garden hedge

worried123

Hi - so I have a garden hedge...privet hedge that borders my garden and my neighbours...it is my hedge growing in my garden.
I had grown the hedge quite tall for privacy...nice thick hedge that i have always maintained......however, the top had got a bit high and overgrown and i intend getting a gardener in to cut the top as i cannot reach.

New neighbour of 10 months who is slightly barking mad....another story.... whose own garden looks like a gypsy site has taken it upon herself to hack into the hedge. She has literally gone into the width of the hedge hacking it to bits. It looks appalling her side as i can see the back of her garden from out front area and its just bare stripped bark. I think that because she could not reach the top to cut it she has literally gone in as far as she can hacking out everything in an attempt to take off the top of the hedge.....truly seeing is believing.

Needless to say i now have massive holes and gaps my side and it sways at the top...she has all but destroyed this and I am furious....she has hacked out all the main stem of the hedge. It took years to grow that hedge tall and thick.

This is my hedge in my garden. Is what she has done (without a word to me before attempting this incredible destruction - she has literally destroyed my hedge) illegal please.

many thanks.

sevenhills

worried123 wrote: »

Hi - so I have a garden hedge...privet hedge that borders my garden and my neighbours...it is my hedge growing in my garden.

How about a thin fence to mark the border, but keep the hedge, then she knows where the border is. A privet hedge will always recover.


I had a friend in similar circumstances, the neigher had a gardener remove the hedge, then she blamed the gardener for going too far; the neighbour had been complaining that the hedge was too high for some time.

worried123

Thank you....I do have a small, low fence as well behind the hedge and i suppose the fence is the border - it isnt very high...she has hacked right into the hedge from the top of the fence.

Neighbours!! in my dreams i live in a detached house with no neighbours.

fwor

worried123 wrote: »

she has hacked right into the hedge from the top of the fence.

What you say is not entirely clear.

If the hedge hangs over the boundary of your property into hers, she is within her rights to chop it off (and, technically, she should return the pieces that she has removed to you).

She has no right to chop off any part that does not overhang the boundary.

Davesnave

worried123 wrote: »

Neighbours!! in my dreams i live in a detached house with no neighbours.

Be careful what you wish for.

Even when one has acres of land, there will be neighbours. Some of these may be farmers, often with errant livestock, but the larger the land area, the greater the chance of having residential neighbours, and maybe the council too. I have all three, each with different ideas about maintenance.

One just has to be pragmatic, so if the other party won't engage and discuss sensibly, a solution must be dreamed-up.

In the case of a hedge attacked by an over zealous, non-rational neighbour, which now needs taking down to re-grow, I'd probably put up 2m tall corrugated iron sheeting just behind my fence line. If I was really angry, I might first paint their side pink and yellow.

That could stay for a year or so, and then I might try to discuss future options, including letting the hedge grow to a reasonable height of around 2m.

stator

If you have no evidence it was actually her who did it then you won't be able to make a criminal charge stick.
If you want compensation for damage to your hedge then take her to small claims court. The burden of proof is lower in SCC.