Fence Regulations in Massachusetts (2026)

Leominster caps fences, walls, hedges and trees at three feet tall within the sight-triangle of any corner lot. City…

Attleboro regulates fences through its zoning ordinance. The city requires fences in certain contexts as part of…

Boston fence height limits vary by zoning district, with state building code requiring permits for fences over 7 feet…

Brockton caps residential fences at 6 feet on the sides and rear of a lot and 4 feet across the front, under § 27-20(5)…

Brookline's Zoning By-Law Sections 5.52, 5.62, and 5.74 set maximum fence heights at 6 feet in front yards and 7 feet…

Within Cambridge's Parkway Overlay District, land the ordinance designates near arterial parkways such as the Fresh…

Fall River follows Massachusetts state law for fence height regulation. MGL Ch. 49 §21 addresses spite fences…

Fitchburg Zoning Ch. 181 (Dimensional Regulations) caps front-yard fences at 6 ft. Stockade-type fences max 6 ft…

Lowell allows a fence up to six feet in height on or near a lot line with no building permit; a fence over six feet…

Lynn caps fences and retaining walls at 4 feet in a lot's frontage area (both frontages on a corner lot) and 6 feet…

On a corner lot in a New Bedford residence district, Zoning Section 2740 caps fences, walls, and structures at three…

Newton caps residential perimeter fences at 4 feet along the front lot line unless set back, 6 feet on side and rear…

Quincy caps fences at six feet citywide, dropping to three feet within 10 feet of the front lot line under the Zoning…

In Revere's residential zoning districts, no fence, wall, hedge or sign can rise above three feet within the…

Somerville zoning limits fences to 4 feet in front yards and 6 feet in side and rear yards, with corner-lot…

Springfield residential fences over 6 feet need a Tier 3 Special Permit; front yards allow no fence in A/A-1 districts…

Taunton caps hedges, shrubs and fences at two feet within the sight-triangle portion of a corner lot's front yard, an…

Waltham zoning sets fence height limits at 6 feet in rear and side yards, and 4 feet in front yards, applied citywide…

Weymouth requires a building permit for fences over 6 feet. Fences and plantings within 30 feet of a corner street…

Worcester limits residential fence heights: 4 feet in front yards and 6 feet in side and rear yards under the zoning…

Norfolk County has no county-level fence height limits. Fence height is regulated by each municipality through local…

Plymouth County has no fence-height ordinance; Massachusetts counties cannot zone. Height limits sit in each town's…

Boston only requires a fence-specific permit inside its historic districts. Property under the Beacon Hill or Back Bay…

In Springfield, Massachusetts (Hampden County), a residential fence taller than 6 feet needs a Tier 3 Special Permit…

Chelsea's zoning code defines any 'fence of more than six feet in height' as a structure (§ 34-241), pulling it into…

No building permit is required for a fence up to six feet in height on or close to a lot line, but a building permit is…

Anyone building a perimeter fence taller than four feet in Newton must first get a fence permit from the Commissioner…

In Revere, a fence counts as a regulated 'structure' under the zoning code, so no fence may be built, altered or used…

Taunton requires a permit from the Municipal Council before anyone erects, places or changes a fence adjoining a public…

Fences up to 7 feet high in Lynn don't need a Building Permit at all, built at the owner's own risk under Section…

New Bedford does not require a permit to build an ordinary residential fence, except within the city's Floodplain…

Somerville does not require a Building Permit to put up a fence anywhere in the city; the owner installs it at their…

No Plymouth County permit exists for a fence; counties issue no building permits. Under the state building code, 780…

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 49 establishes a statewide spite fence statute treating fences over six feet erected…

Brockton requires fences to be built within the owner's property line. Massachusetts law does not require neighbors to…

Massachusetts MGL Chapter 49 governs boundary fences between neighbors, establishing shared maintenance where fences…

Massachusetts state law (MGL c. 49 §§1–21) governs boundary fences between neighbors, including cost-sharing and the…

Massachusetts General Law Chapter 49 provides the baseline for fence neighbor disputes. Quincy does not have specific…

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 49 governs partition fences between neighbors, and Somerville follows the state rule…

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 49 governs boundary fences, while Waltham handles disputes under local code and…

Massachusetts General Law Chapter 49 §21 governs shared fence obligations between neighbors. Weymouth does not have a…

Massachusetts law makes neighbors jointly responsible for partition fences on a shared property line, and New Bedford…

Massachusetts law under MGL Ch. 49 §21 prohibits spite fences over 6 feet erected maliciously. Massachusetts has no…

Massachusetts law under MGL Ch. 49 §21 prohibits spite fences over 6 feet erected maliciously throughout Bristol…

Massachusetts law under MGL Ch. 49 §21 prohibits spite fences: fences over 6 feet erected maliciously to annoy a…

Massachusetts imposes no general duty to split a boundary fence's cost; each owner fences their own land. The one…

Massachusetts follows common law for boundary fence disputes. Worcester encourages neighbors to discuss fence plans…

In Newton, any retaining wall 4 feet or taller needs a special permit from the City Council before construction. The…

Lawrence requires every fence and retaining wall to stay firmly anchored in the ground and in good structural repair…

Lynn's Zoning Ordinance caps retaining walls in the frontage area at four feet, requires four feet of horizontal…

Somerville caps a retaining wall in the front yard at 4 feet, with successive walls needing at least 4 feet of…

Building a retaining wall in Springfield takes a City building permit with a $75 minimum fee, the same rate charged for…

Taunton's zoning code treats any retaining wall taller than four feet as a regulated 'structure,' the same category as…

No county permits retaining walls. Under the state building code, 780 CMR, a retaining wall up to four feet high…

Quincy, Massachusetts bans electrifying a chain-link or other conductive residential fence so that it delivers an…

Revere's zoning table bans barbed wire and any fence with pointed ends across eleven of the city's districts, covering…

Somerville restricts barbed wire, razor wire, and electrified fencing in residential areas, with additional…

Fence materials in Bristol County cities follow local zoning bylaws. Wood, vinyl, and wrought iron are standard…

Cambridge prohibits barbed wire and razor wire in residential zones; historic districts restrict materials to wood…

In Lowell's transit-oriented and mixed-use development overlays, chain link fence, barbed wire, razor wire, and chicken…

The Lynn Zoning Ordinance bans barbed wire and concertina wire on any lot in the city. Section 7.B.3.b's prohibition…

New Bedford bans barbed wire fencing in every residential zone, and on any property line touching a residential zone…

Newton bans barbed wire and razor wire fencing outright and requires chain-link fences to have their sharp top prongs…

Norfolk County has no fence material ordinance. Towns regulate materials via zoning bylaws. Historic districts…

Springfield's zoning ordinance bans razor or barbed wire on any front lot line citywide and bans it outright on fences…

Leominster does not ban barbed wire or electric fencing in its code, but it does restrict where solid fence materials…