
- Five feet off the side and rear lines. 5 ft
- an accessory structure over one story
- The ordinary structure setbacks for the district.
- a fence
- No distance is stated.
Also on fences on the property line in Weymouth
- 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 Weymouth?
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Weymouth 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 Weymouth law. All Massachusetts findings
Documents read before writing that:
- M.G.L. c. 49Massachusetts General Court
- M.G.L. c. 49, § 21Massachusetts General Court
Do I need a permit for a fence in Weymouth?
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Weymouth answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence passes six feet.
Weymouth draws its permit line at six feet and says so in one sentence: fences six feet or under do not require a permit. Above that the owner applies for a building permit from the Department of Municipal Licenses and Inspections. What the department does not state is a maximum, so six feet is the point at which the city wants to look at the fence rather than the point at which it stops being allowed. That makes Weymouth one of the places where the height question and the permit question are the same question, and where the answer for a taller fence is found in the permit review rather than in a published number.
Fences six feet or under do not require a permit.
Requirements for adding a fence or shed
The answer turns on whether the fence passes six feet.
- a fence six feet or under
- No permit. 6 ft
- a fence over six feet
- A building permit from Municipal Licenses and Inspections.
Also on permits in Weymouth
- 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 Weymouth
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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 Weymouth 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 Weymouth
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 Weymouth 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 Weymouth
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Weymouth 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 Weymouth 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 Weymouth
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Weymouth answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The department singles out the corner rule as the thing most likely to catch a homeowner out, and it is stricter than most. No structure, fence or planting may stand within thirty feet of any corner street line intersection, and within the required front yard, above three feet above curb level, where it would interfere with traffic visibility across the corner. Thirty feet is longer than the twenty or twenty five feet most cities measure, the datum is the curb rather than the ground the fence stands on, and the rule reaches planting as readily as building. The department cites Section 120-46 of the Weymouth Zoning Ordinance for it.
no structure, fence, or plantings may be within 30 feet of any corner street line intersection and within the required front yard above a height of three feet above curb level as to interfere with traffic visibility across the corner
Requirements for adding a fence or shed, citing Zoning Ordinance Section 120-46
30 ftdistance from the corner the restriction reaches
Also on corner visibility in Weymouth
- 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 Weymouth
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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 Weymouth 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 Weymouth
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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 Weymouth 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
Livestock and boundary fence law in Weymouth
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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 Weymouth 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 Weymouth
- 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 Weymouth 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
- Town of Weymouth, Department of Municipal Licenses and InspectionsI want to add a fence or shed to my property. What are the requirements?, Weymouth frequently asked questions
- 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 Weymouth 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