Can I remove plants on a shared access path legally?

[Venusisthebest]

Am I allowed to trim back overgrown foliage on a shared access path which goes through my neighbours property? Anyone know the legal implications (if any) if I did this?

I’m sorry too, but op has a legal right to use the path, and even if she only uses it for putting her bins out, the owner of the path should keep the access clear of vegetation. Whether she uses it to get in and out of her house is irrelevant. She needs to use it for the bins.

This must be a very unusual path with very rare foliage

Are the relations between you and this neighbour generally very poor?

Doesn’t matter. The neighbour should cut back the plants, or if they can’t be arsed, let op do it. Otherwise, how does she put her bins out?

Oh it matters.

Anyone else use this shared path despite you and the neighbour @Venusisthebest ?

@Oldgum no it's just me that has access. And no we don't get on well with the neighbours.

https://quinnlaw.co.uk/overgrown-hedge-interfering-with-right-of-way/

in legal terms the overgrown plants making access difficult are a ‘nuisance’. You may have the right to trim them back if they begin to prevent access but they could then assert you have caused criminal damage.

If informal chats have shown they are not willing to take action, you should write a polite factual letter outlining your concerns about the foliage and asking that they remove it as your access rights are set out clearly in your deeds and the foliage is now / will soon become a nuisance. Ask them to reply in a month with their thoughts on the matter. Keep all your comms from now on in writing in case it’s needed as court evidence. Don’t add anything you can’t prove as evidence eg no ‘you obviously feel my rights mean nothing’ type stuff. You may need specialist legal advice if a formal letter doesn’t get a response and they don’t take action.

Not at all surprised!

Well no it’s not surprising, because the neighbours are obviously being difficult and illegally obstructing a legal right of way, causing inconvenience and stress to the OP when it should have been clear from their deeds and conveyance that their land was subject to this right.

@Choux thanks that's useful. But also, realistically if they did sue me for criminal damages surely it won't be that much? The plant is not valuable and trimming it back would not cause long term damage to the main plant.

So is it a row of terraces and you are at the far end?

@ALovelyPinkUnicorn correct.

I am not a lawyer. But this says for low value damage the sentence is typically a conditional discharge or fine but could be up to 3 months in prison! So you might get away with trimming it back once but if you kept doing it and met the wrong judge on the wrong day…

It would be safer to work on getting them to agree to trim it back annually to avoid being prosecuted and have a long term solution.

https://kangandco.co.uk/2025/10/23/minimum-sentence-for-criminal-damage-in-the-uk/

Who owns the path? Is it shared ownership between all the houses and you each have right of access / easement.

Or is it owned by the council. Or one of the houses on its own owns and is responsible.

Whoever owns it will have the responsibility to keep it clear i would think. Without knowing that I can’t say how I’d go about it.

@PinkHairbrushClub I think the neighbour owns it but I've got right of access. It's definitely not council. I think I need to buy the deeds for next door and look if it says anything on theirs specifically.

If you’re honest @Venusisthebest

How overgrown is this path? And what’s on either side of the path?

You have every right to keep the path clear by trimming back the hedge. You also have the right to make the ground suitable for the intended purpose. What you have with a right of way is a legal interest in the land subject to the ROW.

I would check ownership, yes. Just so when you have any conversations you’re working from accurate details!

Can you get your bins out currently ?
Every time I had to move the bins, I’d be surreptitiously cutting with secatuers

@Oldgum not that overgrown (yet) just untidy and annoying. It could use a trim but not impassible yet. That's why I'm asking this question now so when it gets worse and I have to do something about it! And for future reference as I'm likely to be living here a while! Their house is on one side and their garden on the other side of the path. Plants growing on both sides.

Yes, I'd probably do this as well.

A shared access path that goes through your neighbour’s property? I can’t get my head around this.

So the path is on their property. Is it open to the public or just your property? Where does the path lead to?

@Surprisingmyself it's a path along the back of a row terraced houses. It goes through people's back gardens. At the end of the path is the gate to my property which is completely private as I'm at the end of the row, so no one else has access. I'm going to look at the deeds and see who actually owns the path/is responsible for it though as now I'm not sure!

And are you the only one that has to walk past this bit of the path? The rest of the path is absolutely fine?

Are they the last neighbour on the path, or are they inconveniencing other people as well?

I've known terraces like this, where everyone walks past their front doors and then through everyone else's garden to use the back door as the main entrance. I think it's quite old fashioned, a hold over from when the front doors were 'for best' and probably only used to let the Vicar in!

Seems utterly mad to me, and is why I'd never buy a house with a ROW, but they have so they can't go blocking it because they don't like you much.