Chicken bald back

[Steph101]

Because I didn't. Someone who I work with asked me if I'd had permssion from Dudley Council to keep chickens. It had crossed my mind, as we live in a built up area right on the edge of town, but with the sudden popularity in 'urban chicken keeping' I never imagined I'd have a problem. So far, no one has complained, but I've become paranoid since we've had the black rocks; they're really noisy sometimes. I've bribed a couple of neighbours just in case.

Am I the only one here who didn't get permission?

[lisa33]

I have never bothered with the council.

 

I don't think they're usually bothered unless you have loads & loads of chickens or unless you have a rooster.

[chucknette]

I didnt either for the same reasons as above.

[chelsea]

nope, didnt bother either.

 

Didnt tell anyone, or got permission from anyone...just did it.

[Christian]

Most councils couldn't care less, unless it is a council owned property.

 

I didn't check with them, but did check the house deeds, just in case.

[Egg Lou]

Nope I didn't call them but did check house deeds and looked on council web site.. found nothing

[lisa33]

One of the ladies who is coming to my hen party next week checked with Stevenage Council who said

 

"There is no problem with keeping chickens or even the number of them. The only time there may be an issue is if neighbours complain of :

flies; rats & mice; noise or smell.

They may investigate, send a letter requiring improvement/eradication of the problem or in a worse case scenario, they can take you to court."

 

[Cooks]

nope I didn't phone them or check.

[ruth1]

I checked with my council who said pretty much what Lisa above has just said.

 

They dont care unless they have a complaint re noise, smell or rodents, if so they will send enviromental health to check it out and take the neccesary steps.

[ajm200]

Yes, we did. It just took one phonecall. We were given a ref number that we can use in case of questions from the neighbours. All very simple.

 

They told us we could hae up to 10 hens, no cockerel and they only get concerned if problems with smell, excessive noise or rodents are traced back to our property. He also said that they are realistic and expect a certain amount of mess and noise from any pet so not to worry too much

[Yolky]

The thing is with rats is that, unless your hens are kept badly and there is food everywhere, how can they tell the rats come from you?

 

We don't have our chickens yet but on dismantalling our very old shed we have found evidence of rodents. I am guessing that they come from the field at the end of the cul de sac where horses are kept. I am not sure if I should call the pest control at the council on monday (our council treats rats free) or if just us removing the shed and then we are going to concerete over the whole area under the shed so there won't be anywhere for a rat to burrow will that be enough to get shot of them.

[helenc]

We live in a conservsation area so I checked because thay can be funny about all sorts of things and they weren't the least bit interested and said it was fine to keep chickens.

 

We are planning on building a walk in run/pen area so I just hope they don't find out about it as I am 99% sure they will say we need planning permission as it will be within a certain distance of the footpath - I know they said we needed it if we wanted to put a shed there!!

[Steph101]

Glad it's not just me then. I'll call the council on Monday.

[Stevie]

Most councils couldn't care less, unless it is a council owned property.

 

I didn't check with them, but did check the house deeds, just in case.

 

Apparently exclusions and limitations in house deeds are only enforcable if the company who built the property is still trading.I know it dont sound much,but many building firms have ceased trading and if your house is pre 1970-its quite likely too.

[Yolky]

Most councils couldn't care less, unless it is a council owned property.

 

I didn't check with them, but did check the house deeds, just in case.

 

Apparently exclusions and limitations in house deeds are only enforcable if the company who built the property is still trading.I know it dont sound much,but many building firms have ceased trading and if your house is pre 1970-its quite likely too.

 

That is interesting to know. I found out recently that my late grandfather did the roofs on all the houses in my street, one of the residents who has lived here since they were built in the 50's remembers him.

[Steve.]

Most councils couldn't care less, unless it is a council owned property.

 

I didn't check with them, but did check the house deeds, just in case.

 

Apparently exclusions and limitations in house deeds are only enforcable if the company who built the property is still trading.I know it dont sound much,but many building firms have ceased trading and if your house is pre 1970-its quite likely too.

 

This is 100% true ... and and enforement action needs to be done by the original company, "Ooops, word censored!"ody else can enforce them. Round here, most of the items on the deeds have been broken one way or another by pretty much 100% of the street (including myself).

 

I checked our deeds anyway, and rang the council. If either had shown up a issue area, I would have dropped the idea as falling out with neighbours is not worth it.

[alexgirl73]

I didn't, nor checked with my HA. I just asked my neighbours if they had any problems with it, and they said no. If I ever get any grief from the council I will just plead ignorance.

[xScrunchee]

This is what my council said when I sent them an anonymous email a few months ago -

 

Good afternoon,

I am able to advise that permission can be granted if the following criteria is met, which is:- 1 ] The maximum size to be 9 ' x 6 ' x 6 ' high, and to be situated as far as possible from the premises.2 ] The coop must not be sited directly next to a fence, as access is often necessary for maintenance reasons.3 ] The keeping of cockerels is not allowed. The number of hens kept must not exceed six at any one time.4 ] In the event of any nuisance being caused to neighbouring residents, the Council reserves the right to request you to dismantle the structure and refrain from keeping poultry.5 ] The chicken coop must be maintained in a satisfactory condition both with regard to repair and appearance, and regularly cleaned.

[Egg Lou]

This is what my council said when I sent them an anonymous email a few months ago -

 

Good afternoon,

I am able to advise that permission can be granted if the following criteria is met, which is:- 1 ] The maximum size to be 9 ' x 6 ' x 6 ' high, and to be situated as far as possible from the premises.2 ] The coop must not be sited directly next to a fence, as access is often necessary for maintenance reasons.3 ] The keeping of cockerels is not allowed. The number of hens kept must not exceed six at any one time.4 ] In the event of any nuisance being caused to neighbouring residents, the Council reserves the right to request you to dismantle the structure and refrain from keeping poultry.5 ] The chicken coop must be maintained in a satisfactory condition both with regard to repair and appearance, and regularly cleaned.

 

Thanks for this info all sounds sensible except bit concerned over the " must not exceed six at any one time" this sounds a bit strict

[Steve.]

Good afternoon,

I am able to advise that permission can be granted if the following criteria is met, which is:- 1 ] The maximum size to be 9 ' x 6 ' x 6 ' high, and to be situated as far as possible from the premises.2 ] The coop must not be sited directly next to a fence, as access is often necessary for maintenance reasons.3 ] The keeping of cockerels is not allowed. The number of hens kept must not exceed six at any one time.4 ] In the event of any nuisance being caused to neighbouring residents, the Council reserves the right to request you to dismantle the structure and refrain from keeping poultry.5 ] The chicken coop must be maintained in a satisfactory condition both with regard to repair and appearance, and regularly cleaned.

 

Do not pass Go and do not collect £200.

 

That may be their informal guidance, or it may be a formal bylaw. Would be interesting to know which.

[Hen Watch]

I checked my house deeds first.

 

Then I emailed the council in case there were any local bylaws. Council replied no formal requirement to obtain permission to keep chickens under 50 birds. But gave standard info about needing planning permission for sheds of certain sizes. But didn't apply to my little eglu.

[bokbokbok]

After seeing it mentioned here in the first couple of days I was a member I thought I should check it with my local council. My initial contact was met with a polite attitude of "You wanna do WOT?" and the guy quickly admitted he had neither heard of anyone wanting to do this nor looked in to what the policy was.

 

He rang me back the next day with much the same as everyone else has said: no cockerel, no rats and no smell please.

 

I have checked with one of my neighbours (the closest one to where the run will be) since too and she said that as long as I supply regular eggs and don't move in to keeping pigs she is happy.

[kissinuk]

This is 100% true ... and and enforement action needs to be done by the original company, "Ooops, word censored!"ody else can enforce them.

 

Interesting. We had weird wording in ours that said something like 'no poultry or livestock other than as pets', our local MP read over it for me and said he couldn't see an issue with keeping 2 chickens.

 

However... our house was built by Alfred McAlpine who sold up to Wimpey in 2001 - based on what you say above does that mean the deeds are not enforcable anyway??

[Steve.]

This is 100% true ... and and enforement action needs to be done by the original company, "Ooops, word censored!"ody else can enforce them.

 

Interesting. We had weird wording in ours that said something like 'no poultry or livestock other than as pets', our local MP read over it for me and said he couldn't see an issue with keeping 2 chickens.

 

However... our house was built by Alfred McAlpine who sold up to Wimpey in 2001 - based on what you say above does that mean the deeds are not enforcable anyway??

 

Depends on the terms of the takeover I guess?

 

Either way, Wimpey won't be interested in stopping you from having chickens. The deeds are normally worded in such as way to ensure that the estate looks pristine so that the other houses can be sold by the developer.

 

Eg, as the houses are being built and sold, developer doesn't want you erecting a 8 foot high barbed wire fence and 30 foot wide satellite dishes or having a competitor's branded van parked on your driveway. I suspect Wimpey won't give two hoots.

 

By the way, I am not a lawyer just based on what I read looking into it.

[Olly]

Can I just correct this - when you buy a house, it may have covenants (enforceable rights), and yes if you buy from a developer then they may be enforceable by the developer. It's not necessarily the case though - in many cases, the ownership of the rights and obligations will pass from the developer to your neighbours when they buy their property.

 

That's common sense - as well as covenants about not keeping caravans or commercial vehicles on the drive, and not keeping livestock etc, there may be rights of access over shared driveways, and so on. It's no good if they depend on the developer enforcing them, so they are often transferred with the title to the new owners.

 

I don't think you can just rely on the developer having ceased business or sold up to someone else. Having said that, it is very unlikely that any of your neighbours would want to spend the amount of money it would cost to take a case to court.