Next door cutting down my hedge......

Biggles

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

It sounds like there is a very easy solution to this.

Phone up your neighbour, and tell them you're OK with them trimming the hedge on their side but you don't want its height reduced.

Just talk.

See post #8

Biggles

Sensible_Jess wrote: »

I'm cautious about setting a precedent for the would be tenants along the lines of 'next door will be fine if you cut the top off their hedge when you feel like it'. Yes it will grow back but I'd rather they didn't cut it at all in the first place.

I'm sure you're right in that.

Just tell the gardeners 'No' and that will probably be the end of it. Tell them if the letting agent, or whoever is paying them, has any queries, they should contact you direct.

xylophone

Request access to the garden (as there now seems to be an administrator acting on behalf of the owner) and cut back the overhang yourself.

amcluesent

Any dispute\complaint with your neighbour would need to be disclosed and could well make your house unsaleable.

Thrugelmir

Sensible_Jess wrote: »

Thank for the replies

It about 6-7 feet high and is a (slow growing) copper beech.

A good prune will encourage a stronger better plant to grow. Give the hedge a regular feed and it will soon recover.

keystone

pinkteapot wrote: »

And just to clarify, ..... and they should throw them over to your side.

Sorry to contradict you but thats wrong. Yes the neighbour is entited to cut back to the boundary line (remembering of course that the boundary line is on the neighbours side in this case and the hedge in question is wholly on the OPs side.

However, it is not permissable just to lob the cuttings over the boundary.

You are right that they belong to the OP and the neighbour (or his agent - in this case the gardener) is obliged to knock on the door and offer them back to their owner. If the owner declines then it is for the neighbour / gardener to dispose of the cuttings properly.

OP - the gardener has no right whatsoever to reduce the height at their own whim if the hedge, as you say, is wholly on your property. If they do so against your specifically communicated wishes then you have a case for criminal damage against the gardener and incitement to criminal damage against the person that instructed them. Thats the situation but heaven forbid in the interests of harmony it should ever come to that. I would have thought though, from a reasonablness (ye gods is there such a word?) perspective that 2 metres high was more than adequate. A copper beech hedge will easily fill out to give a nice flat top to the hedge and will stay that way if its trimmed regularly in the growing season. If, however, its been neglected for a while then you will get unsightly gaps initially.

HTH

Cheers

Debt_Free_Chick

Whilst I don't disagree with the suggestions that the neighbour reduce the height of his side and the OP leaves hers high, that's really going to look very odd!

If aesthetic appeal is what the OP is after, then reducing the height on one side only is not, I fear, going to achieve that.

keystone

DFC

How is the neighbour to do that if the hedge is wholly (according to OP) on [STRIKE]his[/STRIKE] her property?

Cheers

blossomhill_2

So its not a boundary hedge but is entirely on your land - take photos now, from upstairs windows, and give the gardeners a simply worded letter saying that they can only cut back any overhang on the neighbour's side.

(PS If they were to cut it badly they could cause dieback of branches, or let disease into the hedge, so it is not certain that it will grow better afterwards, although proper pruning can enourage strong growth)

amcluesent

IMHO, unless you have acres then 2m boundary\hedging is quite sufficient for privacy on a housing estate. Anything more shows selfish behaviour.