xScrunchee Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Just a quick question. Did everyone contact their local council before getting the hens? I haven't and mine are coming on Tuesday I did look on the council web site but the only information I could find about keeping chickens was that I should contact my housing estate officer for more info. A bit irresponsible of me I guess because now if someone did report me (ie neighbour) it could turn out that I am not allowed them anyway. Now I can't contact the council for fear of drawing attention to myself, just in case they say that I can't have them. Oh dear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhapsody Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 You dont need specific permission to keep hens any more than you need to keep a rabbit or guinea pig in your garden. If you are a tenant you need to comply with any terms of your tenancy agreement thats all. ps good luck and enjoy your girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 I did check my deeds but only because a friend started stirring it, sayiing i wasn't allowed to keep chickens. Ypu'll be fine, give the council person some eggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina C Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Definitely worth checking your deeds - I found out we can't keep pigs! I did not check with the council either (I have since been told that there used to be chickens on our land before the house was built in the 1950s). but if you are on a newly built estate, some things may be prohibited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura & CTB Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 As I'm a council tenant I did check with them first - they replied that as long as I didnt have a cockrel and there were no noise complaints it would be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 Thanks everyone-I think I'll just hope that no-one complains. I can't see why they would but some people just like to be annoying!! If anyone does comment I will give them a few eggs and hope that shuts them up!! lol Can't wait till Tuesday-the time is going so slowly now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Steed Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 I went and had a chat with my direct neighbours, and checked my deeds. I sweet talk the neighbours now and then with a box of eggs. It's only really a problem if you have a cockerel and there are far more dogs that make more noise than the chickens. (p.s...brush up on your Avian Flu knowledge as they'll be more worried about that than noise!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffie Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 I didn't check and have been fine BBx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mivona Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 How does one check the deeds if you haven't got them in your possession? One of my neighbours (who may have been just winding me up) said that we weren't allowed to have chickens, but she is very supportive of my ventures into chickens and beekeeping. I would just like to make sure, so that I know if I really on the wrong side of the law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Mivona, you should be able to get a copy of your 'deeds' - i.e the title register - from the Land Registry for a few quid. Go to www.landregistry.com (I think - or google it!) and it will explain how. Hardly anyone has full deeds these days, but any restrictions would be recorded on there. Otherwise check any papers from when you bought the house, you may find there's a copy in there after all. At a guess, any houses built before about 1950 are unlikely to contain a prohibition - it was more or less a given that you would keep chickens! I do have a friend on a '70s estate and she said it's in their deeds - but I bet hardly anyone else on the estate knows that, or would raise any issue. As far as the council is concerned, I doubt if there are any restrictions - as Rhapsody says, it's just like keeping gps or rabbits. Wow - bees! That's something I would love to get into. Do you think Omlet would make a beelu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabbagepatch Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 I've had my girls since last September with no problems at all. Until two weeks ago when one of our neighbours made a bit of a fuss saying things like "I won't be able to have my kitchen door open this summer because of flies". I checked with the council before I got them and there are no restrictions at all. I do still need to check the deeds (when I getaroundtoit). Not sure what I would do if I discovered chickens were not allowed. In the meantime, I am keeping the eglu and new coop/runs spotless everyday. Cleaner than our house btw!! Any flies, rats, smells etc will only come from the local dustbins which are emptied twice a month. Very handy headline news this summer Fingers crossed for all of us small scale chicken keepers x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 it says on our deeds that we cannot keep chickens or pigeons. I found the deeds in the loft last week, and we have had our chickens for nearly a year However, our house is 30 years old and it also says on our deeds no commercial vans, no speed boats or caravans on driveways - and we have all of those in our close.....so im not going to worry about it As someone else says...there are plenty of other things that make more noise/nuisance than 2 chickens. If your'e a council tennant...I would check though. It doesnt say on our deeds that we cant keep pigs...so if someone were to complain and try to make us get rid of them .....husbands reply will be ...... "DO YOU PREFER CHICKENS OR PIGS?!!"..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Definitely worth checking your deeds - I found out we can't keep pigs! Neither can I nor alcohol or keep a "disorderly house". Damn. It is disorderly, but not in the sense they mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Disorderly house !!? who ever thought of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tara.F Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 I'm a council tenant. We are not allowed to keep chickens, although at a push we could claim them to be 'small caged birds' which we are allowed to keep I am working on the assumption that they don't actually care what pets we keep as long as no-one complains and that the 'permitted pets' list is there to enable the council to evict those tenants whose pets cause genuine nuisance. for example, it also says that 'attraction of wild birds into ones garden is forbidden' That's most of the estate in bovver then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Watch Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 You could set up an anonymous hotmail account and e-mail the council to see if they have any by-laws??? I had 2 replies via e-mail from 2 different people at the council. One saying they did not think there would be a problem keeping pet chickens as long as they were not a noise nuisance and suggested voluntary Poultry Registration at DEFRA. The 2nd e-mail said yes I did need permission but only in respect of errecting sheds (as per normal shed rules). Which I didn't need as I was getting an eglu. My deeds said I cannot run a dog kennel from my 1970's house but didn't mention poultry. But I do know of friends in a neighbouring town who tell me they cannot keep chickens. I told my neighbours either side that I had chickens coming and they were both fine. Then discovered that a neighbour 2 doors down keeps quails.....I've known her for 2 years and she never said before..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 I have looked up Jay's council on the internet, and the only mention of chickens is what do do in an avian flu outbreak. I don't think you need worry about them. The main two things that can stop you keeping chickens in your garden are: (1) Your tenancy agreement if you rent your house; (2) Your deeds if you own your house. The deeds do matter, as they are not written in your favour, but to protect your neighbours. If your deeds forbid you from keeping chickens but you go ahead, the minute the neighbours see or hear something they don't like (e.g. a rat or early-morning noises) they have the law on their side. Something that puzzles me is how many people on this forum don't seem to know what their deeds say. Before I bought my 1920s house back in 1981, my solicitor read out all the restrictive covenants to me very solemnly to make absolutely sure that I knew what I was letting myself in for. So I have always known, for example, that I couldn't build a fence more than two metres high. Do solicitors not do this any more when you buy a house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 My soilcitor didn't do this, but our deeds are in our safe anyway if we ever need to check them. Not that we checked about the hens though....................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 No ours didn't and we don't get the deeds til the mortgage is paid off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallina Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Well, if you all don't know what it says in your deeds, then your neighbours don't either, so you are probably all right anyway! Perhaps newer houses don't have all these restrictive covenants anyway? Back gardens are so small now that they don't have room for a pig, and no one could have foreseen the wonderful Eglu and run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 All new builds have restrictions in their deeds now about keeping poultry, bees and various other livestock. Even eco-friendly, green energy new builds like the Balamory House. It's standard practice, but unless someone complains, most people happily ignore the deeds.....(or so my lawyer assured me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunty e Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 We live in an ex-local authority house and one of our neighbours complained recently to the neighbourhood housing officer about the noise. We'd noticed ourselves a week or two before, and had started locking them in the eglu until I leave for work, and that had really cut down on it. The housing officer (who looked SOO confused ) came and had a look, and said that it was fine and she could tell that we were aware of the problem and trying to deal with it. then a week later, someone complained that we were attracting vermin The communal bins for our block are ten feet from our front door. They attract vermin, not our chickens. The last mouse I saw was eated by my Black Rock, and at least two of our cats are fearless hunters. So we invited a different housing officer around (had just laid turf, everything looked delightful) and she also agreed that it was clean and hygienic. So there nasty neighbours. No more eggs for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 We live in ex local authority ourselves but as the whole thing was taken over by a housing ass. they don't know their beaks from their tail feathers. (sic) We were supposed to tell them if we changed the boundary fences but after phoning the council who told us to phone the housing people who said it wasn't their problem as the house was sold off long before they took over we just gave up and changed it anyway. Noones going to complain about us replacing a rotton fence for e brand new one. I asked the neighbours one side and they didn't mind. the other side I didn't bother as their neighbours on the other side are 'trouble' so even with chickens we muct seem like bliss. The neighbours I did ask said they hadn't realised we had the girls til I took some eggs round and that pheasants made more noise as did the 'trouble' people. We have loads of stray chickens round here anyway so if anyone makes a chicken noise its them not my girls. Sorry that was long for something not that interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted May 5, 2007 Author Share Posted May 5, 2007 I was chatting to one of my neighbours yesterday but didn't get around to mentioning chickens to her. I was thinking about saying-"oh, by the way we are getting some hens on Tuesday", but I then thought that if I mention it, it might give her the impression that I'm 'warning' her and she could get funny straight away and start looking into it. So, I said nothing. Afterall, I wouldn't 'warn' her if I was getting a rabbit. I now hope that the hens will keep their noise down a little and let me give her some eggs to keep her sweet so that she likes having them around and doesn't phone the council complaining!! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 I have never had any problems with the noise chickens make - its rather a nice noise and my neighbours love them and some even bring round their children and grandchildren to pet them. When I accidentally had a cockerel for a shortish time he was a little bit more of a problem. He crowed from 5am til dusk and even then it was my decision he had to go and my neighbours were pleading his case and saying they loved to hear him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
