Who owns which hedge?

Wkdwill

Afternoon people, if I have put this in the wrong place feel free to move it for me.

In my back garden we have a hedge on either side of the garden, there are 3 houses in our terrace and they all have the same hedges at the same height on both sides of the gardens so we assume they were put there along with the houses.

We have just agreed with our "terraced" neighbour that we intend to cut the hedges down a bit as they currently stand at 7ft high, the only thing is our "non terraced" neighbours can be quite fussy and although I agree I like privacy too, our garden is only about 12ft wide and we dont get a great deal of sun due to the hedges and their garden is 40+ft and most of their garden is behind our exterior wall anyway, the part where the hedge is, is at the bottom of their garden and only takes up about 10ft in length.

So I was wondering who is it that owns which side of your garden fence/hedge, I have been told by many people that its the right hand side when you are standing with your back to the house, I cant look at deeds etc as its a council property and the council dont have a clue either.

Sorry if my post is a bit long but I prefer to explain myself a bit before asking questions.

Thanks

The_Pedant

The 'right hand' rule is simply a rule of thumb and is by no means a safe assumption.

As the house is a council property, you could probably try to insist that they provide the answer. Point out that you want to trim the hedge back, but don't want to be trimming someone else's property without their permission. Chances are, they would probably have to consult the land registry themselves.

The other key question is where the hedge is actually planted. Is it on the boundary, or off to one side as that could be a good indication. If they are council properties though, they could all have been done in one go, with little attention to the detail of the boundaries. They were simply put in to act as the boundary, regardless of whose boundary it is.

phlogeston

Wkdwill wrote: »

In my back garden we have a hedge on either side of the garden...

So I was wondering who is it that owns which side of your garden fence/hedge,

...as its a council property and the council dont have a clue either.

Sorry if I am being thick, but you say the council owns the properties, so presumably they also own all the hedges!

27col

Just trim it to the height that you want. What are the neighbours going to do about it. They can hardly force you to reinstate it. High hedges are a bit of a b****r to cut anyway, better to have them at a more reasonable height. A height of 6ft will still give ample privacy.

Wkdwill

phlogeston wrote: »

Sorry if I am being thick, but you say the council owns the properties, so presumably they also own all the hedges!

Our house is council but not next doors.

Steve_xx

In the first instance you should try the neighbourly approach. Go to them and ask them if they would have any objections to your plans, explaining to them that you want to do it to get more sun. It might have the desired effect and might even promote your relationship with them.