Legal limits on keeping bees?

[karlbown]

I don't mean how drunk do you have to be

I was wondering if there are any licensing or planning restrictions in having beehives at home? Do different councils have any limitations?

Cheers

Karl

 

[enrico]

Unless there is something in the specific for the house in a covenant you can keep as many as you like. They would have to prove public nuisance and get an order for you to remove them. They are after all wild creatures that you are giving a home to.....well that's my thought but you are going to get loads of answers methinks.

 

[itma]

Two different areas of 'legal' to consider.

1/ Tenancy agreements, property covenants and suchlike. Inevitably there will be almost no uniformity at all.

2/ Creating 'nuisance'. It you keep a 'reasonable' number of hives, with 'reasonable' skill and effort to avoid nuisance, you shouldn't have a problem.
However, if you don't get on with the neighbours, don't have a well-screened garden, regard the Council as the enemy and believe that swarms should be maximised and encouraged to go off into the neighbourhood, then you could find yourself on the receiving end of an Abatement Order, requiring you to stop being a bloody nuisance or else be fined and even potentially imprisoned for refusal to comply.

"Planning" would only come into it if your home was becoming a business premise and/or you wanted to build a workshop, shop or somesuch.

 

[Chris Luck]

I would think it also rather depends on the size of your garden, 10 sq metres or 40 hectares...

No limits here in Frenchland other than distance from and or fence height with neighbours.

Chris

 

[Karol]

We (my family this is) were forced to get rid of our hives because they were creating a nuisance. At the time we had a small orchard in the middle of town. Had lots of complaints from neighbours about soiled laundry out on washing lines and no amount of honey could compensate

 

[user 6228]

We (my family this is) were forced to get rid of our hives because they were creating a nuisance. At the time we had a small orchard in the middle of town. Had lots of complaints from neighbours about soiled laundry out on washing lines and no amount of honey could compensate

who was enforcing the removal?

 

[Ivor Kemp]

Key word here is 'negligence'.

Not illegal to keep bees in your garden but you can be asked to remove them if for example you were asked by a neighbour to move bees away from their fence because they had been stung and you failed to do so.

 

[Dishmop]

Key word here is 'negligence'.

Not sure how they would define negligence other than by proving that you didnt look after them in the suitable or recommended manner, but then is there any law saying how you must look after them. If a bird builds its nest in a tree in your garden and it craps on next doors car/washing, is that your fault? People across the road here encourage birds into thier garden with feeders and they crap on my Bentley. Same as my bees doing it on her car..

Nuisance is a more likely method by which you could be forced to move them.

The Bentley is crap anyway..

 

[Ivor Kemp]

Not sure how they would define negligence other than by proving that you didnt look after them in the suitable or recommended manner, but then is there any law saying how you must look after them. If a bird builds its nest in a tree in your garden and it craps on next doors car/washing, is that your fault? People across the road here encourage birds into thier garden with feeders and they crap on my Bentley. Same as my bees doing it on her car..

Nuisance is a more likely method by which you could be forced to move them.

The Bentley is crap anyway..

Negligence:
Conduct that falls below the standards of behavior established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances.

In order to establish negligence as a Cause of Action under the law of torts, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant had a duty to the plaintiff, the defendant breached that duty by failing to conform to the required standard of conduct, the defendant's negligent conduct was the cause of the harm to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff was, in fact, harmed or damaged.

The case you cite above with the bird crapping is not negligence on your part but if, for example, a neighbour informs you that your bees are flying through a hole in your fence and harming him and you don't do anything about it then you are negligent. I did meet someone who was forced to move hives from his garden because he had not undertaken bee keeping courses after he was ordered to by a council. By his not complying he was deemed negligent by the legal definition.

 

[itma]

Not sure how they would define negligence other ...

Doesn't need definition to cover every eventuality - judged by examination of facts.
If one were negligent in one's beekeeping - for example not even trying to perform any swarm control, then it would be easier to prove nuisance.

 

[itma]

... I did meet someone who was forced to move hives from his garden because he had not undertaken bee keeping courses after he was ordered to by a council. By his not complying he was deemed negligent by the legal definition.

Nice example.
The Council didn't just say "no bees".

 

[For want of a better word]

even potentially imprisoned for refusal to comply. .......

I have not heard of anyone being imprisoned for keeping bees... not this century anyway!


I once had a nuisance neighbour... complained about everyone and everything around her all the time.... but she never found out that I had bees in the garden... 2 colonies at the time!

 

[pargyle]

You'd have to have a lot of money to take anyone to court for negligent beekeeping ... what's the chance of getting any compensation out of a beekeeper !

I know there are unpleasant people in the world that someone has to live next to but I think the majority of neighbour problems are usually sorted by talking to one another - and it's a lot cheaper !!

 

[psafloyd]

even potentially imprisoned for refusal to comply. .......

I have not heard of anyone being imprisoned for keeping bees... not this century anyway!


I once had a nuisance neighbour... complained about everyone and everything around her all the time.... but she never found out that I had bees in the garden... 2 colonies at the time!

You can in the US, where it is illegal to keep bees in many urban areas.

 

[itma]

You'd have to have a lot of money to take anyone to court for negligent beekeeping ... what's the chance of getting any compensation out of a beekeeper !
...

Its the Council that would apply to Court for an Abatement Order.
To prevent the nuisance caused by your behaviour.
If they have a legal department sitting there, really, its better not to give them something to do!
Compensation would be different, and a matter for those companies that advertise on daytime tv.

even potentially imprisoned for refusal to comply. .......

I have not heard of anyone being imprisoned for keeping bees... not this century anyway!
...

Not directly for keeping bees.
But if you insist on wilfully continuing to fail to comply with a Court Order ... don't expect mercy.

 

[HM Honey]

I would imagine any "maximum" amount of hives would be determined by the point at which the HMRC would consider you a commercial bee keeper, which would bring into play, planning permissions for business use as well as your mortgager being required to give authority for you to use your premises for business purposes (most mortgage agreements dont allow it as standard).

One hive is as likely to cause nuisance as ten are, if your neighbours dont like bees and are that way inclined. I'm no legal expert but do work for a lettings agents and know that proving "nuisance" and bringing action due to it is very difficult.

Your defence would be "can you prove its MY bees that are causing nuisance" or as someone said earlier, qouting precedent that someone putting a bird table in their garden causes bird nuisance, but this is not an issue and therefore you are being treated unfairly.

 

[Dishmop]

You can in the US, where it is illegal to keep bees in many urban areas.

That was the situation in New York until quite recently.......... now there are thousands on rooftops.

 

[Karol]

who was enforcing the removal?

Local council. Mind you, it was a long time ago. In fairness to the council it was more a question of them 'asking' 'in the 'interests of good neighbourly relations' rather than enforcing. Still, the bees went to a good home and didn't suffer.

 

[steve56616]

even potentially imprisoned for refusal to comply. .......

I have not heard of anyone being imprisoned for keeping bees... not this century anyway!


I once had a nuisance neighbour... complained about everyone and everything around her all the time.... but she never found out that I had bees in the garden... 2 colonies at the time!

Sounds like mine. One side know and are happy I keep them. The other side moan about everything, even me feeding the birds upsets them - as they encourage them to mess on their washing. If one of their grandchildren got sting by a wasp I can guarantee my bees would get the blame so best they know nothing.

 

[user 6228]

Sounds like mine. One side know and are happy I keep them. The other side moan about everything, even me feeding the birds upsets them - as they encourage them to mess on their washing. If one of their grandchildren got sting by a wasp I can guarantee my bees would get the blame so best they know nothing.

Yep, I have one those... didnt like my apple trees cos they encouraged rats.(the trees have been there at least 20years!)
Didnt like the noise from my partly soundproofed work shop too industrial.. The only noise they could actually hear was the domestic dyson vacuum cleaner! (but they vacuum their garden every morning!!!) They havent complained about the bees yet.