Maintaining your garden
As part of your tenancy or leaseholder agreement, you’re responsible for keeping your own private garden tidy and cared for. Trees in your garden are also your responsibility, but there are some exceptions. Please check with us first if you have concerns about the trees you have, and our tree surveyor will come and take a look.
Trees and hedges during nesting season
Bird nesting season officially runs from February to August. It’s recommended that tree and hedge cutting should be done outside of the nesting season. However, in reality the nesting period may start earlier and run for longer. Please bear this in mind if you need to prune the trees in your garden.
We’re responsible for looking after trees in communal areas. As a responsible landlord, we must also avoid disrupting nesting birds. This would be an infringement of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and a breach of the European Habitats Directive 1992/Nesting Birds Directive.
When tree maintenance needs to be done during the nesting season, a survey will be carried out by our contractors before any work is considered or started. We’ll postpone work if we find any nesting birds. In the unlikely event that we’ve missed a nest and we come across one, we’ll stop work and return once the chicks have fledged.
An old nest that’s no longer being used is not protected by law.
Coppicing trees
We also carrying out coppicing when needed. This is a woodland management technique of felling trees at the base and allowing them to regrow. It also allows us to assess our trees. Coppicing usually takes place between November and February to ensure the birds are not nesting and the leaves have fallen.
Trees causing damage to your property or another YHG property
We'd attend to a tree if it was damaging our housing stock and would require details of the type of extent of the potential structural damage before attending.
If a tree or any part of a tree has fallen or is at immediate risk of falling on to any YHG property, please call Your Response immediately on 0345 345 0272.
Other communal maintenance
It’s our responsibility to clean corridors, staircases, landings, lifts, communal kitchens, bin areas, rubbish chutes and porches. You can view cleaning and window cleaning programmes here, or check out the public noticeboards where you live.
Trees causing damage to your property or another YHG property
Meet the team
