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, branches coming over from next door, where the boundary is or a fence, CCTV or doorbell cameras, Japanese knotweed, 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: see our tenant rights guide.
• Who owns or must repair a fence or wall, and building work next door: ask Advice NI or a solicitor.
• 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, claiming against a neighbour over knotweed or other invasive plants, and claiming money for damage caused by a neighbour's tree or hedge: ask Advice NI or a solicitor.
• Court orders to stop harassment: ask a solicitor.
• The Valuation Tribunal's rules, fees and costs for a high hedge appeal: ask Advice NI or the Tribunal.
• The amount of any fine, fee or compensation. This guide gives no amounts.

What the rules depend on

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, branches or roots from next door, the boundary or a fence, CCTV or doorbell cameras, Japanese knotweed, or antisocial behaviour. Each has its own route below. Building work next door is 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 act. For most nuisances it must serve an abatement notice. For noise from a home or other premises it may instead take other steps to persuade the person to stop. If those steps fail, or the nuisance is still there after 7 days, 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 growing on land that is forest or woodland and is 0.2 hectares or more in area.
• 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.
• If the council issues a remedial notice, withdraws one, or waives or relaxes what one requires, the person who complained and every owner and occupier of the hedge land can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. The person who complained can also appeal if the council decides against them on either of the two questions it must decide: whether the hedge is adversely affecting their reasonable enjoyment of their home, and what action should be taken.
• An appeal must be made within 28 days of the date the notice was issued or, for any other decision, of the date the council told you about its decision. The Tribunal can allow a later time. If an appeal is made in time, the notice (or the withdrawal, waiver or relaxation) does not take effect until the appeal is decided or withdrawn.

Branches and roots from next door

• Under common law you can cut overhanging branches back to your boundary, as long as you offer the cuttings back to the owner and no other legal restriction applies, such as a tree preservation order. Check with your council first.
• The owner does not have to take the cuttings, remove them or pay for their removal.
• You cannot reduce the height of a hedge without the owner's agreement. For a hedge that is too high, see "High hedges".
• Roots: the High Hedges Act does not cover roots or damage they cause. Ask Advice NI or a solicitor.

Boundaries and fences

• The Land Registry map, kept by Land & Property Services (LPS), does not guarantee boundaries. The law says it is not conclusive about the boundaries or extent of the land.
• If you and your neighbour agree where the boundary is, you can ask LPS to record it, for example with a boundary agreement. A form and a fee are needed.
• If you cannot agree, ask Advice NI or a solicitor.
• How high a fence or wall can be is a planning question: ask your council's planning department.
• The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is England and Wales law and does not apply in Northern Ireland.

CCTV and doorbell cameras

• If a neighbour's CCTV or doorbell camera records beyond their own property boundary, data protection law applies and there are rules they must follow.
• You can ask the owner for a copy of footage you are in. In most cases they should reply within one calendar month. You can also ask them to delete footage you are in, and object to them recording you.
• You can complain to the Information Commission (the data protection regulator, which replaced the Information Commissioner's Office on 30 September 2026). But in most cases the Information Commission cannot make the owner delete recordings, move or remove the camera, or get footage for you.
• If the camera is part of wider behaviour that makes you feel harassed, you can report it to the police, or to your neighbour's landlord if they rent. The Information Commission says the police are unlikely to treat CCTV on its own as harassment.

Japanese knotweed

• It is an offence to plant Japanese knotweed or otherwise cause it to grow in the wild.
• If you have invasive plants on land you own or occupy, there are legal rules on how you control them, for example spraying, burning, burying or taking the waste away. You do not have to tell anyone it is on your land.
• Knotweed spreading onto your land from next door: ask Advice NI or a solicitor.

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

• 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.