Neighbour’s tree or hedge over the boundary: what French law actually says

A hedge growing thicker on one side of a fence, branches reaching over the top, roots lifting a path: in an area where almost every plot backs onto a neighbour’s garden, this is the most common disagreement after noise. And yet the rule fits into three articles of the French Civil Code, written more than a century ago and never substantially rewritten since.

Article 671 sets the distance a planting must respect. Article 672 says what happens if it was not respected. Article 673 covers a different situation entirely — not the planting itself, but what it produces once grown: branches that reach onto the neighbour’s land, and roots that do the opposite. Mixing up the three is the single most common mistake, because the remedy is not the same for each.

Article 671 sounds simple and is less simple to apply. Any planting that will grow taller than two metres must stand at least two metres from the boundary line. Below two metres, the distance drops to fifty centimetres. The measurement is taken from the middle of the trunk, not the bark facing the neighbour — a detail that matters once a hedge has thickened.

Height is judged at maturity, not on planting day

A cypress planted forty centimetres from the line is not in breach the day it stands one metre tall. It becomes so the day it passes two metres, because it is the height the planting reaches — or can reasonably be expected to reach — that sets the required distance, not its size on the day it went into the ground. This is the point that catches most owners out.

The two exceptions that change the rule

A boundary hedge, governed by articles 668 to 670, is planted exactly on the line by mutual agreement between neighbours: it falls outside the two-metre rule, because it belongs to neither plot alone, and upkeep is shared unless agreed otherwise. A rarer case in this area: a tree trained flat against a shared wall (espalier) is exempt from any distance requirement, as long as it never grows above the top of the wall.

Finally, article 671 only applies in the absence of a different local rule. A subdivision covenant can set a wider distance, or relax it for a hedge species traditional to the area — and that document is what to check before invoking the Civil Code, not after a dispute has already started.

Keeping a hedge at the height that respects the legal planting distance, without ruining its shape, is the subject of hedge trimming.

Article 672 gives the affected neighbour the right to demand that a planting set too close be uprooted, or cut back to the legal height. There is no need to prove any actual nuisance — the distance being wrong is enough on its own, which often surprises whoever argues that “it isn’t bothering anyone”.

This right has three limits, and in practice they rarely overlap. A title deed that expressly authorises the planting at that distance rules it out. So does common prior ownership of both plots at the time of planting. The third is by far the most common: thirty years’ acquisitive prescription. Thirty years without challenge, counted from the moment the planting exceeded the height that triggered the rule, turns the irregular situation into an acquired right — the tree stays, permanently, even though the legal distance was never respected.

This is where the costliest confusion happens. Article 673 gives whoever’s land is overhung by a neighbour’s tree, shrub or sapling the right to compel its owner to cut those branches back. This right cannot be lost through time, and it requires no proof of actual nuisance — the branches simply crossing the boundary is enough.

1. 1Tell the neighbour about the situation and ask them to cut the branches concerned — a word or a visit settles most cases seen in this area.
2. 2If refused or ignored, send a written formal notice, ideally by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt, setting a reasonable deadline to act.
3. 3If nothing changes, refer the matter to the local conciliator — the mairie will point you to them, free of charge — or, as a last resort, the tribunal judiciaire, which can order the pruning to be carried out, if necessary under a daily penalty.

Once agreement is reached, or a court order issued, this is arborist’s work, not a Sunday-morning job: see tree pruning.

The second paragraph of article 673 covers a mirror-image situation with very different consequences. Roots, brambles and runners that advance onto your land, you are entitled to cut yourself, right at the boundary line, without asking permission or sending any formal notice first. This right, too, can never be lost through time — but it only ever applies strictly on your own side of the line.

The difference with branches comes down to a simple idea, and it is the one worth remembering: a root cut on your own land takes nothing away that the neighbour could point to or claim back, whereas a branch you cut remains a piece of a tree that was never yours.

Fruit follows a third rule entirely

As long as a fruit is still attached to the branch, it belongs to the tree’s owner — even if that branch has overhung your garden for years. A fruit that detaches and falls naturally onto your side becomes yours, with no formality required. But shaking the branch, or climbing to pick what has not yet fallen, is an appropriation that is far from harmless: the fruit only becomes yours at the precise moment it would have fallen on its own.

The law grants a right, but a neighbour dispute is rarely settled in court as a first move — and it is not somewhere you actually want to settle it if you will still be living next door to each other every week.

Across the communes in this area, free conciliation — available simply by asking at the mairie — settles the great majority of hedge and branch disputes before they turn sour. It is also usually the fastest route: a few weeks, against several months for a court case.

Beyond the legal rules, working exactly on a boundary raises a practical question few owners think about in advance: which side are you actually working from, and with what permission to be there.

Pruning, from your own land, only the branches that genuinely overhang your side is generally possible without the neighbour’s consent, provided you never step onto their land and cut only what truly crosses the line. But a large tree, a tall hedge that needs scaffolding to reach, or access that only exists from the neighbour’s side change the picture entirely: you then need their permission to get there — exactly the same principle that applies to mandatory brush clearance on a neighbour’s plot.

There is also a point the Civil Code never mentions but that every arborist checks before climbing: overhead power lines running above the hedge or tree in question. Working at height near a low-voltage line is not something to improvise, and it is often the real reason a boundary job is handed to a professional rather than tackled over a well-meaning weekend.

A professional working on a boundary line documents what they do — before, during, after, what was cut and what was left alone. That record carries more weight, in a file that might end up in front of a conciliator, than a recollection of what was agreed over the fence.

They also cut in the right place, with the right tool, without damaging a tree that remains the neighbour’s property even once you have stopped liking its branches. One careless cut with a chainsaw on wood that is not yours puts you on the hook for far more than the price of a trim — which is the whole point of handing this kind of job to someone qualified rather than improvising it with a saw already in hand.

Reduction, thinning or pollarding are never chosen at random on a tree that has to stay healthy once the job is done: see pruning techniques suited to each species.

None of these is beyond repair. All of them make a neighbour relationship harder than it needed to be — something a well-timed message would usually have prevented.

1. 1Cutting a neighbour’s branch yourself, even letting it fall back on their side. It does not become yours just because it was in your way.
2. 2Shaking the tree, or climbing it, to pick fruit that had not yet fallen on its own. Only what falls naturally, on your side, is legally yours.
3. 3Pulling out a root instead of cutting it cleanly at the boundary — ripping it out can destabilise a large tree and shift the liability onto you if it later falls.
4. 4Assuming the two-metre rule applies everywhere. A boundary hedge, an espalier against a wall, or a subdivision covenant can all set an entirely different rule.
5. 5Going straight to court. A free conciliator, reached through the mairie, resolves most hedge disputes faster, and without permanently damaging the neighbour relationship.
6. 6Letting the situation drift with nothing ever put in writing. A single dated letter, however simple, protects both sides if the disagreement later escalates.