I'm devastated, any advice please ?

Davesnave

juliebunny wrote: »

I stand by my original opinion that they had no right to do this and I'm impressed that the Police took it seriously. I would be seriously pee'd off if my neighbours did this to me.

Few here have argued that the neighbours were in the right, or had any right to behave as they did. However, the OP wanted suggestions about what to do. The answer is simple; go for the voluntary removal of the branches offered yesterday and try to make that stick. That in itself would be an admission of wrongdoing.

Of course the police took it seriously. Part of their work is community relations & liaison, but there has been no suggestion that they offered to involve themselves by starting a prosecution. I'd be highly surprised if they did.

I also think the word 'devastated' has been misused here, as it is elsewhere. If anyone is devastated over something like this, they've lived a very sheltered life.

Del_Astra

meer53 wrote: »

http://s1174.photobucket.com/albums/r613/mkr22/

My hedge, hope this has worked ! I'm still devastated !

What time was the photo taken at? it looks like the shade is away from there property / garden in that photo. Could they have been worried about them falling down and landing on the property? (I don't think it was, just trying to offer up suggests as to why they have done this.)

Was it blocking out light? Have the recently added a conservatory or something to the back of the house? Greenhouse / polytunnel / veg beds ?

I would move the trampoline, install a set of football goals, they will soon learn the hedge had it uses;).

I honestly can not understand why they would not speak to you first, have you refused in the past?

Lotus-eater

juliebunny wrote: »

When we were selling our mums house, we accepted an offer, then the 'new buyers' came round and ripped out 2 hedges from the garden!! They did NOT have permission. We were devastated, I wish we had called the Police in hindsight. We cancelled the sale to them though which they were very upset about. Inside the house were loads of confirmations of orders they had already place for new bathroom etc, etc, so I hope that cost them a lot of money too. Grrr.

That just seems, to me, daft. It was virtually sold, what difference did it make to you what they did with it?
Yes they weren't allowed and if the sale fell through, you could no doubt have taken then to a small claims court.
Cutting off your nose to spite your face?

totallybored

Del_Astra wrote: »

I would move the trampoline, install a set of football goals, they will soon learn the hedge had it uses;).

Please don't do this. Just try to use your own garden without creating a problem for others.

We all agree that the neighbour had no legal right to do what they did but it's done now. I'd personally trim all of the hedge to the same level, it still looks high to me, and try not to turn it into a neighbour dispute.

The OP states that the hedge was only put there 10 years ago and the neighbour has been there more than 20. Also, the original boundary wall is still there and the OP planted the hedge in front of this. If I was the neighbour I'd be a bit annoyed that someone purposefully planted a huge hedge next to the boundary that I had no control over and would affect my light and garden. I see no need for the hedge to be more than 2 meters high. It's not like the neighbour is spying into the OPs garden from their bedroom window in a bungalow!

System

Again, not wishing to make light of your situation i want to share a view from my sons bedroom window. As you can see, its a nice view. I can see for miles, Lickey Hills is far into the distance and on a clear day i can see it quite clearly.

If you notice, just behind my garden and beyond the field at the back.... some nice people decided to grow a few conifer trees for privacy. Ive got no problem with conifer trees, in fact we use them ourselves to make our house more private but we do have an excellent relationship with the neighbour next door and the trees are lopped off twice a year to a manageable height. Anyway, back to the point. In a few years my beautiful view will be hidden by the trees that have been planted and are obviously not being trimmed to a certain height or if they are, its not a height i am comfortable with.

Will i complain? No, it doesnt bother me enough to go knocking on someones door. Will i be driven to get a hacksaw to the lot of them? No!

What i am saying is that maybe this has been festering in your neighbours head for ages, maybe the SIL thought he was doing his MIL a favour?

Like i said, i'm not excusing their behaviour or telling you not to take legal action but just see it a little from their point of view though i do think they took the cowards way out.

DebiT

OP, the neighbours were totally out of order cutting your trees without permission. I would certainly prosecute for criminal damage. The small claims court may be the way to go.

Its all very well people on here saying how the trees might have been oppressive and they can understand the neighbours actions, but at the end of the day we cannot all go around doing whatever we feel like, that is why there are laws.
What if I dont like my neighbours extension, what if that feels oppressive, can I take a hammer to it? of course not. What about my neighbours dog, what if I object to its constant barking, can I just get rid of it? again of course not. The proper procedure should always be followed. In the case of the OP's neighbour they didnt even try to have a friendly word.

People can't be encouraged to start doing as they please, otherwise where does it all end?

wellused

In my opinion the law on trees and hedges forming a boundary are way out of date in these days of people living in such close proximity to each other. If someone plants a tree or hedge which they intend to allow to grow in such a way that it interferes with their neighbours light or views then they should have to go through a planing application as if they were intending to build an extension to their property. I notice that many if not most of these high hedge domestic garden tree lovers tend to plant their trees on a boundary where they know that it will interfere with their neighbours enjoyment of their gardens and rarely plant in the centre of their own plot. The law is out of date and should be changed to favour the victims for a change.

fwor

wellused wrote: »

The law is out of date and should be changed to favour the victims for a change.

Please no. No more laws telling us what we can't do in our own homes. You're never going to stop the occasional disagreement, but that's no good reason to turn to the courts for the answers to everything.

To the OP: If you don't know for sure exactly what type of conifer it is, it would be worth getting an expert's view on it. Contrary to popular opinion, some conifers will re-grow from lower limbs if chopped.

I'm not an expert, but the tree surgeon who came to look at mine told me that Leylandii generally don't, Lawson's Cypress do, but to a limited extent, and Thujas generally do.

meer53

Okay folks !

I've read all the responses and here is the story.

18 years ago, we bought the piece of land where the hedge is planted. ALL the neighbours whose houses border this land had chance to buy the land, but no-one was interested, it was overgrown and needed a huge amount of work to turn it into a garden which we did. If i were to apply for planning permission to build on this land, it would be granted, but i wont because i know it wouldn't be fair on anyone to have houses on this land. If i did, i would be quite wealthy. I don't want houses at the bottom of my garden, so why should i expect anyone else to put up with it ?

We cleared the land and erected a wooden fence before we planted the conifers. Again, no neighbour ever commented and the trees are regularly cut, i have a gardener who comes every two weeks to keep things in order. I'm not some selfish person who doesn't think about others feelings !

The same neighbours live here now as did then. My neighbours SIL was asked to take 12" off the top of the hedge. I could have lived with that, as my gardener is coming tomorrow to take nearly 2' off the trees anyway ! This is all about being reasonable, not about whether people are afraid to speak to me or whether there is bad feeling between anyone. How can you fall out with someone you haven't spoken to for years ?

The Police came to see me because it is a clear cut case of criminal damage. It has been logged as such by them, i feel it will be resolved amicably after my discussion yesterday with my neighbours daughter but as everyone knows, this doesnt always happen, Why should i be hundreds (if not more) of pounds out of pocket for something i never agreed to ? If i have to take it further i will.

To Valk_scot, you might be making a huge assumption here, which is a very dangerous thing to do. I am not an intimidating bloke with a deep voice. I'm a single mum with 2 kids.

kegg_2

the neigbour should have been a bit more crafty about it and given the hedge a salt water drink every night for a few weeks and got rid of it properly. With the added benefit of the fact there is no law to stop you pouring salt and boiling water into your own soil.