Dividing hedge - who is responsible?

RS-Eleven

Not 100% sure I have posted this in the right place so please forgive me if not!

My mum has a large privet hedge between her property and next door. I can only reach to cut halfway across the top of it. I'm hoping it is the neighbours responsibility to cut "their" side of the top...

Where there is a hedge between two properties like this, is it generally shared responsibility over maintaining it or is it more complicated than that?

Mr_Warren_2

It depends where the shrubs/trees have their main trunck. Either way the shrubs are the property of whoever has them growing on their side of the property. My good neighbour cuts my side of his edge and takes the clippings away, afterall, we are civilised up here in the North East.

MUMMYTO2BOYS

You could reduce it's width with some loppers. It'll look a bit bare for a while esp this time of year but it'll recover and be easier to maintain.

KittyBoo_2

I have a similiar problem.
The hedge that I share with the house attached to me is really wide and they don't cut their side.
The weight seems to pushing my side over.
I will get my friend to really thin my side this year like you have suggested.
The house on the other side is exactly the opposite.
He hacks and chops at his side and when I sit in the garden I can see through the hedge.
He also keeps chopping loads off the height.
Have spoken with both neighbours but never managed to resolve it although we never fall out over it.

a11waysindebt

I have or had this problem with ours. I was using a Ryobi strimmer that had an attachment for a hedge trimmer and still couldn't reach the other side, even on a ladder.:eek:

I thinned it out about 2 feet last week and took it down to about 5 foot in height.

Next door didn't even offer to help :rolleyes:

spidystrider

We have a hedge in our back garden which belongs to us. One of our neighbours prefers to cut the side that faces his garden. We go into our other neighbours grden and cut it as it is our hedge and our responsibility.

carlislelass

according to our council, as you face your property hedges on the left are yours

Becles

Can you go next door to cut it?

The man next door has bushes and a tree that he never bothers pruning, but I can go round anytime and hack stuff back when it starts pressing against the fence.

RS-Eleven

Becles wrote: »

Can you go next door to cut it?

I'm sure I could, but it's a big job and if they're responsible then I'd rather leave it to them!

However, if it is our responsibility then I'd either do it myself or hire someone to do it.

KittyBoo_2

carlislelass wrote: »

according to our council, as you face your property hedges on the left are yours

I have heard this before but wondered how it works in reality.
The hedge that is on my left is cut by the guy who hacks and chops at it in spite of the fact that I ask him not to go too mad with it, as there are lots of birds nesting in there.
The other hedge on the right side is really thick and is never touched.
I was told that if you cut any branches etc that overhang into your garden from a neighbours tree then you are allowed to cut them off but you have to give them back to the owner.
I bet this goes down a real treat.
Can the neighbour remove the whole hedge if he wants to and replace it with a fence?

dixie_dean_2

Could you or your mum just talk to the neighbour? In Yorkshire, bit like the North East, we're very civil, and just talk to them and one or the other cuts it.