Hampshire County abolished its government in 1999 and Massachusetts counties never zoned, so no county fence-height rule exists. Each town's zoning bylaw sets the limits, and MGL c.49 §21 makes a fence over six feet built maliciously to annoy a neighbor a private nuisance.
No county government in Massachusetts regulates fence height, and Hampshire County's was dissolved in 1999. The binding caps live in each town's zoning bylaw. Northampton, Amherst, South Hadley, Belchertown, Ware, and Hadley each set their own residential fence heights, commonly six feet in rear and side yards and four feet in front. Above those local limits, one statewide rule reaches every town: MGL c.49 §21 declares a fence over six feet maliciously erected to annoy an adjoining owner a private nuisance, giving the neighbor a tort action for damages.
A spite fence over six feet exposes the builder to a private-nuisance tort suit for damages under MGL c.49 §21. Ordinary height limits are enforced by each town's building department.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Hampshire County, MA
No Hampshire County or state law limits holiday lights, inflatables, or yard displays. Towns rarely regulate seasonal decorations, and where a bylaw touches ...
Hampshire County, MA
No Hampshire County rule governs garage-sale signs; towns handle them through local sign bylaws. A sign on your own lawn is generally fine, but one staked in...
Hampshire County, MA
Towns, not Hampshire County, regulate signs through zoning bylaws under MGL c.40A. Since Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015), a bylaw must stay content-neutral: N...
Hampshire County, MA
Rental registration is a town power, not a county one, and Hampshire County has no government. Amherst requires every landlord to hold an annual rental permi...
Hampshire County, MA
Massachusetts has no just-cause eviction law, and no Hampshire County town can add one. But the state is strongly tenant-protective: a security deposit is ca...
Hampshire County, MA
Rent control is illegal in every Hampshire County community. Massachusetts voters banned it statewide in 1994, now MGL c.40P §4: no city or town may enact, m...
See how Hampshire County's height limits rules stack up against other locations.
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