Or are my elderly mum's neighbours?

[GracieGrowler]

My mum is a council tenant, has a house she's lived in for 50+ years on a nice estate where most of the houses are now privately owned, including the one adjoining her. She's 83 and a keen gardener, but goes for the cottage garden/wild roses look.
Her neighbours are total arseholes. In their late 50s both physically fit and capable but spend their days moaning and complaining. Every year at around this time they start putting letter thru her door about issues such as ivy over growing (I looked, it was literally 2 leaves) or her hedge. It upsets her terribly and makes her scared to be outside. In the past they have shouted and screamed at her and threatened her, and she thinks they poisoned a fox cub that she found dead.
They've just sent a new letter complaining that her hedge is too high and spoiling their view (of a road). It's probably about 5 foot tall at most. Do they have any grounds to complain and make her cut it legally, or can she just ignore them? It's not going over to their side of the property

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Just tell her to ignore and put a ring door bell up

If they come round and proceed to intimidate her, she should complain to police about harassment

The 1m rule only applies to walls and fences as they are development under the Planning Acts. Growing plants does not count as development and there is no restriction on height.

The High Hedges legislation only relates to evergreen species, or where a hedge is mostly every. It only comes into force for hedges over 2m (6'6").

Your poor Mum shouldn't have to put up with these feckin' bullies.
We bought a Dekco security camera from Amazon after some anti social behaviour on our close, I think it was £30. It is set up so you can see it on your phone and you'd be able to keep an eye on your Mum.
It's good for evidence, even the police officer who called about our complaint said the picture quality was brilliant.
Hope things improve for your Mum, and she gets to enjoy her garden again.

Exactly. Most solicitors charge £300 + per hour and certainly don't send letters out for free. I know as I've worked in law for many years. OP your neighbours have no redress at all. Your mum needs to either ignore them or go back to the HA and ask them to deal with it. She is in no way in the wrong here

It really is not illegal to cut hedges until the end of August. Where on earth did you get that from? This site is truly insane at times

I don't think this information is correct.

You need the
police (Neighbourhood team) to go to the neighbour. They are plain and simple bullying her and that is anti-social behaviour, causing fear, not sure if it’s a public order offence (possibly if outside).

Could you complain to the HA about the neighbours on your Mum's behalf? It's bullying and abuse of an elderly lady who just wants to enjoy her garden. Your poor Mum.

Sorry if I am repeating previous posts, but the law is quite explicit that cutting back hedges and trees after March 1st is forbidden. Cut back between late October until 28 February is fine. From March 1st, no. You must wait until the end of September. The rule is to protect fledglings. We have hordes of them in our garden now. Learning to fly and practising landings. Working out how to get on to the feeding stations, and where to peck. And in a few days, we're taking the bird table away so they learn how to feed themselves during summer when food will be abundant.

It's hedges with nesting birds under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.

When in doubt you presume there are birds there until you can prove otherwise

I lived in a house share with lots of hedges and we had to wait until the middle of kids school holidays in England before we cut them back. There were actually nesting birds in two of them.

One of my friends also had high hedges. They don't cut them back until August every year.

There is a high hedges act. However no way would you net the criteria. It’s worth a read. You could even print off and highlight and use as evidence why it’s fine to them. Good to know the criteria. There’s an ‘over the hedge’ section that could be useful as that’s the approach they should be taking.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council

like they’re just being bullies. Maybe make a diary and keep the letters and take photos of the garden and hedge for reference purposes. Quivering if there’s grounds for harassment. No harm in revisiting with HA/police. There is the nesting season rule where she’s not be able to prune either.

Your poor mum.

What are you on about ?

My mother had an issue with a difficult neighbour always reporting her to the police for ridiculous things. In the end we sent a recorded delivery letter to them telling to cease and desist her harassment or you will be taking legal action. I’d also get a ring doorbell and state that n the letter - that you will be recording and documenting all incidents of harassment or bullying from this point forward. It did work with my mum’s neighbour.

You are quite right @Spirallingdownwards
theres no maximum height limit for a hedge on boundaries.

OP. They cannot force your mum to cut her hedge.
She is not legally obliged to do so.
If the neighbours want to take the matter to court the amount of overshadowing will be considered. It doesn’t sound like there’s excessive height or overshadowing and fake grass 🤢doesn’t need the sun.

Harassment of elderly people is a crime. Please ring the police again and tell them they are harassing an elderly vulnerable person.

My mum had a crash and someone was pressuring her to pay for the damage as they didn't have gap insurance. They said they were going to come to the house within the house and speak to her. I rang the police as I was unable to get there and they went straight round to him and said if they go near her house they would be arrested.

My mum never heard from them again and the insurance went through as normal. The police were very good.

There is an exception to the rule (but an agricultural one, and informal) that says pigeons are fair game but only because they breed repeatedly year round. Pigeons are charming, but there are far too many of them, and they outbreed almost every other species, so their numbers need to be controlled. The breasts are really delicious to eat, but put the rest of the carcass in food waste

That is only true for farmers and landowners. There is no such restriction on cutting domestic garden hedges. Otherwise people couldn't have those ridiculous topiary arrangements.