Fence laws in Rhode Island
What Rhode Island statutes and statewide codes say about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line.
Fence laws in Rhode Island, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Rhode Island splits a fence on the line between two pieces of land that are both in use.
- How tall
- Rhode Island sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- A fence six feet tall or less needs no building permit in Rhode Island. The figure is 6 feet, for fence that needs no building permit. It reaches one and two family dwellings only.
- Pool barriers
- Rhode Island leaves pool barriers to International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, 2021 edition, published by the International Code Council.
- Spite fences
- Rhode Island calls a fence a private nuisance when it goes over six feet tall with no need to and is put up or kept up out of malice, to annoy the people next door. The figure is 6 feet, for height above which a malicious fence is a nuisance.
- Measured from what
- Rhode Island leaves the measuring rule to the zoning ordinance of a city or town.
- Corner lots
- Rhode Island leaves corner clearance to city and town zoning ordinances under Chapter 45-24 of the General Laws.
- Retaining walls
- Rhode Island lets a retaining wall skip a permit only up to thirty two inches, measured from the lower finished grade to the top of the wall, and the pass is gone if the wall carries a surcharge, which means an extra load pressing on the dirt behind it, and the answer turns on what the retaining wall is built from. The figure is 32 inches, for height at or below which a retaining wall needs no building permit. It reaches one and two family dwellings only.
- Materials
- Barbed wire on a fence between neighbors in Rhode Island takes their written consent.
- Livestock
- Rhode Island lists seven kinds of lawful fence and gives each one a build. The figure is 11 strands, for woven wire lawful fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Rhode Island?
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Rhode Island answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Rhode Island splits a fence on the line between two pieces of land that are both in use. Each owner builds and keeps up half of it, and the two halves have to match in length and in quality.
Partition fences between lands under improvement shall be made and maintained in equal halves in length and quality, by the proprietors or possessors of those lands respectively.
Also on fences on the property line in Rhode Island
- set in state lawA fence on the line in Rhode Island runs on the dividing line itself, and each owner may put half of its width on their own side. The same section keeps the fence in good order all year round unless the two sides agree on something else. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-10-9Rhode Island · Statute
- set in state lawWhen one owner builds the whole fence because the land next door is not in use, nothing is owed at the time. If that neighbor later puts the land to use, the neighbor pays for half the fence at what it is worth then, and keeps up that half from then on whether the land stays in use or not. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-10-11Rhode Island · Statute
- set in state lawRhode Island towns still have fence viewers, and a neglected fence on the line goes to one of them. The fence viewer gives ten days notice, comes out and looks, and if the complaint is right orders the work done inside a set time that cannot run past fifteen days. A copy of that order goes to the town clerk. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-10-15Rhode Island · Statute
- set in state lawWhen one side refuses to pay, the fence viewer puts a value on the whole fence, awards half of that value against the side that refused, divides the fence between the two of them and files the division with the town clerk. That division is permanent. An award that goes unpaid is collected by suing for the debt. R.I. Gen. Laws 34-10-13Rhode Island · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Rhode Island?
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Rhode Island law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Rhode Island sets no statewide cap on how tall a fence at a house can be. The fence chapter uses six feet only as the point where a malicious fence becomes a nuisance, and the state dwelling code uses six feet only as the point where a permit starts being needed. Neither one forbids a taller fence. Town zoning sets the height.
Documents read before writing that:
- R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 34-10Rhode Island General Assembly
- 510-RICR-00-00-2Rhode Island Building Code Standards Committee
Do I need a permit for a fence in Rhode Island?
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Rhode Island answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A fence six feet tall or less needs no building permit in Rhode Island. The state dwelling code throws out the model code list of work that skips a permit and writes its own, and a fence at or under six feet is on it. The same list covers a retaining wall up to thirty two inches and a factory built pool less than twenty four inches deep. Skipping the permit does not excuse work that breaks another rule.
Fences not over six feet (6’) (1829 mm) high.
6 ftfence that needs no building permit
Also on permits in Rhode Island
- set in state lawRhode Island took the power to write a building code away from its cities and towns when the state building code started on July 1, 1977. Local codes and ordinances stayed alive until that date, and no town may pass one after it. That is why the six foot fence exemption is the same in every Rhode Island town instead of one rule among thirty nine. R.I. Gen. Laws 23-27.3-100.1.7Rhode Island · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Rhode Island
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Rhode Island does not set this. It leaves it to International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, 2021 edition, published by the International Code Council.
Rhode Island does not print a pool barrier height in its own law. The state swimming pool and spa code is the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, 2021 edition, taken in by reference with state changes, and the barrier rules for a pool sit in that book. The publisher holds the copyright, and the state regulation links out to the publisher site to read or buy it.
The Building Code Standards Committee hereby adopts and incorporates as the Rhode Island Swimming Pool and Spa Code the provisions of the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC), 2021 edition, as published by the International Code Council, Inc. (ICC)
The code hands this to International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, 2021 edition, published by the International Code Council, which is not published in the code itself.
Spite fence laws in Rhode Island
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Rhode Island answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Rhode Island calls a fence a private nuisance when it goes over six feet tall with no need to and is put up or kept up out of malice, to annoy the people next door. Something that is not a fence but works like one counts the same. The neighbor whose comfort or enjoyment is hurt by it can sue for damages. Both parts have to be there, the height and the malice, so a tall fence with an ordinary reason behind it is not covered.
A fence or other structure in the nature of a fence which unnecessarily exceeds six feet (6′) 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 malicious fence is a nuisance
How fence height is measured in Rhode Island
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Rhode Island does not set this. It leaves it to the zoning ordinance of a city or town.
Rhode Island never says what the height of a fence at a house is counted from. Section 45-24-33 makes every zoning ordinance set height rules, and its wording is narrower than most: the height, number of stories and size of buildings, where many states say buildings and other structures. The state fence chapter, 34-10, does give a build for a lawful farm fence and counts that one from the ground, and it says nothing at all about a fence at a house. So the number and the point it is counted from both come out of the city or town ordinance.
Regulating within each district and designating requirements for: (i) The height, number of stories, and size of buildings;
R.I. Gen. Laws 45-24-33(a)(4)(i)
The code hands this to the zoning ordinance of a city or town, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Rhode Island
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Rhode Island does not set this. It leaves it to city and town zoning ordinances under Chapter 45-24 of the General Laws.
Rhode Island requires every city and town to zone, and the corner question sits in that ordinance. Section 45-24-33 lists what a zoning ordinance has to cover, and the height of buildings and the layout of a lot are on the list. The state sets none of the numbers. The chapter never says sight triangle, and the one place it speaks about a view is about light and air reaching a property, not about a driver looking across a corner.
(4) Regulating within each district and designating requirements for: (i) The height, number of stories, and size of buildings;
The code hands this to city and town zoning ordinances under Chapter 45-24 of the General Laws, which is not published in the code itself.
Retaining wall rules in Rhode Island
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Rhode Island answers this, but the answer changes depending on what the retaining wall is built from.
Rhode Island lets a retaining wall skip a permit only up to thirty two inches, measured from the lower finished grade to the top of the wall, and the pass is gone if the wall carries a surcharge, which means an extra load pressing on the dirt behind it. One material gets less room than that. A retaining wall poured from concrete in place needs a permit once it passes twenty four inches. So the answer turns on what the wall is built from.
Retaining walls that are not over thirty-two inches (32”) in height measured from the lower finished grade to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge.
510-RICR-00-00-2, R105.2, Building item 3
The answer turns on what the retaining wall is built from.
- a retaining wall that is not cast in place concrete
- No building permit is needed up to thirty two inches, measured from the lower finished grade to the top of the wall, as long as the wall carries no extra load pressing on the dirt behind it. 32 in
- a retaining wall poured from concrete in place
- A permit is needed once the wall passes twenty four inches, so this kind of wall loses the pass eight inches earlier than every other kind. 24 in
Fence materials allowed in Rhode Island
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Rhode Island answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Barbed wire on a fence between neighbors in Rhode Island takes their written consent. The rule covers a fence made wholly or partly of barbed wire. Later sections in the same chapter deal with taking barbed wire down and with who pays for that.
No fence shall be constructed wholly or in part of barbed wire, as a line fence between adjoining owners, without the consent in writing of the adjoining owners.
Livestock and boundary fence law in Rhode Island
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Rhode Island answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Rhode Island lists seven kinds of lawful fence and gives each one a build. A woven wire fence takes wire no lighter than number nine on posts no more than sixteen feet apart, at least eleven horizontal wires, the top wire at least fifty four inches off the ground and the bottom wire no more than two inches off it, with stays no more than six inches apart. A stone wall stands four feet with a capping stone or rail on top, or four and one half feet without one. Anything not on the list has to reach four and one half feet.
A woven wire fence of wire not less than number nine, firmly fastened to posts not more than sixteen feet (16′) apart, constructed of not less than eleven (11) horizontal wires
11 strandswoven wire lawful fence
Documents behind this page
13 documents, each read on the date shown. Nothing on this page rests on a summary of one.
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Section 34-10-10
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Section 34-10-9
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Section 34-10-11
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Section 34-10-15
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Section 34-10-13
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Fences
- Rhode Island Building Code Standards CommitteeRhode Island One and Two-Family Dwelling Code, 510-RICR-00-00-2
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 23, Chapter 27.3, Section 23-27.3-100.1.7
- Rhode Island Building Code Standards CommitteeRhode Island Swimming Pool and Spa Code, 510-RICR-00-00-14
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Section 34-10-20
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 45, Chapter 24, Zoning Ordinances
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Section 34-10-2
- Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Laws, Title 34, Chapter 10, Section 34-10-1
What this page does not cover
Everything above is state law. Fence height, setback, corner visibility and materials are set by city and county ordinance in almost every state, and a local rule can be far stricter than the statewide default. A parcel can also carry an easement, an overlay district, a fire hazard zone or a recorded HOA restriction, none of which appear in a statute.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, statutes are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean