Or are my elderly mum's neighbours?

You can have a fence or hedge up to 6 feet tall without permission. I just looked it up online. A previous poster said need permission if it’s above one metre but that’s not true. It has to be 1 metre if it’s adjacent to a road

This is harrassment. Yoh could try seeing a local councillor before reporting them to the police.

No. If it’s over 2m they can contact the council under the high hedges act. This has an associated cost in the region of £200 ( I’m not up to date). If the council finds in their favour ( not guaranteed even if over 2m) then they will ask your mother to get it cut. In the unlikely event, that she refused, she could receive a court order, but it would never get that far.

The neighbour can cut shrubbery that encroaches on their land to the boundary. The hedge height is another matter and varies between councils I think? Either way they are vile bullies. If they want someone to cut the hedge then contact the council or HA.
You should look at getting a restraining order as they're clearly unhinged. If they own the property and there's a dispute with a neighbour it affects their ability to sell.

Yes, horrible to bully an older lady on her own. They sound ridiculous and spiteful. Your poor Mum 😕 xx

Hi your poor mum .in scotland the legal standing .is front fence 4 foot hedge 5 foot and back garden hedge or fence six feet ..in England not so sure

I don't know where she would stand, but probably worth speaking to the HA/Council. I'm not in a rented place, but I expect the same rules would apply re boundaries. Some deeds say you have to maintain a fence/hedge of at least 5ft. My documents say I have to maintain the boundary fences in the size and condition that the deeds were signed. She could tell them she has to keep it at 5ft (or 6ft) as it is in her tenancy agreement.

Can you point me to the piece of legislation that says this is the case? Whilst there may be covenants on certain newer estates I am not sure this is correct but if so please link the legislation.

My old neighbours were like this. All plastic garden gnomes and fake topiary balls. Whereas we had wildflowers, a pond, compost bin etc. They said our garden attracted pests. They meant bees. In truth I think it just showed them up tbh as their patch of 1cm long grass was riddled with leatherjackets and dog poo. I wouldn't even comment on it if we hadn't had to move because of their harassment. You're either a gardener or youre not, and nothing wrong with either, but live and let live. I love a cottage garden, and ivy! I wish I had a neighbour like your mum! Legally all she has to do is check her tenancy agreement. I'm on the residents panel of the housing ombudsman and I successfully sued my ex housing association for not dealing with my old neighbours- if that counts for anything. I would say that if her garden is looked after and there is no rubbish, they can just keep complaining. If they've done or shouted anything at her then she needs to report it now to the antisocial behaviour team at her council. Even if she decides she doesn't want them to take action. That way if they complain maliciously or they do anything else, then there is a record of what they did. They'll probably only offer mediation, and the neighbour's complaints would look very petty so they won't do that. That's probably the worst (legal) thing they could do and the complaint has no basis so don't worry. Your mum's garden sounds very much like mine - I've worked hard this year to get it back to how my old one was. One of my neighbours doesn't really like it and have made comments but that just made me more determined tbh. It's very strange coming up the street to see lawn, lawn, lawn, my cottage garden, gravel, lawn. I love it. It's like a big green hairy wart on the grey landscape 😄

No it isn't. Different councils have differen bye-laws.

Also this.

You can contact the housing officer and the council can deal with it they can get their legal department involved "asking" them .not to harass their tenant. Please phone them on Monday on your mum's behalf

I believe it's illegal to cut hedges till end of August now anyway.

So sorry your mum is going through this, would make complaints to the police if she feels harassed. Each and every time there's an issue.

@GracieGrowler its not that people think your mum isn’t doing anything wrong -it’s a legal fact! I hope she gets peace from them

Pay a couple of knuckleheads to go round and drop the pair of fuckers

Hi OP, speak to her local councillor, ask them to come and look and tell them of the elder abuse.

Also https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk for good advice. Some of them have been there years and are arborists, professionals.

Her garden sounds fine. They can cut any overhang back to the boundary, no further. They can't cut down her hedge - that's for the local authority to consider ONLY if it's a nuisance and it doesn't sound as though it is.

NDN can offer her back ( old law) the cuttings (arisings) if they've trimmed back but she can decline to take them. They can't dump cuttings on her property or make her dispose of anything they've trimmed.

Also the likes of https://www.ageuk.org.uk/ can offer support, including possible help with the garden.

I'm so sorry that she is having such a horrible time. I hope that all the advice so far can help. She's doing nothing wrong from what you say but do get other organisations, including the police if needs be, involved. Best wishes.

You could contact your mother's local authority's adult safeguarding team and report that these neighbours are harassing, bullying and threatening your mother on a regular basis and are by their actions preventing her from the rightful and peaceful enjoyment of her garden. Tell them that your mother is so frightened of them that she won't go outside anymore.

Your could also report the bullying and harassment to the police. Start a trail in as many places as possible in the hope that someone starts to take this seriously and there is then a record of this couple's behaviour. They are both heartless bastards and frankly they need someone to make them disappear - plastic grass indeed.

You say she lives on an estate. Are there neighbours who can advocate for her?
I think on my little cul-de-sac if we became aware that an elderly woman living on her own was being harassed and bullied in this way, people would step in.

There isn’t some general law that you can’t have a 5ft hedge so the only recourse they would have is if it’s not allowed by the HA or there’s some restrictive covenant on the property saying something about hedge height!

it seems vanishingly unlikely so I think you can just assume they have no legal right to get her to cut her hedge unless they tell you otherwise, in which case you can investigate further.

May depend on the estate as to whether they're allowed. Our estate has restrictions on hedges at all in front gardens and within a certain distance of any walkway/road. It's not really policed, but not many people have them anyway.

Are your mums neighbours also council tenants? If so, I think it's worth contacting them if they've shouted at your mum recently, especially as it sounds as if she's vulnerable due to her age and some possible memory issues.

Re. the hedge height, as long as it's not in the front where it could potentially block visibility of people pulling on to the road, or there's nothing in her tenancy re hedge heights, then 5 foot is very reasonable.

Miriad · Today 14:58
The legal height for a front garden fence or hedge in the UK is 1m (3.2ft). If it’s taller you need planning permission.

It is 2m from ground level.
Any shorter than that and the council jobsworths won't even don a hi-vis.

This is false.
No one will even consider the height of a hedge as an issue unless it is over 2 metres. Your mum's hedge is lower than this.

That’s not true. In relation to a hedge, there is no maximum legal height in the UK

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/over-the-garden-hedge/over-the-garden-hedge#:~:text=You%20don't%20normally%20need,a%20nuisance%20to%20anyone%20else.