Massachusetts Ordinances (2026)

The 2024 Affordable Homes Act amended MGL Chapter 40A to require all Massachusetts municipalities to allow accessory dwelling units by-right in single-family zoning districts…

Massachusetts authorizes its chief apiary inspector to require registration of every bee colony kept in the commonwealth, with a fee capped at five dollars per registrant regardless of…

Massachusetts state law expressly preempts municipalities from regulating dogs based on breed. Local breed-specific bans are void under state statute.

Massachusetts law directs every town field driver to take up horses, mules, asses, neat cattle, sheep, goats, or swine running at large on public ways or common land, then impound the…

State law requires dogs be effectively controlled or restrained, with municipalities authorized to enact local leash ordinances. Owners are strictly liable for dog-caused injuries.

Massachusetts prohibits private possession of most exotic and wild animals statewide. MassWildlife regulates permits, and the list of prohibited species is uniform across the…

Animal cruelty including hoarding is criminalized statewide under M.G.L. Chapter 272 Section 77. Hoarding triggers welfare investigations and felony charges in severe cases.

Massachusetts regulates structure heights near public-use airports statewide through the Aeronautics Division, requiring permits for tall structures that may obstruct navigable…

Massachusetts heavily restricts vape retail under M.G.L. c. 270 § 28, banning flavored vape products statewide and limiting flavored nicotine vape sales to licensed adult-only smoking…

Massachusetts lets each city and town zone the time, place and manner of cannabis retailers and cap their number, but a municipality cannot limit retailers below 20% of its…

Massachusetts preempts local bans on personal cannabis cultivation under MGL c.94G §7, allowing adults 21+ to grow up to six plants per person and twelve per household statewide.

Massachusetts has no statewide omnibus drone statute, so recreational flying follows federal FAA rules. But across the roughly 450,000 acres the Department of Conservation and…

Massachusetts sets a statewide minimum wage of $15.00 per hour under MGL Chapter 151, and generally preempts cities from adopting higher local minimum wages.

Massachusetts provides paid family and medical leave through the PFML program under MGL Chapter 175M, plus paid sick time under the Earned Sick Time Law for most employees.

Massachusetts regulates all tidelands and coastal development statewide under Chapter 91 (MGL c.91) and 310 CMR 9.00, requiring state licenses for structures and fill in tidelands…

Massachusetts regulates stormwater discharges under the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL c.131 §40) and 310 CMR 10.00, applying uniform Stormwater Management Standards to projects…

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 49 establishes a statewide spite fence statute treating fences over six feet erected maliciously to annoy a neighbor as a private nuisance subject to…

Massachusetts prohibits the sale, possession, and use of all consumer fireworks by private individuals, including sparklers, with no municipal opt-out permitted.

Massachusetts restricts open burning to January 15 through May 1 annually with a permit issued by the local fire chief under uniform state regulations.

Massachusetts requires a state fire marshal license and local fire chief permit to store flammable gases including propane above specified threshold quantities.

Massachusetts bans any open-air fire statewide unless the local forest warden or fire chief issues a permit good for no more than two days. Violators face a fine up to $500 plus the…

Massachusetts requires a License to Carry under MGL Chapter 140 Section 131 to carry concealed handguns, with applications processed by local police chiefs subject to suitability…

Massachusetts requires a valid License to Carry under MGL Chapter 140 Section 131 to transport loaded handguns in a vehicle, with strict storage rules applying to long guns and…

Beyond frost depth and snow load, the Massachusetts design criteria table sets weathering, termite risk, ice barrier, flood and air freezing index values that apply to every home built…

Massachusetts sets one frost line depth for the whole state: 48 inches. Footings must bear below that depth anywhere in the Commonwealth, and cities and towns do not set their own…

Massachusetts publishes a ground snow load for every one of its 351 cities and towns in a single state table, ranging from 25 psf on the Cape and Islands to 60 psf in the hill towns.

Massachusetts lists a minimum flat roof snow load for every city and town, and requires designers to use whichever is larger: that listed floor or the load calculated from the local…

The Expanded Gaming Act divides Massachusetts into three casino license regions and caps category 1 licenses at one per region. A resort casino can open only in a city or town that…

Massachusetts law bans commercial gambling but carves out G.L. c. 271 § 7A for nonprofit raffles and bazaars: veterans', religious, fraternal, educational, and civic groups that have…

Massachusetts bans gaming for money only in a public conveyance or public place, or in a private place where the player is trespassing. G.L. c. 271, § 2 does not reach cards, dice, or…

Massachusetts legalized sports wagering under G.L. c. 23N, with retail betting live January 31, 2023 and mobile apps following March 10, 2023. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission…

Massachusetts has no comprehensive HOA act. Condominium associations get a powerful statutory lien under M.G.L. c. 183A § 6 that carries a six-month super-priority over a first…

M.G.L. c. 183A, § 10(c) requires a Massachusetts condominium to keep a defined set of records up to date within the Commonwealth and to make them available for reasonable inspection by…

Massachusetts overrides some HOA and condo restrictions by statute. M.G.L. c. 184 § 23C voids deed covenants and condo-document provisions that forbid or unreasonably restrict solar…

Massachusetts gives owners an affirmative right to install electric vehicle supply equipment in their own unit or in a parking area they hold exclusive use of, and M.G.L. c. 183A, §…

Massachusetts gives a condominium's organization of unit owners express statutory power to levy fines, and attaches almost no conditions to it. M.G.L. c. 183A, § 10(b)(5) authorizes…

Massachusetts is not a UCIOA state, and its condominium lien rules sit in a home-grown statute, G.L. c. 183A, § 6. The lien attaches automatically when an assessment falls due and is…

Massachusetts runs the opposite way from states that cap association leasing bans. M.G.L. c. 64G, § 15 provides that nothing in the short-term rental chapter confers a right to lease…

Massachusetts has no cottage food statute and no state cottage food licence. A home kitchen selling food is treated as a food establishment, and the permit comes from the local board…

Massachusetts preempts local zoning of family child care for up to six children under MGL c.28A and c.40A §3, requiring state EEC licensing and treating licensed homes as residential…

Massachusetts has no microenterprise home kitchen permit and no home restaurant category. The one route to serving cooked meals out of a private kitchen is the bed-and-breakfast branch…

The Massachusetts General Laws contain no sobriety checkpoint statute. A full-text search returns nothing for roadblock, roadblocks or sobriety checkpoint, and the single hit for…

Massachusetts has no statute granting a right to record police. It has G.L. c. 272, section 99, one of the strictest wiretap laws in the country, and the operative word in it is…

Massachusetts has no general stop-and-identify law reaching people on foot. The duty at G.L. c. 90, section 25 attaches only to a person operating or in charge of a motor vehicle, and…

Massachusetts has no clause saying lawful cannabis possession is not grounds for a search, unlike Michigan or Maryland. What it has instead is G.L. c. 276, section 1, which narrows…

MGL Chapter 87 mandates a public hearing and tree warden approval before removing any public shade tree, with specific procedures protecting larger trees and creating statewide minimum…

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 87 establishes statewide rules governing the trimming, pruning, and care of public shade trees, requiring a tree warden's authorization for cutting…

The Massachusetts Water Management Act and related MassDEP drought regulations authorize statewide outdoor watering limits during declared drought conditions, applying uniformly across…

Massachusetts treats a golf cart and a low-speed vehicle as different machines with different rights. A true golf cart may be driven on a public way only under one narrow carve-out in…

Massachusetts regulates aircraft noise statewide through 740 CMR 24.00, the Logan Airport Noise Abatement rule enforced by the Massachusetts Port Authority. It bars new, noisier…

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90 Section 22C governs removal and disposal of abandoned motor vehicles statewide, setting uniform procedures that apply on public ways and private…

Massachusetts adopts statewide EV-readiness requirements under the State Building Code (780 CMR) and Stretch Energy Code, mandating that new construction include EV-ready parking…

Massachusetts caps what a tow company can charge you after a nonconsensual tow. Under 220 CMR 272.03(1) the maximum charge for towing a passenger automobile up to five miles is $132.00…

Following Papadopoulos v. Target (2010), Massachusetts property owners owe a duty of reasonable care to remove snow and ice. Municipalities may set sidewalk clearing rules.

For nonpayment of rent, Massachusetts requires a 14-day notice to quit under M.G.L. c. 186 § 11 (leases) or § 12 (tenancies at will). After the notice expires, the landlord must bring…

Massachusetts recognizes an implied warranty of habitability and gives tenants strong remedies. Under M.G.L. c. 111 § 127L, after certified code violations and proper notice, a tenant…

MGL Chapter 239 sets uniform statewide summary process eviction procedures for residential tenancies, establishing notice requirements, court process, and tenant defenses applicable in…

Massachusetts has no general statute requiring advance notice before a landlord enters. M.G.L. c. 186 § 15B(1)(a) instead limits when a lease may permit entry, to inspect, make…

Massachusetts strictly limits late fees. Under M.G.L. c. 186 § 15B(1)(c), no lease or rental agreement may impose any interest or penalty for late rent until the rent is at least 30…

To end a tenancy at will (month-to-month), Massachusetts requires written notice equal to one full rental period or 30 days, whichever is longer, under M.G.L. c. 186 § 12. Fixed-term…

Massachusetts prohibits rent control statewide. Voters abolished it through a 1994 ballot referendum codified as Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 40P, the Massachusetts Rent Control Prohibition…

Massachusetts has one of the nation's strictest security deposit laws. A landlord may collect no more than one month's rent as a security deposit, must hold it in a separate…

Massachusetts requires 20 years of continuous adverse possession to claim title to land. Under M.G.L. c. 260 § 21, an action to recover land must be brought within 20 years after the…

Massachusetts protects agricultural land use through MGL Chapter 40A Section 3, exempting agriculture, horticulture, and floriculture from most local zoning restrictions on parcels of…

Massachusetts protects farms from nuisance lawsuits under M.G.L. c. 243 § 6: a farm operating more than one year using generally accepted agricultural practices cannot be found a…

Massachusetts law requires short-term rental operators to maintain at least $1,000,000 in liability insurance covering each rental, unless intermediary provides equal coverage.

Massachusetts imposes a statewide 5.7% room occupancy excise on short-term rentals, plus optional local and community impact fees collected uniformly through DOR.

M.G.L. c. 184, § 23C makes void any provision in an instrument relative to the ownership or use of real property that purports to forbid or unreasonably restrict the installation or…

M.G.L. Chapter 40A Section 3 protects solar installations from unreasonable local zoning restrictions. State law mandates expedited permitting in many municipalities.

Massachusetts requires hawkers and peddlers selling goods door-to-door to obtain a state license from the Division of Standards in addition to local permits.

The Massachusetts State Building Code mandates barrier requirements for residential pools statewide. Fencing must be at least 4 feet high with self-closing, self-latching gates.

Massachusetts requires purchasers of tobacco and vape products to be at least 21 years of age under MGL Chapter 270 Section 6, predating the 2019 federal Tobacco 21 law.

Massachusetts became the first state to ban all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored vapes, under M.G.L. c. 270 § 28, effective June 1, 2020.

Massachusetts Scenic Roads Act protects trees and stone walls along designated scenic roads, requiring public hearing before any removal or alteration.

Massachusetts bars any vehicle from mounting or displaying a flashing, rotating or oscillating light in any direction except under G.L. c. 90, section 7E, and section 7E hands out red…

Massachusetts has no dash camera statute, but G.L. c. 90, section 13B expressly permits a device to be mounted on or affixed to a vehicle windshield, dashboard or centre console so…

Lane splitting is illegal in Massachusetts. G.L. c. 89, § 4A tells the operator of a motorcycle that he shall not pass any other motor vehicle within the same lane, and the ban carries…

Massachusetts bans plate covers by naming the device rather than by regulating tint or reflectivity. G.L. c. 90, § 6 says number plates shall be kept clean with the numbers legible and…

Nothing in the Massachusetts General Laws prohibits a radar detector in a private car. A full-text search of the General Laws returns no hit at all for radar detector, speed measuring…

Massachusetts writes its studded tire rule as a ban on the warm half of the year rather than as a permission for winter. G.L. c. 90, § 16 makes it unlawful to operate a motor vehicle…

Massachusetts lets you put aftermarket film on the front side windows, the rear side windows and the rear window only if it transmits at least 35 per cent of visible light and reflects…