Boundary fence damaged by ivy

pinkshoes

We bought a house recently.

Our boundary fence is somewhat cream crackered. The neighbour has grown ivy against it overy many years, which has poked through the fence slats and posts, and wrecked it. Not much holding the fence up except the ivy and her bushes the other side.

If we replace the fence, it will mean wrecking her bushes and ivy to get the fence out, as they seem to be relying on the support of our fence. What is the legal scenario with this? Would we have to pay to replace her hedgerow?

Down the other end she has a shed right against the fence. The fence posts have aged, but behind her shed thick brambles have grown, pushing our fence over by 30cm or more. The fence itself is fine, just the posts need replacing, but I cannot put the fence back up straight due to these brambles. Is it the neighbour that has to remove the brambles?

Just though I would find out the correct etiquette/law before tackling the issue.

HATE IVY!!

ognum

Knock on neighbours door and chat about it!

pinkshoes

I will be chatting to her about it, but would like to get my facts right first, so I can be fair, hence the question.

She will no doubt want me to do all the work as well as paying for her hedge to be replaced, but I need to know if I HAVE to do this, or whether it is irrelevant.

lincroft1710

I had a similar situation and told my neighbour I was willing to replace the fence, but he would have to remove the ivy otherwise it would be pointless replacing the fence. My neighbour was quite happy to replace the fence.

IMHO if your neighbour has allowed her plants to damage your property and is using your property as a support for them, then it is her bad luck if her plants are damaged when you remove the fence.

Mojisola

You can cut back anything that grows over the boundary so you can get rid of the brambles and cut back the side of the hedge facing you when you remove the fence.

If her plants damage your new fence, she would be liable but would it worth taking a neighbour to court over the issue?

System

Who owns the fence? Are you sure that it is yours? Can you prove it?

Being responsible for the boundary and owning the fence do not necessarily go hand in hand

pinkshoes

Definitely our boundary and fence.

The ivy has poked its way between the close board fencing over time, and some of the branches are so thick, I cant even remove them from between the fence panel! Horrible stuff.

I would be really cross if the Ivy wrecked a new fence. It is quite a long boundary, so it is certainly not cheap to have a new fence, hence I am quite keen for the ivy to be removed completely if possible.

emmatthews

We've just done this, our neighbour was happy for us to rip the ivy out with the fence.

I don't know the legalities, but if it is your fence, then if she doesn't want you ripping the ivy out ask her to remove it from your fence so that you can replace it. It is a s*d of a job even when you're not being careful about it, so I doubt she will object.

I can't stand the stuff, don't know why anyone plants it. It is more unsightly than anything it covers up!

G_M

Your fence (are you SURE? How do you know?) so you can remove it if you wish. And leave the boundary bare, or put up a new fence if you wish.

You can also remove any of HER plants that are on YOUR land, or YOUR boundary. (but do not steal them - return them to her).

But damaging her plants, on HER land, is clearly not allowed. So if removing the fence make sure you do not step on her plants or otherwise damage them, other than cutting away any branches/ivy tendrils that are, as explained, on your property.

OK - that's the legal bit. Now forget it.

Invite her to tea. Have cake. Chat about the weather, the neighbours, the local school (if you have kids) & then suggest replacing the fence........