Neighbouring tenants clash in common backyard dispute: 'Not fair at all'
Elderly Sydney renter Tim says he's not prepared to cut his neighbour's protruding hedge, but is dismayed by his lack of options.
A tenant's frustration over a neighbour's protruding hedges has once again brought attention to the murky rules surrounding overgrown trees and bushes at a dividing fence – one of Australia's most common causes of backyard disputes.
Sydney resident Tim, who is nearing his 60s, told Yahoo News Australia he is getting too old to regularly trim a hedge that he says has grown too high and is also encroaching onto his land from his neighbour's property.
"Isn't it common sense that you would trim your own hedge if it grew wider into your neighbour's yard?" he said, revealing his neighbour had refused to trim the bush when asked.
"I'm not going to trim his tree for him every year until I die."
Sharing photos of the hedge in question next to his Canada Bay home, Tim revealed when he first moved in the hedges were neatly trimmed back away from his side of the fence, which the neighbour says the tenant before Tim had done. But Tim says that shouldn't be his responsibility.
Tim says his neighbour, like he, is a renter. Tenants are required to perform general garden maintenance such as pruning, however more substantial work is the responsibility of a landlord.
After reaching out to council, Tim said he wasn't given the support he'd hoped for.
"We live in Australia and it's supposed to be a fair country but this is not fair at all," he said.
So where do Tim – and many other disgruntled Aussies in a similar situation – stand?
Councils unable to assist neighbours in hedge disputes
A City of Canada Bay Council spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo News such a dispute did not come under their management, and only becomes involved when it comes to pruning and removing trees, where council-issued permits are required.
Instead, council refers residents like Tim to the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006, which "provides an appropriate framework for managing such matters".
Similar acts exist in Queensland and Tasmania and if a settlement between neighbours isn't reached, the dispute can end up in court which can then lead to an order for the offending hedge to be cut by its owner if it is encroaching over a fence, or has been deemed to have obstructed sunlight or a view.
But for other states, the onus is instead on the complainant under a 'common law' which entitles them to legally trim any encroaching shrubbery that has become a "nuisance" that affects their "amenity".
Real estate lawyer Anthony J Cordato explains such nuisances could be bushes that cast shade, cause grass to die off, restrict light so that vegetable gardens do not grow, drop leaves into swimming pools, fill roof gutters with leaves, twigs and berries, block sunlight to a room in a house or block a view.
With the route of taking a neighbour to court complex, time consuming and ultimately expensive, Andrew Simpson, Tree Management Team Leader at Woollahra Council, believes councils should have a greater role in helping find a solution between neighbours.
Simpson says councils "traditionally avoid being involved in what is regarded as a private dispute" and calls for a formal procedure for councils to manage disputes to avoid them escalated in the court.
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