Regulating Access to Roof Areas of Buildings with Residential Units.
Boston Municipal Code § 9-9.13
in effect9-9.13 Regulating Access to Roof Areas of Buildings with Residential Units.
(A) Purpose.
(1) It is the intent of this Subsection to protect and preserve public safety, security and quiet enjoyment of occupants, abutters and neighborhoods by:
(a) Discouraging the inappropriate use of flat roof areas of residential buildings; and
(b) Regulating the use of and/or assembly of persons on flat roof areas and/or roof decks.
(2) The Commissioner of the Inspectional Services Building Department has enforcement authority pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 143, Section 3; the commonwealth’s Building Code, being 780 CMR; and the Zoning Code of the city.
(B) Definitions. For the purpose of this Subsection, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
CITY. The City of Boston.
DOOR ALARM. A device which causes an alarm to sound whenever the door or hatchway to which it is attached is opened; provided that said device does not substantially impede the opening and closing of the door or hatchway. Any such device which can be temporarily deactivated through the use of a key, code or other such measure, shall be considered to be within this definition, notwithstanding the fact that it can be so deactivated; provided that the device is designed to automatically reactivate itself within a reasonable time after the deactivation event takes place. Signage on or near the device will warn users of the presence of the ALARM.
INCLUDED STRUCTURE. Any residential structure with a roof deck as defined below; not including owner occupied one or two family structures.
OWNER. Any person(s) or entity that owns a building in the city, The rights and duties of the OWNER hereunder shall also be the rights and duties of any person(s) or entity that manages or controls the building.
ROOF ACCESS POINT. Any doorway, passageway or staircase through which access to any part of the roof of the building is provided that said door, passageway or staircase connects to a portion of the interior of the building to which one or more occupants has unimpeded access.
ROOF DECK. A structure built on the roof of a building that is used for gardening, sunbathing and other passive recreational purposes. Flat roofs, or limited areas thereof, which do not have a structure built for such purposes but are accessible through a roof access point and could nevertheless be used for such purposes shall be included in this definition.
(C) Roof deck permits.
(1) Roof deck permits shall be obtained by an owner by submitting a building permit application to the Inspectional Services Department. The application shall contain any and all required plans, including, but not limited to, a land survey, framing plans and a report of a structural and safety evaluation performed and prepared by an architect or structural engineer registered/certified in the commonwealth; the structural and safety evaluation shall consider and evaluate the structural capacity of the roof and the safety features of the roof/roof deck including, but not limited to, handrails, guardrails, lighting and manner(s) of egress as may be required by the commonwealth’s Building Code or by the regulations of the Inspectional Services Department.
(2) Notwithstanding the foregoing, no roof deck permit shall be required where:
(a) The roof deck is a flat roof, or limited area thereof, which does not have a structure built for such purpose; and
(b) The owner has either secured the roof access point(s) with a locking device(s) to the extent permitted by law or has installed a door alarm.
(3) No roof deck may be issued a permit unless all legal requirements are met, such as zoning approval and landmark approval, as necessary; the applicant shall attach to the application copies of such approvals, if any.
(4) No person may occupy, stand on, sit on or use a roof deck that has not been issued a permit by the Inspectional Services Department (except for performing maintenance). No person may encourage, allow or suffer an assembly of persons on a roof deck that has not been issued a permit by the Inspectional Services Department. Upon discovery of use or occupancy of a roof deck that does not have proof of a valid permit issued by the Inspectional Services Department, an Officer of the Boston Police Department or an inspector of the Inspectional Services Department shall order the roof deck vacated until the process outlined in this division (C).
(5) The Inspectional Services Department shall have the discretion to establish the procedure by which compliance is determined, including, but not limited to, determining when, how and by which professionals such inspections are to be made, including the certified documentation that is to be required for compliance; provided that their policies are reasonably calculated to ensure that every included structure in the city is inspected for compliance at least once every five years.
(D) Roof deck complaints. The Commissioner of Inspectional Services Department, or his or her designee, shall follow up on any credible complaint, to be defined by the Commissioner of the Inspectional Services Department, that a structure is being used as a roof deck in violation of this Section. Within three business days of receipt of a complaint under this Section, the Inspectional Services Department shall determine whether or not a permit has been issued for use as a roof deck. Upon investigation, if:
(1) (a) No roof deck permit has been issued and the building is not otherwise in compliance as described in division (C) above, then a Building Inspector shall, by means of a building code violation order the owner to come into compliance by either applying for or securing a permit for a roof deck or otherwise complying into compliance by installing a locking device to the extent permitted by law or door alarm as described in division (C) above.
(b) If the owner does not come into compliance within 30 days after the violation is issued, the Commissioner of Inspectional Services Department may file a complaint in Housing Court. Violations are written to the owner in the form of a building and/or zoning code violation and shall be subject to the penalties and fines of such building code and/or zoning code in addition to any penalties and fines authorized by this Section.
(2) A valid roof deck permit has been issued and/or the roof deck is in compliance with this Section (as described in division (C) above) and other existing laws, then the matter may be turned over to the Boston Police Department for further investigation of the complaint; and
(3) No roof deck permit has been issued and the building is not otherwise in compliance as described in division (C) above, and a second or subsequent credible complaint is received that a structure is being used as a roof deck in violation of this Section, then the owner will be ordered to come into compliance as described in division (D)(1) above and simultaneously issued a violation as described in division (D)(1) above.
(E) Enforcement and penalties. Each and every violation of this Section or any regulations adopted hereunder is punishable by a fine of $300 for the first offense and $500 for each subsequent offense. A violation of this Section shall not be deemed to create any presumption of negligence by an owner.
(F) Regulatory authority. The Commissioner of the Inspectional Services Department and the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement and enforce this Section.
(G) Severability. If any provision of this Section shall be held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, then such provision shall be considered separately and apart from the remaining provisions, which shall remain in full force and effect.
(H) Implementation. The provisions of this Section shall be effective 90 days after passage.
(CBC 1985 9-9.13; Ord. 2007 c.12)
Source: City of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston Municipal Code and City Charter (American Legal Publishing, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/boston/latest/boston_ma/0-0-0-6104Fetched: 11/8/2026