My neighbour's tree covers my front path in leaves every autumn – I asked experts whose responsibility it is to clear it up

Autumn has been particularly beautiful this year, hasn't it? Unfortunately, this has come at a price: copious amounts of leaves strewn across my front path every day, creating both a nuisance and a mess.

The worst part is, these aren't leaves from a tree of my own. Nope, they've come from my neighbour's tree, and I've found this issue particularly tricky to navigate – not only because of the sheer amount of leaves on the path, but because I've been unsure whose responsibility it is to clear them up.

While there are things you can do if your neighbour's tree is dropping leaves in your garden, I wanted to get crystal clear on if I was within my rights to ask the neighbour to move the leaves themselves. So, I reached out to legal experts for advice.

Whose responsibility is it to clear leaves?

Jennifer Obaseki, founder of Obaseki Solicitors, was able to provide clarification on the matter.

'Under English common law, leaves, twigs, or fruit falling naturally from a neighbour's tree are generally regarded as a natural occurrence,' she explained. 'The law does not impose liability on the tree owner for such debris.'

In short: there is no legal obligation for your neighbour to remove leaves that have fallen onto your property.

Jennifer Obaseki

Jennifer Obaseki is a solicitor and legal expert with over 20 years experience.  Jennifer has won a number of legal cases, and she has knowledge on all facets of the legal process. 

I felt mildly disheartened when I heard this. The amount of leaves on my front path this year has been staggering, and I was close to reaching out to my neighbour to ask them to do something about it. There's been a lot of rain recently, and wet leaves on the path feels like a safety risk – especially when older family members are coming to visit.

There might be some debate around whether you should remove leaves from the garden, but to me, the front path needs to be pretty much clear.

But, as Liberty Chappel, senior associate at Forsters law firm confirms, 'leaves that fall on to neighbouring land do not belong to the owner who has the tree on their own land. Those leaves will be the neighbour’s responsibility to clear up.'

So, what can you do about it?

So, it's the affected neighbour's responsibility to clear up the leaves – most of the time.

'This changes if there is evidence of neglect or foreseeable risk – for instance, if the tree is clearly overgrown, diseased, or causing damage to property (such as blocked drains leading to water ingress),' Jennifer explains. 'In such cases, the situation may escalate into a private nuisance or even a public liability issue.'

If any of these circumstances sound familiar, it's worth contacting your local council to see if they can help. But it's only when your neighbour's tree is creating a problem beyond that of leaves on the path that they'll get involved.

You can prune your neighbour's tree if its branches reach across the property boundary. 'As long as you don't trespass onto your neighbour's land, and you offer to return the cuttings if the neighbour requests them, you're perfectly within your rights to trim overhanging branches,' Jennifer confirms.

This could make a big difference to the amount of leaves falling on to your front path – in my case, it definitely will. But before I trim anything, I'll approach the neighbour to let them know what I'm doing, to avoid any potential awkwardness.

'Speaking to your neighbour should always be the first port of call,' Liberty agrees. 'This helps maintain neighbourly relations and avoids the expense and disruption of a dispute.'

Handy tools for the job

So it looks like I'll be clearing most of the leaves from my path by hand. One of the best leaf blowers would save a lot of time and effort here, and is definitely recommended if stooping down to pick up leaves would be uncomfortable for you.

And if you're wondering about the difference between a leaf blower vs a leaf vacuum, the latter is recommended if you want to use the leaves for mulch afterwards.

Now that we've cleared up whose responsibility is it to clear leaves, I've a busy weekend ahead!