Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are “genuinely upset” by the dispute with the neighbors of their Ohio property, Star Magazine reported, citing a source.
The source said the couple have “paid for all sorts of work that might normally be split between the neighbors,” and added, “The last thing they wanted was to have any sort of friction with their neighbors [and] have tried so hard to make sure people would be happy.” The source also said, “The hope is that this ugly start isn’t going to be the whole story.”
Tree Plan Left on Hold
Landscaping in front of the couple’s lakefront mansion outside Cleveland, Ohio, won approval from the Bratenahl Architectural Review Board at its meeting Tuesday, Oct. 6. The trees proposed for the rear yard did not; the board shelved that portion while a disagreement over the mature height of the plantings is sorted out. The board’s action amounted to a partial green light and a pile of grievances.
Katherine Bolton, who has lived next door for more than three decades, raised the sharpest objection. Bolton shares a 115-year-old sewer line with the property, and she told the board that planting roughly 50 evergreens close to that line would eventually ruin it. She said she has been quoted $75,000 to line the aging pipe against roots.
“What am I going to do when I have 50 evergreen trees on my sewer line, and they’re gone?” Bolton asked the board. Bolton said she is working the problem through with the couple’s attorney. She said she is not against the trees at all and wants a neighborly fix that spares the sewer. The owner, Bolton noted, may decide to sell next year and buy another house.
What the Couple’s Planner Said
Jacob Kutz of Tiny Construction LLC, the couple’s planner, told the board the pair are after privacy and security following one of the largest home sales in Cuyahoga County. Kutz listed gestures the couple had made, including having the sewage line jetted and cleaned without being asked. A new gate went in for Chuck Bauernschmidt, who had felt closed off, he said. The tree restrictions had been a source of confusion, according to the firm, which said it now understands the 10-foot limit and is willing to adjust and follow the law.
Dave Matty, the village solicitor, said the setback line applies to anything behind the home and that landscaping must meet a mature-height limit. Matty said the entire front setback has approval. One board member said privacy and screening are achievable with plants under 10 feet, and another said the team had presented a screening plan rather than a full landscape plan. Members said they hope to finalize a revised landscape plan when they take it up Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Fence Approved With Conditions
The Architectural Review Board approved a fence for the property Sept. 8 with conditions. The conditions require that the structure resemble a fence on Ingall Brook Lane, that the gates match, and that the height line up with existing stone walls along Lake Shore Boulevard.
Kutz described the revised plan presented to the board Sept. 8, saying the fence once built would run approximately 1,190 feet, sit two feet inside the property line and include two gates for access to manholes serving the shared sewer line. An earlier design called for an eight-foot fence ringing the whole property; a meeting transcript shows the plan had already been scaled back to a six-foot version stopping short of Lake Erie. Sewer lines dictated the placement, about two feet inside the actual property line. Local rules cap lakefront fences at 2.5 feet unless they are at least 75 percent see-through.
Bolton told that September meeting the new owners were a “tremendous blow” to the village’s “peace and quiet.” She has also described “an absentee owner, who is not going to be here.” At the Oct. 6 meeting, Bauernschmidt, who lives two doors down and says he has been in Bratenahl for 47 years, objected to vegetation being cleared on the property. “I take offense when we start knocking trees down,” Bauernschmidt said, explaining that his aim is simply to protect his own place. Deer, plentiful in the area, could be impaled on the fence posts, neighbors warned as well.
Patrick Hyland, the property house manager, told the board Sept. 8 that representatives paid $7,500 to repair a damaged section of the shared sewer line and arranged to have it cleaned.
Inside the Lakefront Estate
The Tudor-style mansion known as The Moyenage changed hands in March for $5.35 million, bought by an LLC linked to Kelce, 37, and sold below the most recent asking price of $5.99 million. Eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms fill the home, which measures roughly 21,000 square feet on 3.5 acres along Lake Erie. Kelce grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Boldface names are nothing new in Bratenahl. Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam make their home in the village, and property there has been owned by former Cavaliers Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. The village is accustomed to high-profile residents and welcomes Swift and Kelce, Mayor Keith Benjamin has said.
Swift, 36, married Kelce on July 3. Security has been a running theme. Swift obtained a restraining order in 2025 against Brian Jason Wagner, a man accused of repeatedly showing up at her Los Angeles homes, and a neighbor got a voice warning after getting too close to the house, Page Six reported in September.
