An Aberdeen council tenant has been left in limbo for 10 months over her garden shed after a complaint was made about it.
Anna Horne moved in to her property on Ruthrieston Crescent back in 2015.
Since then, she has spent a lot of time and effort trying to transform her garden into a space she can enjoy.
“I’m trying to improve my property because it was a dump when I got it,” she told us.
“If you saw the garden when I first moved in to what it is now, it’s chalk and cheese.”
But she has now been forced to put her garden improvement project on hold as she has been fighting a 10-month battle with the council over her shed – after a neighbour complained about it.
Anna isn’t even entirely sure what has caused the concern in the first place.
She also wants to put up a fence but doesn’t know where she stands with the local authority.
Complaint arrived as an unwanted Christmas present
Anna contacted Aberdeen City Council at the start of 2023 for permission to build a shed in the garden.
“They said as long as it’s not against the wall of the property, that’s fine,” she explained.
“If you look around, all of my neighbours have their sheds there.”
So, she got the metal shed installed in the summer.
Anna said: “It’s on a proper concrete platform, it’s been built by a professional – it’s not a throw-up job.”
Once the shed was in place, Anna said everything was “fine and hunky dory”.
However, she received a letter from the council just two days before Christmas saying a complaint had been made about it.
This irked Anna, who added: “I had three large storage sheds in the same place against the wall of the house for two and a half years and nothing was said.”
Shed might have to move as ‘someone has a problem with it’
Council chiefs suggested the complaint could have been made if the shed was placed in a communal area.
But Anna checked the land registry that revealed no communal area had been stipulated.
However 10 months on, Anna says she is still no further forward and claims the council has been “very obstructive”.
She reckons she might be told to move her shed into the middle of the garden.
But Anna says there is “not a chance” that will happen.
“When I moved in, I was given permission to put up a greenhouse,” she explained.
“I thought ‘a greenhouse is metal, the shed is metal, is it going to make much difference’?
“I got full written permission but now they are saying I might have to move my shed because someone has a problem with it.”
Aberdeen council tenant ‘compromising all the way’
Council staff visited Anna after the festive break to see the situation for themselves.
But no further action has been taken since.
“I’m still no further forward and they will not give me an answer,” the frustrated tenant said.
In a bid to resolve the situation, Anna has offered to pay for a path to give her neighbours access to their gardens.
She has also pledged to put down paving that would save them from “dragging” their bins through the garden.
“I’m compromising all the way,” Anna sighed.
But what does Aberdeen City Council have to say about the matter?
A spokesman simply said: “We are dealing directly with the resident.”
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