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Help, we are part of a 6 lot Neighbourhood Association in Sydney. Our next door neighbour has installed a beehive next to our back fence which is far away from his back door but near our back door (odd shaped block). We are getting 1-3 bees inside our house every day and when we approached our neighbour he doesnt care because it isnt affecting him. We have pleaded with them to move it/remove it and now we are at loggerheads. Our pool will be installed right where the beehive is so it will affect us using our pool. At the moment we cant use our alfresco area at night. Bees have also made their way into our bedroom at night. The neighbour told us to close our doors. We didnt have any issues before the beehive was installed and now they are stopping us from using our home as intended. We leave our laundry door open for our dogs to go outside as we cant have a dog door due to being in flamezone. The issue is we cant stop the bees from coming inside no matter what we have tried. Council cant help and recommended Department of Primary Industries. They said they can only advise the neighbour but cant make them move it unless we are anaphylactic. We dont know if we are as we have never been stung. We shouldnt have to live like this and it is causing extreme stress for our family. We cant leave lights on at night as they seem to be drawn to the lights so have to live in darkness. Is there anybody here that can recommend a way to deal with this. Tensions are extremely high and we dont want to move.
- This topic was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by .
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Have a look at this website, specifically Section 2: Simple Ways to Keep Bees Away from Your House: 12 Steps (wikihow.com)
I’d be planting peppermint plants along the fence line – they might even drive the bees towards you neighbour’s home.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
“Hives … should be well screened by vegetation and placed a minimum of four meters from access walkways and the front door. The hives should be positioned in a quiet area of the yard, and not directly against the neighbouring property. Bee flight paths should be above two metres when crossing property boundaries and access walkways. This can be achieved by using a barrier such as shrubs, hedges, a wall or a fence.” https://www.environment.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/901983/Code-of-Practice-for-Beekeeping-in-Residential-Areas-of-the-ACT-2016.pdf
This is for the ACT but other states most likely have similar guidelines. I suggest that it would not be reasonable for an Owners Corporation to prohibit beekeeping. However, I think it would be reasonable to insist that bees can only be kept in compliance with the Code of Practice for Beekeeping in Residential Areas. If the structure of the site is such that it is not possible to comply, then that would mean no bees.
Where I am, we allowed bees for a unit owner on the grounds that they were able to locate a hive within their courtyard, sufficiently far from doorways and where a solid fence directed the flight path sufficiently high above a footpath in compliance with the code of practice.
I expect Council suggested Department of Primary Industries because every beehive is supposed to be registered with DPI and must comply with the Australian Honey Bee Industry Biosecurity Code of Practice. I don’t know what’s in that Code of Practice but it can’t be hard to find. Also this document might help you : Nuisance-bee-complaint-policy.pdf (nsw.gov.au)
My husband keeps bees and you are correct that they are attracted to light. On hot summer evenings when our doors are open, we keep our inside lights off and our outside lights on – that keeps the bees outside.
I don’t know much about how a Neighbourhood Association works, but it may be possible for you to engage the non-beekeeper neighbours and ask for a by-law to be created specifying that any beehives must be kept XX metres away from a boundary fence.
A warning about your pool installation – if there is a beehive in the vicinity, you may find it difficult to get contractors. We have trouble finding people who will work in our backyard (mowing lawns etc) as they don’t want to be stung.
Wouldn’t this constitute annoyance and harassment (the bees being and the neighbor not acting responsibly) and be a keeping the peace issue the local police would have a say over? And, I’m assuming you won’t need prove you are anaphylactic, or are profundly Melissophobia (fear of bees) so I’d be playing that up real well until the matter is sorted, or you’ve bought a family sized can of Pea Bea.
Replying to Flame Tree (there is no Reply/Quote button underneath the post): Unfortunately nuisance bees in NSW are handled under the Biosecurity Act, not the Crimes Act. And under the Biosecurity Act and it’s procedures, it is necessary for someone with a bee-related health issue to provide evidence. Probably no one has tested that in relation to the Privacy Act, but presumably the OP doesn’t want to be the one to test it (plus the OP has not mentioned a bee-related health issue).
For obvious reasons, it’s not advisable for the OP to spray the offending bees, but some quiet words to the majority of other owners in the development might lead to a by-law that will solve the problem or give OP the basis for an NCAT complaint.
In the meantime, there are various non-toxic deterrants and the OP can look these up and try a few things to see what works.
Replying to Flame Tree (there is no Reply/Quote button underneath the post):
On my screen, it’s above the post – but that might just be mine
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Well yes – this is not legal advice but I believe kh has a very good case against their neighbour in nuisance. The location of the bees is interfering with kh’s enjoyment of their property. In this case I think it is pretty obvious.
So 2 ways of dealing with it:
- approach the Association governing body with what you have outlined, and tell them that your neighbour is interfering with your right to peaceful enjoyment of your property
- get a lawyer to write a letter – ultimately if they don’t do anything you could sue them
I am surprised the Council won’t help, I thought there were regulations about beekeeping on private property but apparently not.
It may be worth looking at these documents but be warned that the first one is more an advisory and some of the links to other fact sheets are defunct. However it does refer to some of the issues mentioned in Sir Humphrey’s post, such as proximity to dwelling and a fence to force the bees to fly higher. Your swimming pool will be a magnet for the bees in summer.
The second focusses largely on nuisance related to health issues for people who are allergic to bee stings
Backyard-beekeeping.pdf (nsw.gov.au)
Nuisance-bee-complaint-policy.pdf (nsw.gov.au)
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
You could also contact your local beekeeping association which will be totally up to date with the rules and regs (and protocols) for backyard beekeeping. Your neighbour may well be a member, so keep that in mind if you are talking about specific addresses and naming people.
We had a problem early on where our Queen Bee was particularly aggressive, and this made the rest of the hive aggressive. We were getting attacked every time we went outside and our neighbours were stung several times. After some advice from the local beekeeping club, we ended up re-queening the hive.
I think the local club would be very distressed to know that your neighbour is creating ill-will about beekeeping. They have an interest in both the success of your neighbour’s hive and maintaining the support of the rest of the community.
- This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by .
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