Fence height regulations. Is there any leeway?

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acequion

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I want to erect a fence to the side/front of my house for privacy. At present there is only a low boundary wall between my house and the house next door.So I would build the fence on my side of the boundary wall.

I have exactly 3 feet in length along the side up to my gable. Therefore, to my knowledge, as this is the side of my property, I can have a height of 1.8 metres without planning permission. However the 3 feet of length gives me very little screening so I have planted a fast growing grisalinea hedge a bit further out front. But there will still be a gap of about 2 feet between where the fence would stop and the hedge begins and further planting is not possible there.

If I were to extend the fence even another few inches in length beyond the gable towards the front, could that potentially cause issues? Does the front of a property, where you can only have 1.2 metres in height, begin strictly at the gable? Or is there some leeway allowed? My neighbours are not very nice, so I prefer to play safe.

Any advice on this please? Thanks.
 
In theory you'd need planning permission and cranky neighbours might object if you just go ahead, that said a grisilinia hedge will easily fill in that 2ft back towards the wall fairly quickly. As it grows tie a few side branches towards the gap and it will fill it in even quicker. Is there space there at all for a pot for the time being with a single grisilinia in it? If you had the pot space you can buy the single potted ones quite big already.

I often see the higher wall sloped to the lower wall with the slope starting at the exact gable so I suppose that gives a slight little bit extra coverage!
 
Thanks Monbretia for your reply. I actually went today and bought two more grisalinia and planted them into a trough planter beside the hedge, which now brings screening right up to my gable. But there is still a serious gap of almost 3 feet where the sides and entrances to the two houses meet. I could get fencing there of 1.8 metres in height as the neighbour's entrance is 3 feet further back from my gable so it is the side of my house. But like you say, perhaps the grisolinia will fill in that gap over time and no more screening may be necessary. Erecting such a narrow fence may not be worth the hassle and expense. What do people think?
 
Grisilinia will fill out a fair old gap if left grow but it just takes time. They grow as big as trees if not restrained! Only danger is I lost all my grisilinia hedges back in the snow/frost of whatever year it was very bad. That said I still planted more and they filled out in no time.
 
Do not forget the party wall between the two houses are shared and you should have agreement with your neighbour. You do not want to damage foundations to your house and the neighbours house if too close to the properties. The neighbour or council can be challenging the installation. The neighbour may cut it back to the bear min on their side as it affects their own grounds as it grows and put the cuttings on your side to dispose of. If you put too much of a hedge you are opening yourself to others questioning why so much privacy and what are you up too. Also Theives love hidden front entrances. If is sheltered anyone could try to get into the house as no one could see what is going on.
. Bear in mind you need to have a peaceful life. Even if you do not get along with your neighbour you are setting out a bad stall.
Party walls at the front should not be any higher than 1.2 metres at the front no higher than 2 metres at the back. If you decide to put a large fast growing hedge or higher timber fence /panelling along the boundary you may find the council could demand you take it down.
 
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To my knowledge there are no legal restrictions on shubbery so I can't think how the council would be empowered to order a property owner to remove hedging unless it posed a danger. A well maintained hedge between two houses at a good distance from foundations is hardly a danger. If that were the case hedges all the over the country would have to come down.

Thanks for your input @ Sconeandjam. However, it is not always possible, unfortunately, to get along with everybody and bad neighbours are a reality. Therefore wanting some privacy is very understandable, imo. I'm aware that the neighbour can send the cuttings back and that is something I'll deal with down the line if needs be. In fact the owners no longer live there and have just handed the house over to property management for rental so the new tenants may actually be more reasonable than the owners,can't be worse in any case.
 
The council won't make you take down a hedge or even cut it unless it overhangs the path or is obstruction in some other way, certainly not between houses! I have the dreaded leylandii cut into a hedge along one side of my property, I keep it neat but it had grown out a good bit over the path, now it was tidy and it was a very wide path but council asked me to trim it back to the wall which I did. Not a mention of anything else to do with it and it's high!

On the question of the neighbours trimming their side, they can of course cut back to their boundary wall but they can't just throw the offcuts over the wall to your side to dispose of, technically they must offer them back to you in case you want them and if you don't must dispose of themselves. A tad unfair really that they should have to dispose of them but that's the way it is! Most reasonable neighbours would of course take them back and in even more reasonable neighbours would get the other side of the hedge trimmed when cutting back their own if it's encroaching on neighbours property. I always send my hedge trimmer guy around to next door neighbours side to trim and clean up the cuttings from their side, have had several neighbours on that side and not one has objected to that system.
 
Thanks for that Monbretia. Sounds like you have decent neighbours and to be fair most people are grand. I'm just unlucky with these people, the properties are original family homes and there has been blood between the families going back decades. This family aren't well liked in the neighbourhood and every other neighbour is very sound.

My latest worry is very cold weather forecast for next week and how to protect my newly planted griselinia from sub zero temps. I'm in the south west, so keeping all fingers and toes crossed that we won't get it too bad.
 
You could get a bit of gardening fleece and wrap it round them, bit of hassle but might be worth it. Normally you'd think it would be consoling to be in the south west as not usually as cold as further up the country but I'm in the south west too so that didn't save mine! Mind you that was exceptionally long cold spell that year, hopefully next week wont be that bad.
 
Thanks so much Monbretia. You can get that stuff in Woodies so will head over and get some tomorrow. Do you cover the soil or the individual plants or both? A hassle but I'd cry if I lost them having just planted them.

May I ask what year did we have that bad frost when you lost yours? We had a brief cold snap in early December two years ago. Before that it was the big freeze of about 10 or 12 years ago.
 
I'd just wrap it around the plant down as far as the soil as I assume they are small enough plants so don't have a fine big woody stem yet.

I can't remember when that bad frost/snow was, it's a good few years ago as the new hedges are big now! We had about very cold weather and snow and then that snow didn't thaw for the best part of two weeks I'd say so it was an extended period of low temps rather than just the odd night or two. I tried google but can't seem to figure out when it was, big talking point especially here in Kerry as snow uncommon on the ground for so long.

Had a look through old garden pics on laptop and in 2013 I can see the new hedging in place so it was possibly in the previous few years to that.
 
@Monbretia, I hugely appreciate your prompt replies and advice so thanks a million! :)

My new griselinia would be well over 5 feet in height as I wanted the best immediate screening I could get. I would have planted them ages ago as they came from pots, but I was waiting for bare root privet which turned out to be not a good idea in the end so I had to choose a plan B. So they have only just been planted, but yes the stems are still quite small but I have a good 12 foot long row of them, about 10 plants. I will go to Woodies tomorrow and get whatever I need and fingers tightly crossed!

I'd say you are talking about those really bad winters we had around 2010 or 2011. Schools closed and there was widespread disruption. Hopefully next week's event will be nothing of that magnitude, I'd never be that unlucky to get a once in a 20 year freeze the minute I plant a new hedge :eek: But I want to take all necessary precautions just in case.

Thanks again.:)
 
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