The rules for a back garden

This page is about the rules for a back garden in England. It covers sheds and summerhouses, fences, paving, a neighbour's hedge or branches, protected trees, bonfires and nesting birds.

Sheds and summerhouses

In England, you can usually put up a shed or summerhouse without a planning application, as long as it stays within limits set in law. This is called permitted development.

The building can have only one storey. It can be up to 4 metres high with a dual-pitched roof, or 3 metres high with any other roof. Within 2 metres of the boundary, the limit is 2.5 metres. The eaves can be no higher than 2.5 metres.

No part of it can stand forward of the main front wall of the original house. The original house means the house as it was first built, or as it stood on 1 July 1948 if it is older. A garden building cannot include a verandah, balcony or raised platform.

Together, extensions and garden buildings can cover no more than half the ground around the original house.

What a garden building can be used for

The right covers buildings used for things that go with living in the house. Storage counts, and so does keeping pets, poultry or bees.

Government guidance says it does not cover a bedroom, bathroom or kitchen.

Listed buildings, flats and protected areas

These rights apply to houses. The Planning Portal says they do not apply to flats or maisonettes.

They do not cover a garden building in the grounds of a listed building.

In a National Park, the Broads, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or a World Heritage Site, the limits are tighter. Buildings more than 20 metres from the house can cover no more than 10 square metres.

Building regulations for small sheds

Building regulations are a separate question from planning. The Planning Portal says they will not normally apply to a detached shed or summerhouse under 15 square metres, if it has no sleeping accommodation. Between 15 and 30 square metres, they normally still do not apply if it has no sleeping accommodation and is at least 1 metre from the boundary, or built mostly of materials that do not burn.

Fences and walls

In England, you can put up a fence, wall or gate up to 2 metres high without a planning application. Next to a road used by vehicles, the limit is 1 metre. Around a listed building, this right does not apply.

Paving

The drainage rule for paving is a front garden rule. It covers new or replacement paving over 5 square metres between the main front wall of the house and a road. There, to do it without planning permission, the surface must let water through, or the rainwater must run to a lawn, border or other surface that drains.

A neighbour's high hedge

In law, a high hedge is a line of two or more evergreens that is more than 2 metres tall and blocks light or access. Councils cannot deal with roots.

GOV.UK says you must try to settle a high hedge dispute with your neighbour before the council can step in. If the council accepts your complaint, you will most likely have to pay a fee.

The council cannot order your neighbour to remove the hedge, or to cut it below 2 metres.

Branches over the boundary

You can trim branches or roots that cross into your garden from a neighbour's property. You can only trim up to the boundary. GOV.UK says that if you go further, your neighbour could take you to court. If the tree has a Tree Preservation Order or is in a conservation area, you might need the council's permission first.

Citizens Advice says the branches still belong to your neighbour, and suggests asking whether they will let you throw them away.

Protected trees

A council in England can protect a tree with a Tree Preservation Order. Then nobody may cut it down, top it, lop it, uproot it, or wilfully damage or destroy it, without the council's written consent.

In a conservation area, for a tree that has no Tree Preservation Order, you must tell the council 6 weeks before certain work on it, unless an exception applies. This is called a section 211 notice.

One exception covers small trees. If the trunk is no more than 75 millimetres across, measured 1.5 metres above the ground, you can cut down, uproot, top or lop it without notice.

Bonfires

GOV.UK says there are laws about burning certain kinds of waste, and about bonfires causing a nuisance.

If smoke from a neighbour's bonfire is a nuisance, the council can issue an abatement notice. Garden bonfires are allowed in smoke control areas, as long as you follow the rules on bonfires.

The RHS, a gardening charity, says a bonfire pile can shelter a hibernating hedgehog. It suggests building the pile just before you light it, or moving it and checking through it first.

Nesting birds

GOV.UK says all wild birds, their eggs and their nests are protected by law. It is an offence to intentionally damage or destroy a wild bird's nest while it is in use or being built.

It also says that trimming or cutting trees, bushes and hedges can affect wild birds, particularly during the breeding season. It says you can usually avoid harming birds by timing your work to avoid the breeding season. Check for nests before you cut.

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