A new home over has been left angry over finding out her neighbor is keeping bees in her small garden.
Tracey purchased her home due to its sunny north facing garden .The new homeowner Tracey was surprised to discover that her neighbor keeps beehives in her back garden close to their shared fence.
“I discovered the bees by accident. I became aware of the occasional swarm of bees entering our new garden, especially when we had good weather. It was very concerning as it wasn’t just one or two , it was swarms”.
It got to the point that I had to shut all my windows and doors, which was a shame as it was sunny and hot and I wanted to make use of my new garden”.
Tracey told rated Street that it was only upon discussing the increasing number of bees with the neighbour that she found out the neighbour has three beehives. The neighbour assured Tracey that the bees were none aggressive, and she had never received a complaint from the previous home owner.
Assured by the neighbours response Tracey ignored the bees. “ I had my Grandson come to stay in our new home for the first time. My Grandson sat in the garden playing and suddenly started crying. Upon closer inspection I realised he had been stung. The sting started to quickly swell up and we went to hospital”.
She added. “After the sting incident I became very conscious of the bees and the garden became out of a bounds”.
As tension grew Tracey approached the neighbour once again in hope to resolve the issue and she could use her new garden without concern of being stung.
But this time the neighbour was not so approachable . When Tracey went over to the neighbours once again to try and come to a compromise, the neighbour replied with “don’t be so ridiculous” and quoted the rules of bee keeping and that there are no laws against bee keeping. “My neighbour was very dismissive of my concerns, and told me the previous neighbour had no complaints about the bees”.
“After the hostile interaction I felt why should I not be able to enjoy my garden. It didn’t seem fair”.
Tracy made the hard decision to report the neighbour and their bees to The council under statutory nuisance, under environmental act.
“I very much doubt the council can or will do anything, but I just do not know what to do as I’m the only direct neighbour effected and would like to enjoy my new garden.”