Garden boundary

Ant555

Lozzaloula wrote: »

...a copy of an agreement between my neighbour and one of the old occupiers of the house from 10 years ago...

this sounjds like the neighbour thinks it was in place from before the people you have just bought from - assuming still alive, are you or your solicitors able to contact the person you have just bought it from - did they know anything about this? If so then they maybe should have disclosed it, if not and this is all new then I wonder if that adds weights to your side of the situation.

Davesnave

I doubt if there are any legal implications if nothing exists within your property's paperwork, which your solicitor would surely have advised you about when going through it with you..

Like one or two others, I'd leave the hedge in place until I'd sized-up the neighbour and the problems it might create removing such a barrier. A new one won't grow in 5 minutes, so it might turn out to be a blessing!

PS. There are ways to make a hedge die slowly. Just spraying it occasionally with over-diluted glyphosate will do the trick and it's impossible to prove that disease isn't to blame!

moneyistooshorttomention

That phrase "one of the old occupiers" has got me wondering whether that should be taken quite literally - ie not just a previous occupying household to the one you actually bought the house from - but it may be that it was a couple that were these previous owners and "one" of those occupiers agreed (ie one of the married couple agreed - but their spouse didnt iyswim).

Either way - I'd still go right ahead and hoick that hedge right out.

I'm still not sure to this day whether it was just the last owner of my house or previous owner/s that might (or might not!) have agreed to my neighbours having any permissions to come in/use my garden. I'm still not sure to this day whether permission was actively given - or the neighbours just started doing what they wanted and previous owner/s of my house didnt actively stop them.

Any which way - it's irrelevant. I'm the owner now and I decide what does and doesnt happen in my garden and the only way that wouldnt have been the case would be if there was something in writing on the "deeds" of my house indicating otherwise. Otherwise - my neighbours didnt have a leg to stand on.

Some neighbours do try it on when they see a new neighbour has moved in - and try and tell them "things are such-and-such a way".

But personally I just interpreted that as "The neighbours would like to have things such-and-such a way and are trying to intimidate me into going along with it. Tough!".

bouicca21

OP you will have plenty of things to do with the house that are a higher priority than sorting out the garden. Let it alone for now. Get to know the neighbour, maybe give the hedge a trim in the spring - it may look straggly now but perhaps some tlc will do it good.

Don't forget GM's faith in tea and cake.

Le_Kirk

Several posters have suggested "getting to know the neighbour" and "have a cup of tea and a chat" but if you read the first post the OP said, "the neighbour never answers his door" Difficult to start having good relations with a closed door.

Grenage

You could go in with an adversarial approach right from the off, as some posters seem to favour, or you could try and get on with your neighbour and deal with the hedge when you get round to the garden.

Neighbourly relations make or break homes; don't take any crap, but don't pick needless fights.

moneyistooshorttomention

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Several posters have suggested "getting to know the neighbour" and "have a cup of tea and a chat" but if you read the first post the OP said, "the neighbour never answers his door" Difficult to start having good relations with a closed door.

The evidence does indicate that this neighbour doesnt want to "discuss". They want to "dictate".

Davesnave

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Several posters have suggested "getting to know the neighbour" and "have a cup of tea and a chat" but if you read the first post the OP said, "the neighbour never answers his door" Difficult to start having good relations with a closed door.

Getting to know the neighbour in this circumstance might well be through having a cup of tea, cake and a chat with other neighbours.

If there's anything worrying or weird, at the very least it'll be hinted at.

Ganga

Could it be that the neighbour plans on claiming the land ( yours ) that the hedge sits on as you agreed to it years ago ( 2017 ) and as he/she had "owned it " for x number of years it is now theirs?

moneyistooshorttomention

Ganga wrote: »

Could it be that the neighbour plans on claiming the land ( yours ) that the hedge sits on as you agreed to it years ago ( 2017 ) and as he/she had "owned it " for x number of years it is now theirs?

See the comment that the neighbour has given it in writing (as letter via EA) to OP saying that the hedge is on OP's garden.

That means neighbour can't grab the land with adverse possession - as they have acknowledged in writing that it is OP's land. First criteria of grabbing land by AP is to state/carry on stating that its your land - and not admitting it actually belongs to someone else.

So OP is safe from that - as long as they keep that letter safely to one side in their files (or, at least, dont let this neighbour know they havent done so).