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

OP if you put up ring door bell or other camera just be careful what you take videos off. Make sure the images don't go further than her property boundaries. If she has high hedges and fences that shouldn't be too hard to do.

Also put a (small) sticker somewhere on the front that the house has CCTV.

Otherwise the neighbours will accuse her of harassing them with her camera(s) and they will probably win any argument as they can go to her HA to complain.

Nonsense.

That's the same thought that'd I just had
How nasty to be bullying an old lady.

Which UK law is this, please? I can't find it and it'd be super-helpful re our neighbour's hedge.

Re trees/hedges there is high hedges legislation, but if 5 ft, then its well within the regs. The regs are there to protect amenity value (enjoyment of ones property but not views) as well as to allow adequate light in. Re amenity value, the hedge would have to be imposing and close in a way that ruins them living there.

I don't believe that there is any legislation against cutting hedges during nesting seasons, only wildlife legislation to protect ground nesting birds (The Wildlife Act 1981).

I would install cameras if it makes your mother feel safer and get her to save any letters from them and date them. Other than that she is best to ignore them and not interact at all.

I do not believe this to be true. I believe that it is 6ft, unless this has changed recently. In some developments and estates there are some restrictive covenants which may restrict hedge heights. This could apply to some council accomodation.

Actually I'm pretty certain that there is no legal height for hedges, but that as a general rule a 2 metres is considered perfectly acceptable. The 6ft rule applies to fences. Or it used to be 6ft. It could now be 2 metres.

There's no maximum height for deciduous hedges, I've got a 10ft one between one neighbour and the other side must be 20ft at least. The high hedges act only applies to hedges over 2m if they are fully or almost all evergreen.
It's not illegal to cut hedges at any time of year but it is illegal to disturb nesting birds so you have to check for nests before cutting. Much safer to wait till at least August when they will have fledged.

I would be tempted to pay a solicitor to send a letter asking them to stop harassing her.

March - August inclusive it’s not legal to cut hedgerows
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hedgerow-regulations-to-be-brought-into-law-to-protect-wildlife
its illegal to cut hedges if there may be nesting birds:
https://www.broadleaftreesurgery.co.uk/when-to-cut-hedges-to-avoid-nesting-birds/#:~:text=You%20should%20only%20cut%20hedges,and%20Countryside%20Act%20of%201981.

They are also campaigning to have the trees in the wood at the bottom of the garden cut down

@GracieGrowler so after you followed all the good advice o here don't forget to ring the the lovely people at the council and ask them to put some tree preservation orders on some of those trees so they can't be cut down. My dad did that with some of the trees in his neighbours back garden as they where really big one's and it would have left their garden very exposed if they had cut them all down. The council seem very happy to do this especially for certain spices of trees.

That'll make them happy. I don't think his neighbours know who wrang the council 🤔.

The proposed March to August ban appears to relate only to farmers when you read the press release. It would be good if it applied to householders but doesn't appear to. The legislation regarding disturbing nesting birds does apply to them.

The 2m/6ft is for fences.
It does not apply to hedges or tress or plants growing on the border.

( unless as you say there is a restrictive covenant put in place by the original developer )

Not according to the rhs. They say a high hedge is above 2m and can be reduced if your neighbour makes an official complaint that is upheld.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/types/hedges/nuisance-overgrown

I’d have a special bin for their unopened letters. Post them back through their letterbox once a month or so.

The neighbours need a talking to (preferably by a scary looking family member) so they know she isn’t alone.

As I previously posted
The neighbours would have to take the issue to the council or court
OPs mothers hedge isn’t that high
The council will deem whether it overshadows but there is no height limit in law

I'd maybe speak to citizen's advice. The neighbors need to stop making an elderly woman's life miserable, it is not fair!!

Good luck.

Wow, so much conflicting 'legal advice' in one thread, lots of it from people who blatently don't actually know what the law says, and are just making things up. And keep mentioning HAs (housing associations) when the OP clearly stated that her mum was a council tenant and the neigbours owned their house.

I think the OP should ignore all of it (and visit the 'Legal Matters' area at https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/legal_matters if she wants proper advice from people who are more qualified to give it) and take courage from the fact that pretty much everyone agrees that it's the neighbours who are being unreasonable here.

I would second the suggestion of contacting Age UK:
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/services/age-uk-advice-line/
And potentially letting other (more sympathetic|) neighbours know what's going on. Many people would take a dim view of this sort of bullying behaviour.

I also think it would be worth her letting her housing officer know what's going on, as they might be able to help/ refer her to other local support services (incl neighbourhood safety teams, handyperson services, etc - varies from place to place), make sure other agencies are aware of the problem, send a formal warning to the neighbours about their behaviour etc.

Well, with a bit of luck the council tree officer will put paid to any attempt to cut down trees. I was beyond impressed some years ago by our council tree officer, who very promptly put a neighbour (a would-be tree killer) straight. The bloke had already started cutting a tree down - he was forced to stop. The poor tree did eventually recover, but the man had been told that if it didn’t, he’d have to replace it - with a very expensive well-grown one.

Absolutely not true.

As a PP mentioned have a look on the Garden law forum.
Very informative and there are people that have a background on the subject.

I think the phrase you’re looking for is complete and utter nonsense!

@GracieGrowler if she’s a tenant then check the tenancy agreement. HA or council ones usually have a bit in them talking about how gardens should be looked after. Or contact them to find out. Sounds like neighbours are trying to intimidate poor Mum.

Are you sure?