High bushes blocking my light!!!

Debt_Free_Chick

retrocircles wrote: »

If this was me blocking my neighbour's light I'm sure I could be asked to cut it down. Right to light & all that?

What right to light ....?

KLB

Just ask them if they'll cut them to a decent height! We live next door to a school and one day I woke up to find they'd planted really tall established trees alongside our garden wall, just where the sun goes in the afternoon. They were those bushy fir trees that grow immense so I phoned them up and asked them why on earth they had decided to plant trees that grow ridiculously huge without any consideration for the neighbours and would they mind taking them down and planting something else? They took them down a few days later. So phone them up and be nice about it. Good luck.

p00hsticks

retrocircles wrote: »

Alternatively I suppose I could cut it down myself and throw the cuttings over the fence?

you have the right to trim the bits that are overhanging your property, but you should ask the school whether they want the cuttings, not just throw them over the fence for them to clear up.

The limit of six foot mentinoed earlier applies to walls and fences, not hedges- you need planning permission to build a wall over this height.

As other posters have suggested, I think your best bet is to ask politely if they could cut it back - although have you considered that the school might have deliberately let it get that high in order to try to shield you from noise, footballs coming into your garden etc ?

Is the hedge purely against your property or neighbouring ones as well ? If so, what do the neighbours think - would they also like it cut back ? If you all want it done that would add weight to your request.

retrocircles

maninthestreet wrote: »

It's you that wants the hedge to be trimmed, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for you to pay for it to be trimmed. You can only cut those parts of the hedge that overhang your property, and then only as far as the property line (the fence) - anything else and you may commit the offence of crimimal damage.

They USED to maintain it... why have they suddenly stopped?!

I'll happily cut it to fence line, which is about 6-7ft! 20ft high is ridiculous!

retrocircles

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

What right to light ....?

You have a right to light on your property.

I can't build a 2 storey extension on my home because it would block morning sunlight to my neighbour.

retrocircles

clutton wrote: »

you can cut down overhanging branches and return them to their owner. you cannot cut down height of trees that do not belong to you.

you might need to have a friendly and calm conversation with the school - but if you maintain this "i'm in the right" attitude - you wont get anywhere

LOL. But I am in the right.
It's not unreasonable for me to want a 20ft hedge that overhangs my garden chopping down!

retrocircles

p00hsticks wrote: »

As other posters have suggested, I think your best bet is to ask politely if they could cut it back - although have you considered that the school might have deliberately let it get that high in order to try to shield you from noise, footballs coming into your garden etc ?

Is the hedge purely against your property or neighbouring ones as well ? If so, what do the neighbours think - would they also like it cut back ? If you all want it done that would add weight to your request.

The main annoyance is they used to cut the hedge back. The don't tend to use this end of the field now (we're at the end of a football pitch sized field with the school at the other end) and that's why I think they've just 'left it'.

The hedge surrounds the entire field.

Debt_Free_Chick

retrocircles wrote: »

You have a right to light on your property.

I'm sorry, but you don't. You might acquire a "right to light" if you've continuously enjoyed one for 20 or more years, but you would need to go to Court to establish this, as it's a common law issue and not a statutory one.

I can't build a 2 storey extension on my home because it would block morning sunlight to my neighbour.

Again, not necessarily so. Property development is a planning issue. True, there are some restrictions regarding light, but there is no right to light in law and no right to sunlight. If there were, then no extensions could ever be built, except for those properties that face directly north and never receive any direct sunlight at all.

Debt_Free_Chick

retrocircles wrote: »

LOL. But I am in the right.
It's not unreasonable for me to want a 20ft hedge that overhangs my garden chopping down!

There's nothing to stop you cutting back the overhang as it technically is a trespass on your property. But you should offer the clippings back to their rightful owner.

Idiophreak

retrocircles wrote: »

I can't build a 2 storey extension on my home because it would block morning sunlight to my neighbour.

Actually, you can - our neighbours did just that to us. We appealed in the planning process but made no difference.

As DFC says, nothing to stop you cutting the stuff overhanging your property. Also nothing to stop you "preparing" for your new flower bed by digging a deep hole at the bottom of your garden, removing any roots and so on that might take moisture away from your new veggy patch...Of course you then risk having large, dead, trees at the end of the garden, which might be even worse...

Probably best to start with asking them to cut the things...