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High hedges – remedial notice |
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New controls on high hedges will come into force later this year when Part 8 of Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 comes into force. Until now, the only remedies against a neighbour with an unduly high hedge were the difficult concept of interference with the right to light, or perhaps trespass (in relation to branches and roots).
However, any owner or occupier of domestic (not commercial) property will be able to make a complaint that the ‘reasonable enjoyment’ of the property has been adversely affected by the height of a hedge growing on neighbouring land.
The LA will then have to consider all relevant factors (including the views of the owner of the hedge and the effect of the hedge on wider amenity of the area). The LA can issue a remedial notice, and it can also order the hedge owner to carry out works within a prescribed period of time (with the LA having default power to carry out the works itself and recover the costs from the owner – with those costs then being registered as a local land charge).
These procedures are intended as a last resort. The LA will expect there to have been reasonable attempts to resolve the problem by negotiation, and in any event the LA cannot become involved unless the hedge is at least 2m high (with a hedge being defined as comprising two or more evergreen or semi-evergreen shrubs – so the controls will not apply to a single tall tree).
Just how willing LAs will be to get involved in neighbour disputes of this sort remains to be seen. For an introductory note see [2004] EG 24 July 103.
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September 2004 |
