Neighbour tree law in Northern Ireland: high hedges
The High Hedges Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 gives district councils a complaints system for hedges that block a neighbour's light. This page restates the Act's section numbers and what nidirect and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs say about it.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It describes the Northern Ireland high hedge law as read on October 8, 2026 on legislation.gov.uk, nidirect and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) site.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The wording below restates the Act and the pages, and a short phrase in quotation marks is the source's own.
What counts as a high hedge
Section 1 applies the Act to a complaint by an owner or occupier of a domestic property who says the height of a high hedge on land owned or occupied by another person is adversely affecting reasonable enjoyment of the property. It also covers the owner of an unoccupied property, for the effect on a prospective occupier. Section 1(4) says the Act does not apply to complaints about the effect of the roots of a high hedge.
Section 2 defines a high hedge as so much of a barrier to light as is formed wholly or predominantly by a line of two or more evergreens and rises to a height of more than two metres above ground level. Evergreen includes semi-evergreen trees and shrubs. A line of evergreens is not a barrier to light if gaps significantly affect its overall effect at heights of more than two metres. Section 2(4) adds that nothing in the Act applies to trees growing on land of 0.2 hectares or more in area which is forest or woodland. The DAERA page repeats this exclusion and says a complaint cannot be made about single trees or single shrubs, whatever their size. It says people do not need council permission to grow or keep a hedge along the boundary of their property, and that councils intervene only when a complaint is made.
The complaint and the council's decision
Section 3 sets the procedure. A complaint goes to the district council for the area where the hedge stands, with the fee the council determines. The council may decide a complaint should not go ahead if it considers the complainant has not taken all reasonable steps to resolve the matter, or that the complaint is frivolous or vexatious. Otherwise it must decide whether the height of the hedge is adversely affecting the complainant's reasonable enjoyment of the property and, if so, what action should be taken under a remedial notice. It must tell the people concerned of its decision and its reasons.
On fees, section 4 says the Department sets by regulations the maximum fee a council may determine. A fee received must be refunded where a remedial notice is issued and takes effect, and may be refunded in other circumstances the council decides. The nidirect page says the maximum fee is £360 and that the fee is refunded if the council finds the complaint justified and remedial action is taken. It gives the reasons for a fee as the service benefits an individual rather than the community in general, a fee helps make sure complaints are genuine, it is a payment for a service and not a penalty, and it encourages people to resolve disputes amicably. Before a complaint, the nidirect page lists talking to the neighbour, inviting independent mediators, and sending a polite letter, and it says involving the council should be a last resort.
The remedial notice and appeals
Section 5 describes the remedial notice. It states the initial action to be taken before the end of the compliance period and any preventative action afterwards. Section 5(3) says the action is not to require or involve a reduction in the height of the hedge to less than two metres above ground level, or the removal of the hedge. The notice takes effect on an operative date at least 28 days after it is issued. While it has effect it is a statutory charge and binds every person who is for the time being an owner or occupier of the hedge land. Section 6 lets the council withdraw a notice or relax a requirement.
Section 7 lets the complainant and the owners and occupiers of the hedge land appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, and lets the complainant appeal a decision made against them. An appeal goes in within 28 days of the relevant date, or a later time the Tribunal allows, and the notice has no effect while an appeal is pending. Section 8 says the Tribunal may allow or dismiss an appeal in whole or in part, quash a notice or decision, and correct a defect, error or misdescription in a notice.
Enforcement
Section 10 makes it an offence, where a remedial notice requires action that is not taken in time, for every owner or occupier of the hedge land at a relevant time, with a fine on summary conviction not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. Section 12 lets a person authorised by the council enter the land and take the action the notice requires, and wilful obstruction of that person is an offence. The Act's own wording on a further offence for continuing failure is in section 10(9).
Protected trees and the rules for branches are separate from this Act. See the guide on tree protection orders, bylaws and permits, the page for England and Wales, whose Act has the same structure, and the neighbour tree law overview.