AIBU - planting tall trees to block neighbours noise/sight

[Pettypettyneighbour]

My neighbours are incredibly noisy in the summer - they're mostly unemployed, and spend all day drinking and playing loud music in the garden.

The council won't do anything about it, and it gives me serious anxiety. I saw the neighbour building a 'bar' in their garden which looks like a shanty house.

We are planning on selling in a few years to get away and move somewhere with better schools. I don't want to complain and need to record a dispute (though I did call last year to ask the council to pass the message on to the tenant that I had a sick newborn and asked for it to be quieter in the night - I had severe pnd and was scared to ask myself)

Their garden is disgusting, it's full of moldy clothes and old beer cans and I don't think anyone would want to buy a house next to them (I wouldn't - they moved in after us when the last social housing family was evicted for similar issues but they Broke their subletting lease too).

Aibu to plan fast growing trees to block the site of them, block some noise and maybe block some sunlight so they don't want to be out in the garden as much (maybe less noise)? Or is that too petty?

I pretty much had a breakdown last year, and the anxiety now even seeing them in the garden makes my face numb. I need an action plan.

Excuse the spelling mistakes!

Get some leylandii planted quick. Or a very tall fence - even quicker.

Poplars, not leylandii! It supports more wildlife.

Don’t plant leylandii, they are awful.
Try yew, or laurel as they are much nicer to look at and easier to look after

Poplars grow at up to six feet a year, so are quick, too. You have my sympathies, that sounds awful. Is it let out by an HA? You could speak to them, rather than the council.

Its a council house, other neighbours have complained and nothing has happened

I'll look at poplars thanks!

Do it! You can teach the trees to grow horizontally branches likes a preached tree or buy ready bought.

I would put a fence up

To get height quickly, you could build some raised beds in between the trees, add some trellising and grow Russian Vine - aka mile a minute. It grows really fast and is quite pretty. The trellising doesn’t need to be fancy - a couple of lengths of timber strips with garden wire between them will work perfectly.

YANBU to plant trees but YWBVU to plant leylandii, which for me would be almost as offputting when viewing a house as noisy neighbours. Silver birch also grow tall and are much nicer - native species, beneficial for wildlife, and look (and sound) beautiful.

You're perfectly free to do as you please in your own garden...well withing reason. Lots of examples given here and I think you'll find trees better at noise reduction than a fence, plus neighbours are less likely to lean against/nail stuff to it/paint it etc.
Do factor in both the initial cost and maintenance. Are you pretty able bodies and able to do this yourself?
I think trees/bushes will be good for wildlife too. See if you have any 'green groups' local that could offer advice if bio diversity and nature is on your agenda.

YANBU but plant the right thing. Something that will make a good hedge I reckon. If you go for crazy fast growing then you'll have to constantly trim it. And if it's evergreen then there's legal restrictions ("high hedges") over 2 metres. But if it's deciduous then it'll be see-through in winter, so...

Deliberately blocking their light is crossing a line though. You're planting them because they're nice in your garden and they give you privacy.

Trees don't grow fast enough in your time span, do provide the privacy and screen you want.

Do they have kids? If so, then before it goes for sale, I'd say " "Our house is going on the market, I will pay your teen 50 quid to tidy up your garden. "

Its not a complaint ot a conflict so you won't need to declare it to buyers.

Following as would LOVE some privacy from 'her' in the house behind and her stupid decking meaning i can see her and her friends stupid faces every time i look out the kitchen window. Looking for quick growing anything so I dont have to suffer her face this summer. Wagon.

Eucalyptus is also very quick growing and decorative, the foliage can be cut and used indoors to fill out flower vases. It also has a lot of movement, is graceful but not quite so dense as leylandii.

We planted a privet hedge to hide the neighbours ugly fence - and give us more privacy. Its grown really quickly - I was very surprised/ impressed with the growth.
It cost about £200.

On top of the advice given on what to grow, complain to the HA, make a nuisance of yourself and complain daily if you have to.

They won't do anything unless you make yourself an inconvenience to them.

If you're not up to it maybe your other half could?

Don’t plant Leylandii there are probably bylaws against that, plant a hedge or put up a high fence. You can also erect other structures in your garden without planning permission as long as they aren’t more than 4 m high and cover less than half the garden.

Red Robin's make a lovely hedge

Plant this

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/solanum-crispum-glasnevin/

It's a climber, grows really quickly but can be cut back when needed. It flowers all summer (and right up until Christmas where I am. It's also evergreen and gets woody so supports itself once it grows a bit. You'll need to put a few nails in the fence/wall and tie it up at first. Put in a few, about a foot from the wall and 6 feet apart, and it'll be up past the top of the wall by the end of the summer (when planting shove in a bag of manure).

Then plant a few other trees about 6 feet from the wall, they'll grow over the next couple of years and by the time you go to sell you won't be able to see next door.

Sometimes it's better to start with smaller trees, they grow quicker and are much, much less expensive.

If you plant a living hedge with willow rods it will be tall enough to screen within a few months
https://www.kingsbarntrees.co.uk/acatalog/Hedging---Screening.html

It's not petty to want privacy and a bit of peace in your own home or garden. I wouldn't worry about what anyone else thought. Just plant or build anything you like, within the bounds of the law.

Trees take a while to provide much of a screen, unless you can afford fairly large ones. If you want more privacy this summer, a fence or some other plant (annual vines on a trellis or pots of bamboo?) might be more effective.

Or bamboo, but you hace to keep on top of it.

We have a hedge of roses which is lovely, and another of dwarf apple trees, which is truly wondrous! DD is busy adding to that by buying more fruit trees/shrubs and growing them in massive pots. She's a canny spender and won't spend more then 20 quid on a tree, I don't know how she does it.

Laurels. I think poplars lose leaves in winter. You want an evergreen to block the view year round.

Not leylandii. A pest and only home to grey squirrels. Also destroys the area for planting underneath which any buyer would object to and a bugger to get rid of. And not bamboo - it squirrels around growing everywhere and needs digging out regularly unless it's a specialist bamboo. Willow is great but needs keeping on top of. A couple of well placed aspen with room for a screen carrying solanum, Russian vine and a rose would be lovely for buyers. Meanwhile, keep on reporting the neighbours.