What Are My Rights in a Neighbour Dispute in Northern Ireland?

Who this guide is for

People in Northern Ireland who have a problem with a neighbour: noise, a high hedge, or antisocial behaviour. It covers the steps to take first, what the council, the Housing Executive and the police can do, and when court is the last resort.

What this guide does not cover

• England, Wales or Scotland: see the England and Wales guide or the Scotland guide.
• A problem with your own landlord, such as repairs or a notice to quit: use the tenant rights checker.
• Branches or roots coming over from next door, where the boundary is, fences, shared walls and building work next door: ask Advice NI or a solicitor. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is England and Wales law and does not apply in Northern Ireland.
• Planning permission, including how high a fence or wall can be and extensions: ask your council's planning department.
• Right to light, rights of way, and claiming money for damage caused by a neighbour's tree or hedge: ask Advice NI or a solicitor.
• CCTV or doorbell cameras pointing at your home: the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has guidance.
• Court orders to stop harassment: ask a solicitor.
• Appeals against a council's high hedge decision: the decision explains any right of appeal. This guide does not cover them.
• The amount of any fine, fee or compensation. This guide gives no amounts.

The questions that decide the answer

1. Where do you live? Northern Ireland: this guide. England, Wales or Scotland: see that nation's guide.
2. What is the problem? Noise, a high hedge, or antisocial behaviour. Each has its own route below. Trees, boundaries and building work next door are not covered.
3. Is it criminal, such as intimidation, harassment, criminal damage, assault or a hate crime? Yes: contact the PSNI. No: start with the informal steps.
4. Does your neighbour rent from the Housing Executive, a housing association or a private landlord? Yes: you can also report the problem to that landlord.
5. What have you already tried? The council can refuse a high hedge complaint if you have not taken all reasonable steps to resolve it first.

First steps: talk, mediation, landlord

• If possible, talk to the person causing the problem. If that does not work, write to them explaining the problem and keep a copy. You can use our free noise letter to a neighbour.
• Mediation: an independent third party listens to your views and your neighbour's to help you reach an agreement. Mediation Northern Ireland provides mediation.
• It is important to try to resolve matters informally. This shows a court you have acted reasonably if you later need to take legal action.
• The Housing Executive investigates antisocial behaviour that involves or affects its properties or tenants, including noisy or disruptive tenants, neglected homes or gardens and neighbourhood disputes. Housing associations and private landlords also deal with antisocial behaviour by their tenants.

Noise: the council

• If informal attempts do not work, you can complain about noise to your local council.
• The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 gives councils authority to deal with noise from land and premises that they consider damaging to health or a statutory nuisance.
• A statutory nuisance is more than an annoyance or irritation. It is a disturbance that interferes significantly with your right to enjoy your home. There is no fixed level of noise: the council's officer considers the reaction of the average, reasonable person, taking into account how loud it is, when and how often it happens and how long it lasts.
• If the council is satisfied that a statutory nuisance exists, it must serve an abatement notice.
• Night hours (11pm to 7am): under the Noise Act 1996, when a council investigates a noise complaint about a neighbour, entertainment venue, pub, club or restaurant during night hours, it can issue a warning, issue a fixed penalty notice or seize noise-making equipment.
• The council may ask you to keep a diary of the dates and times of each disturbance, or to let its officers into your home to monitor the noise.

High hedges

• The High Hedges Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 came into effect on 31 March 2012. It lets the owner or occupier of a home complain to the council about a neighbour's high hedge.
• A high hedge is a barrier to light formed wholly or mainly by a line of 2 or more evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs, rising to more than 2 metres above ground level. Gaps above 2 metres that significantly reduce its effect as a barrier mean it does not count.
• A complaint cannot be made about single trees or single shrubs, whatever their size, about the effect of roots, or about trees in a woodland of more than 0.2 hectares.
• You must take all reasonable steps to resolve the problem first. The council can decide not to deal with a complaint if you have not, or if it is frivolous or vexatious. Some councils ask for a copy of the letter you sent your neighbour.
• Complain to the council for the area where the hedge is. You must pay a fee if the council has set one.
• The council acts as an independent and impartial third party. It does not negotiate or mediate. It decides whether the height of the hedge is adversely affecting your reasonable enjoyment of your home and, if so, what action is needed, and issues a remedial notice to the hedge owner.
• You do not normally need permission to plant a hedge, and the law does not mean that every hedge over 2 metres must be cut down. Each case is decided on its own merits.

Antisocial behaviour and the police

• Local councils can investigate noise nuisance, high hedge disputes, litter and illegal dumping, graffiti, fly posting, dog fouling, dog nuisance, stray dogs and abandoned vehicles.
• The Housing Executive: telephone 034 4892 0900.
• Contact the police to report criminal behaviour, including intimidation, harassment, criminal damage, assaults, drunken and rowdy behaviour in a public place, drug use or dealing and hate crime. Call 999 in an emergency. For non-emergency calls, call 101 (Tesco Mobile or giffgaff users call 028 9065 0222).
• When you report antisocial behaviour, give as much information as possible, including dates and times.

Going to court

• Court is the last resort. For a claim for money, see the small claims guide for Northern Ireland. A dispute about who owns land (title to land) cannot go to the small claims court. For anything else, ask Advice NI or a solicitor.

Deadlines

• This guide gives no deadlines for Northern Ireland. Ask Advice NI or a solicitor about any time limit, including for a court claim.

Money figures

• This guide gives no money figures. It cannot tell you the amount of any fine, fee or compensation. High hedge complaint fees are set by each council.

Traps

• The high hedge law covers only evergreen or semi-evergreen hedges. Single trees and roots are not covered.
• The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 and the ASB Case Review (Community Trigger) are England and Wales rules. They do not apply in Northern Ireland.
• Northern Ireland's noise law is the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 together with the Noise Act 1996 night powers.
• Employment tribunal time limits never apply to neighbour disputes.