Fence laws in Maine
What Maine 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.
Maine fence laws at a glance
| Topic | What the record says | Figure | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fences on the property line | Stated | no figure | 30-A M.R.S. 2952 |
| Fence height | Silent | no figure | 30-A M.R.S. 2951 |
| Permits | Stated | no figure | 10 M.R.S. 9724(1) |
| Pool barriers | Stated | no figure | 10 M.R.S. 9724(5) |
| Spite fences | Stated | 6 ft | 17 M.R.S. 2801 |
| How height is measured | Not researched yet | no figure | none |
| Corner visibility | Not researched yet | no figure | none |
| Retaining walls | Not researched yet | no figure | none |
| Materials | Not researched yet | no figure | none |
| Agricultural fencing | Stated | 4 ft | 30-A M.R.S. 2951 |
Fence laws in Maine, question by question
Who owns the fence between two properties in Maine?
StatedThe code gives a plain answer, and the line it appears on is quoted.
Maine splits a partition fence in equal shares between the occupants of enclosed adjoining land, for as long as both sides keep improving the land. The duty is tied to occupation and improvement rather than to ownership on paper, and it ends for one side when that side stops improving.
The occupants of lands enclosed with fences shall maintain partition fences between their own and the adjoining enclosures, in equal shares, while both parties continue to improve them.
Also on fences on the property line in Maine
- StatedWhen one side will not repair, the other side complains to two or more town fence viewers. After notice to the delinquent party they survey the fence, and if they find it insufficient they say so in writing and set a deadline that cannot run past thirty days. If the deadline passes, the complaining party may build or repair it. 30-A M.R.S. 2953Maine · Statute
- StatedA disagreement about shares goes to the fence viewers too. They assign each side its share in writing and set a deadline of no more than thirty days, and the assignment recorded in the town clerk office binds both sides afterward. Where one side has carried more than its share and the fence is judged good, the fence viewers can award the value of the excess, recoverable in a civil action if it goes unpaid for six months after demand. 30-A M.R.S. 2955Maine · Statute
- StatedThe Maine fence chapter carves out the small house lot. Nothing in it extends to a house lot of half an acre or less. There is a catch in the same sentence: if the owner of that small lot improves it, the owner of the adjacent land still has to make and keep up half the fence between them, improving or not. A written agreement about a partition fence stays good either way. 30-A M.R.S. 2964Maine · Statute
- StatedThe fee for a fence viewer is still three dollars a day, paid by whoever employed the fence viewer. Nonpayment for thirty days after demand lets the fence viewer recover double the amount in a civil action. 30-A M.R.S. 2966Maine · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Maine?
SilentThe documents were read and none of them cover it. The list of what was read is printed with the finding.
Maine sets no statewide limit on residential fence height. The four feet in the fence chapter is a minimum for a fence that holds stock, and the six feet in the spite fence section only opens the door to a nuisance claim that still needs proof of malice. Neither one caps how tall a fence may be built. Height is set by municipal ordinance.
Documents read before writing that:
- 30-A M.R.S. 2951Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes
- 17 M.R.S. 2801Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes
Do I need a permit for a fence in Maine?
StatedThe code gives a plain answer, and the line it appears on is quoted.
Maine draws the enforcement line at population. A municipality with more than four thousand residents has to enforce the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code, through inspections that meet the Title 25 standard. Persons held at a correctional facility in the municipality do not count toward the four thousand.
The Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code must be enforced in a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents.
Also on permits in Maine
- StatedA smaller Maine town gets a choice with a limit attached. Up to four thousand residents there is no duty to enforce the code, and no freedom to pick a different one. The only building code a Maine municipality may adopt or enforce is the state one. 10 M.R.S. 9724(1-A)Maine · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Maine
StatedThe code gives a plain answer, and the line it appears on is quoted.
Maine does not impose a statewide pool fence. It does something narrower and unusual: the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code voids local building ordinances that conflict with it, and then the statute carves one hole in that rule for pool fencing. A town may adopt the swimming pool fencing standards in Appendix G of the second edition of the 2009 International Residential Code, and only without amendment. The frozen 2009 edition in the text is the statute talking, not a transcription slip.
This section does not prohibit the adoption or enforcement of an ordinance of any political subdivision that sets forth the swimming pool fencing standards, without amendment, contained in Appendix G of the 2nd edition of the 2009 International Residential Code.
Spite fence laws in Maine
StatedThe code gives a plain answer, and the line it appears on is quoted.
Maine puts the spite fence in the criminal title, under nuisances. A fence or structure in the nature of a fence that unnecessarily goes over six feet and is maliciously kept and maintained to annoy the neighbors is a private nuisance. Malice and the six feet both have to be there. The section sits in Title 17 chapter 91, among the particular nuisances.
Any fence or other structure in the nature of a fence, unnecessarily exceeding 6 feet in height, maliciously kept and maintained for the purpose of annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property, shall be deemed a private nuisance.
6 ftheight a fence has to exceed before the spite fence rule applies
How fence height is measured in Maine
Not researched yet for Maine. Nothing on this page states what the rule is, because nothing has been read that says.
Fence rules for corner lots in Maine
Not researched yet for Maine. Nothing on this page states what the rule is, because nothing has been read that says.
Retaining wall rules in Maine
Not researched yet for Maine. Nothing on this page states what the rule is, because nothing has been read that says.
Fence materials allowed in Maine
Not researched yet for Maine. Nothing on this page states what the rule is, because nothing has been read that says.
Livestock and boundary fence law in Maine
StatedThe code gives a plain answer, and the line it appears on is quoted.
Maine sets its legal fence at four feet high and in good repair. Rails, stone walls, iron and wire all qualify, and so do brooks, rivers, ponds, creeks, ditches and hedges when the fence viewers judge them equivalent. This is the livestock standard that the partition fence chapter measures against, not a rule for a yard fence.
All fences 4 feet high and in good repair, consisting of rails, timber, stone walls, iron or wire, and brooks, rivers, ponds, creeks, ditches and hedges, or other things which in the judgment of the fence viewers having jurisdiction thereof are equivalent thereto, are legal and sufficient fences.
4 ftheight a fence needs to count as legal and sufficient
Documents behind this page
8 documents, each read on the date shown. Nothing on this page rests on a summary of one.
- Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMaine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, Chapter 133, Fences and Fence Viewers
- Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMaine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, Chapter 133, Fences and Fence Viewers
- Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMaine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, Chapter 133, Fences and Fence Viewers
- Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMaine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, Chapter 133, Fences and Fence Viewers
- Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMaine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, Chapter 133, Fences and Fence Viewers
- Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMaine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, Chapter 133, Fences and Fence Viewers
- Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMaine Revised Statutes, Title 17, Chapter 91, Nuisances
- Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of StatutesMaine Revised Statutes, Title 10, Chapter 1103, Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code
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