New fence - wants me to pay for his bush removal

ey143

Yes brick wall is more expensive but I was prepared to pay the higher sums as it would go with a future landscaped garden and wall lights - but that's not the point and neither is the cost of circa £150 or £200 extra it will cost me to clear his bushes. I can afford it but its what is fair and reasonable that's bugging me. He is annoyed by the previous owner's lack of spending on the front and back which he now sees as an open opportunity to get me to fix things.

Anyway, I have to keep a smile on my face and look at the longer term picture.

lesalanos

" Being a good neighbour i even have him permission to ocasionally park on my driveway due to insufficient space on the road when he has people around."

with this and the other requests it sounds like you are the only one being reasonable and he is already in control of this neighbourly relationship.

Doozergirl

What you put on your side of the boundary is your business. Deeds usually only dictate that the boundary is marked, not that you maintain a fence of your neighbours choosing.

The only thing stoping your from getting planning permission on an extension would be a specific planning issue, something that the planning inspector would pick up on anyway. Neighbours can't prevent anyone from getting planning permission just because they don't like them.

I suggest you either find a compromise that you are happy with or just go agead and do what you want on your own land - which is your perogative.

Mojisola

ey143 wrote: »

I'm a new owner of a property in which my handyman/builder who I asked to clear out my garden jungle has created a 2-3m gap in our boundary bush (predominately neighbour's). The bush overhung into our garden by some 2m and now both sides have lost privacy as everything is cut back to the trunk/stalk.

I msged neighbour to tell him first and apologised. He now wants me to reinstate privacy with a new tall fence. The previous one is my responsibility but totally gone and previous vendor didnt maintain.

He want me to do at least half garden (17m) which I have no problems doing as it is bad and needs doing but he wants me to use his gardener to install my fence and also clear out the bushes on his side of the fence.

I wanted a wall but he said it will damage his rediculoisly overgrown leylandii tree (3-4m wide and 7m tall and blocks my light).

The neighbour is calling all the shots!

I know you want to keep in his good books but, given the way he behaving, do you really think he's going to let you build an extension without causing problems?

Do what you want about the plant that was cut back. Put up a bit of trellis to help with privacy. The plant will probably grow back quickly this year, depending on what it is.

He has no right to ask for 17m of new fencing put up by his choice of workman just because you've cut his plant back to the boundary! As for you paying to remove his plants!:rotfl:

I think you need to start standing your ground.

SailorSam

Do we have a right to privacy ? I'd be surprised if he could force you into putting up a high fence. Maybe you could say it's one of those jobs that's on your list for the future But with just moving in you can't afford it at the moment, and suggest perhaps you could go halves.

27col

If he wants privacy then it is up to him to provide it. It is extremely unlikely that anyone could force a garden owner to provide anything that they did not choose to. The neighbour is just trying it on to see what he can get away with.
I don't know the law but I suspect that there is no serious expectation of privacy in an urban situation.
As to the conservatory issue. If the plans show it to be in line with the regulations then the planners will say whether it can be built, and not some stroppy neighbour. You need to resist his interference and unreasonable requests before they get to be even more unreasonable.

ey143

Thx all. Some useful feedback here. Like I said I'm usually very strong headed but knowing how neighbours easily fall out and how some "established neighbours" looking to take advantage of new neighbours, I need to be careful.

If I really wanted to be difficult I could just put up 3 panels to give him his privacy and not the new fence that he desires, but I know I will still need to spend money to make my garden look half decent with a proper fence later.

Doozergirl

27col wrote: »

You need to resist his interference and unreasonable requests before they get to be even more unreasonable.

This. People like that never get better and you'll probably find he's never happy with anything, even when you've done as he says. Better to please yourself.

ey143

How do I upload an JPEG image of the garden / bush in question if I have the file? Never done it before on MSE. Asking me for a URL link?

lisawood78

Upload it to photobucket then add the URL here