My neighbour doesn't look after his garden: what can I do?

Your neighbour is neglecting their garden: what it means for you

You can’t choose your neighbours! And sometimes the consequences can be serious for your well‑being, especially in cases of night‑time disturbance or noise nuisance. If you live in a house, neighbourhood‑related nuisances can also be visual. Indeed, it is not uncommon for your nearest neighbour, whether owner or tenant of the premises, to leave their garden completely neglected. And this lack of maintenance can begin to exasperate you greatly, despite your tolerance for the idea of a wild garden. Indeed, you fully agree with the current trend of rewilding the garden, and are quite open to letting nature take its course, but there are still limits…

Thus, scrub and brambles colonising every space, weeds proliferating from one season to the next, building waste and rubble piled in a corner, stagnant water, litter that may be polluting, accumulating in your neighbour’s garden present a real nuisance for you.

A neglected garden at a neighbour’s creates problems for you

And the consequences are numerous :

• A garden lacking maintenance causes aesthetic harm to your own garden: beyond simply spoiling your view, an adjoining garden to yours, devoid of any upkeep, ruins the outlook and leads to a reduction in the value of your property. This can have significant consequences when selling your home.
• An abandoned garden can potentially provide shelter for harmful animals and insects, such as rats and mice, vipers… (even though this reptile has its uses in the garden) which do not regard shared boundaries the same way you do! Stagnant water inevitably attracts mosquitoes and, in a garden where no one sets foot, a nest of Asian hornets can be established very quickly.
• An unmaintained garden is a boon for all kinds of weeds that you battle every day. These adventive plants root or set seed easily and end up in your own garden. Likewise, an untrimmed hedge can overhang onto your property and hinder the growth of your own plants.
• A garden where waste—including sometimes unidentified items—piles up can potentially be polluted. Pollution from hydrocarbons, oils, heavy metals does not stop at the surface and can contaminate groundwater.
• In a garden overrun with scrub or dead branches, the risk of fire is greater, especially if you live in a very dry, hot area.

To stay positive, smile and forget (for a few minutes) the plant jungle developing a few metres from your garden, here are a few articles to read:

• 10 effective mosquito‑repellent plants
• Mosquitoes: how to protect yourself
• Yum yum — edible weeds!
• 10 good reasons to let weeds grow

What does the law say?

According to the law, a garden, whether public or private, must be maintained by its owner. Similarly, according to the Law of 6 July 1989 which establishes the relationship between landlords and tenants, a tenant who rents an apartment or a house with a private garden is required to maintain it in France. Of course, if that garden and its maintenance are stipulated in the lease. On the other hand, if your neighbour’s garden is located in a housing estate or a co-ownership, it is important to refer to the internal regulations which may provide specific clauses.

Similarly, the maintenance of dividing hedges made up of bushes or trees is clearly addressed in French Articles 653 to 673 of the Civil Code. If the hedge is not shared, its maintenance is the responsibility of its owner. If the hedge is shared, each owner is responsible for their side.

Your neighbour doesn’t maintain their garden. What to do?

Furthermore, if your neighbour fails to comply with their maintenance obligation for a garden located within a residential area or within a maximum distance of 50 metres from dwellings, the mayor has the power to act under the French Article L2213-25 of the General Code of Local Authorities.

Finally, brush clearance can be obligatory in certain territories, which are more exposed to the risk of fires than others. It is the Prefect who determines this legal obligation of brush clearance and the conditions under which it must be carried out.

What recourse do you have if your neighbour doesn't maintain their garden?

Obviously, in any dispute, only discussion can be advocated. All the more so in disputes between neighbours! So, if your neighbour does not maintain their garden, dialogue should come first. We can only encourage you to go and see them and open a conversation, with diplomacy and tact. Indeed, there may be perfectly valid reasons explaining the lack of garden maintenance: failing health, difficulty getting around due to age, lack of financial means or suitable equipment, lack of know‑how, fear of doing things badly… In such cases, it may be sensible to direct your neighbour to a company specialising in garden maintenance. Or to accompany them to explain the basics of gardening. Or to lend them the essential tools for proper garden upkeep.

If you do not know the owner of the garden adjoining yours, go to the town hall to consult the land register. The town hall also has the power to initiate proceedings against that owner.

There are remedies available against a neighbour who does not maintain their garden

If an amicable approach has failed, if all your attempts to convince your neighbour have been unsuccessful, you still have several courses of action:

• Send a letter (by registered mail) to your neighbour to notify them in writing of their obligation to maintain their garden.
• Contact the town hall, and in particular the health and hygiene department, which, according to Article L2213-25, can “for environmental reasons, notify by order the obligation to carry out, at the owner’s expense, the works to restore that land after formal notice”. If, on the date of the formal notice, the works have not been carried out, the mayor may have them executed at the owner’s expense.
• Use a court conciliator for mediation before taking the matter to court.
• Bring proceedings before the Judicial Court in your neighbour’s place of residence.