Not only is gardening a great way to make the most of the green South Manchester communities we’re lucky to live in, it’s also great for both your mental and physical wellbeing.
We receive many calls about overgrown gardens and understand that maintaining them can be challenging. However, it’s important to remember that garden upkeep is your responsibility.
Overgrown gardens aren’t treated as anti-social behaviour (ASB) and we’ll only consider taking legal action over an overgrown garden in very exceptional circumstances. Even then, the costs will be recharged to the tenant as detailed in the tenancy agreement.
If you have a concern about your neighbour’s garden generally, our Housing Officers can only ask tenants to cooperate, explain the impact of an overgrown garden on neighbours, and monitor changes. Before calling us, please speak to your neighbour to understand their situation and try to come to an agreement about what’s affecting you directly. Please note that we cannot intervene if your neighbour is a non-Southway tenant; please contact the local authority if it’s causing you a nuisance.
You can stay on top of your garden by doing basic things like mowing your lawn and trimming hedges.
Here are some useful tips to keep your garden thriving:
- Some garden plants can be split to give you more plants for free, and seeds and wildflowers can be sown in Spring and Autumn too.
- Trim dead or diseased branches from shrubs to prevent damage. Please don’t change your boundary line without consulting with your neighbour and us first.
- Make simple bird feeders using recycled materials like plastic bottles.
- Always clean and pack away your gardening tools to keep them in good condition.