A Co Antrim man has expressed his anger after being charged £360 to lodge a high hedge complaint with his local council.
The man contacted Belfast Live after suffering from a loss of light due to a neighbour's high hedge.
He said he was shocked when asked to pay up after he asked Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council to investigate the matter.
People who wish to make a complaint about a neighbour's high hedge face having to pay their local council an up-front fee of up to £360.
Most councils across Northern Ireland charge the maximum £360 fee.
New legislation giving NI councils powers to deal with high hedge complaints came into effect on March 31, 2012.
The High Hedges Act allows councils to charge a maximum up-front fee of £360 to pursue a complaint if an initial effort to resolve the matter informally is not successful.
This fee will be transferred to hedge owners if the complaint is upheld, and remedial action is required.
The hedge owner will also be responsible for the cost of any action to rectify the problem.
The irate resident said: "The council should be providing this service for free when residents already fork out for rates.
"It stops people whose lives have been made a misery by neighbours from hell, blocked out light and ruined private gardens from pursuing the matter.
"The council should be looking after residents instead of ripping them off. People in difficult financial conditions compounded by Covid-19 will be unable to get issues sorted if they are forced to fork out this much money simply to lodge a complaint."
The majority of councils in Northern Ireland charge a fee of £360 which was set at the time as follows:
• the service benefits an individual rather than the community in general
• a fee helps to make sure that complaints are genuine
• a fee is a payment for a service - not a penalty
• payment of a fee encourages people to try to resolve disputes amicably
• most people who responded to a public consultation about high hedges thought it was fair that the person making the complaint should pay something for the council to intervene in their hedge dispute
• the fee is also used to pay for the services of an arborologist to assess the health of the tree/hedge and determine what size it should be cut to.
A spokesperson for Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council added: "Complainants must demonstrate that they have tried to resolve the matter informally before the council will take action.
"Where a complaint is upheld, the council will refund the fee to the complainant and levies a fee on the hedge owner for the investigation and administration costs arising as a result of the complaint."
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