Shred Boundary hedge / fence?

12603taylor

We have been living at our property for over 9 years. The front garden/drive of our house backs onto the back garden of another house. Although there is a substantial hedge (about 7ft high and 20 meters high running along this boundary). We have been cutting the top of this hedge (the whole width of the top of the hedge since we moved in 9+ yrs ago. However, recently the lady that lives in the house in front of us have come round and presentes us with a bill for £1k to replace a fence which is the other side of our hedge, which we didn’t even know existed for the last 9 years. So we aren’t shocked to receive a bill to replace a fence we have knew nothing about . On purchasing the house we were made aware by the sellers that they maintained the hedge and we took this on and have always assumed this is the boundary for our properties. However the lady advises me that after our house was built in 1971 the first owner put up the hedge, and that the original party boundary was the fence and we therefore should share the cost of replacing this fence. I have now checked our deed , thee is no mention of a fence, but a plan with a TT showing joint ownership of this party boundary. I feel agreived to pay towards the cost of replacing a fence we ha e never seen or will not be able to see when it is replaced , it has no benefit to us as we find the hedge a perfectly adequate boundary . The lady is insistant she wants a fence out back up on the other side of our hedge as she doesn’t want our hedge growing over into her garden. And if our hedge does grow over she sees it as our responsibility to go round her side of the hedge and cut any strands growing outwards ...we already cut the whole of the top. Do we have to pay halves on this fence that at some point many many years ago was the boundary , or can we say the hedge is now an adequate boundary and no leave it like that ? Seems like a stitch up that we have brought a house where we are responsible for the whole hedge cutting / maintenance plus 50% the cost of a fence the other side of it that we don’t need - it’s just her that wants it. Advice please ?

12603taylor

I meant to say the hedge is 7ft high and 20m long

StumpyPumpy

So in summary: Your neighbour wants to put up/repair the fence upon a boundary. Your deeds make no mention of you having to maintain a physical border, it only states that there is a party boundary. You do not wish to pay to have the fence repaired.

Why does the neighbour believe you are obligated to pay?

(The stuff about the hedge is irrelevant)

SP

12603taylor

I will double check deeds again that no mention of maintaining a physical boundary ...certainly didn’t see any reference to a fence.

Regarding the hedge - she’s arguing that she needs a fence up the other side of our hedge as it stops our hedge growing into her garden and she say ‘why should she have to cut the hedge from her side, and that if the fence isn’t replaced we will have to go round into her garden to keep the hedge neat and tidy that side too”.

The hedge is really thick and long, we can even see the fence the other side of it.

StumpyPumpy

Personally, I'd be neighbourly and cut both sides of the hedge - you obviously have the tools to do so, but as long as it causes no damage to her property then you are not obligated to do so - nor are you obligated to do it "neatly". She is perfectly at liberty to prune any of the hedge that encroaches onto her land should she wish.

SP

Davesnave

The lady can't have presented you with a bill, because no one has done the work yet, but she may have had an estimate for the work.

If this is the case, it's entirely up to both of you to decide if you'd like a new fence or not. Clearly you wouldn't, because it would be of no advantage to you, so you tell her that and decline the offer.

Stumpy suggests you might offer to maintain the neighbour's side of your hedge. I might do that if the neighbour seemed vulnerable and/or unable to afford a gardener to do the job. However, all other things being equal, I would expect her to help maintain a boundary feature that's been shared for many years now, or to put in a new tall fence to minimise that chore, and then pay for it herself.

ariarnia

Another option would be to consider removing the hedge (unless you are particularly attached to it?). It sounds like it would save you a reasonable amount of labour and possibly gain you several square foot of garden.

I would have thought a fence would last (with treatment) at least 10 years so works out at around £50 per year. Assuming it takes you an afternoon to trim such a large hedge that's not a bad hourly rate on your return.

Davesnave

Removing the hedge is certainly an option, but it'll be no mean feat if it's something like privet, which has to come out at the roots or it will grow back again. If it's leylandii, cutting it off at ground level will be fine, but then one is left with stumps. My neighbour cut a dozen leylandii down in 2012; the stumps are still there.

Also, the maximum height of a boundary fence is 2m, so removing the hedge might create a privacy issue for the OP

When I was younger and considerably stronger, I inherited a thick privet hedge a little longer than the OP's. It took several summers for me to remove and dispose of it, replacing each section with a fence as I worked my way along. I gained a good amount of garden, so it was worth it, but like the OP, I had a shock when the other side was revealed; two neighbours had stolen around 3' of our garden to make rear pedestrian entrances, so there wasn't quite so much land there as I thought!

I didn't ask the neighbours if they'd like to contribute 50% to the fencing, because it was my choice, and therefore obvious what the answer would be..

EachPenny

ariarnia wrote: »

Another option would be to consider removing the hedge (unless you are particularly attached to it?). It sounds like it would save you a reasonable amount of labour and possibly gain you several square foot of garden.

With a neighbour like that I'd be inclined to keep the hedge - they offer far greater protection against annoying neighbours than thin flimsy wooden fences.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm confused by the comment "presented us with a bill" and took that directly at face value - ie she's had the work done and then gave you a bill for it after the work had already been done. But other posters seem to think it might mean she gave you an estimate of what she has been told it will cost to do (future tense).

Is that the case?

paddy's_mum

She's being silly as if it is indeed your fence, you could simply replace it with something bodged together out of old pallets and baling twine.

If she wants to look at something pretty, and you don't wish to pay towards a new one (which incidentally will be owned by whom?) then the fence removal and replacement will need to be at her own expense. In the absence of any stipulation in the deeds, you are at liberty to replace it with field posts and plain wire.

On the question of cutting the hedge, I have some sympathy with the lady, having been on the receiving end of able bodied but lazy neighbours who preferred to leave a couple of pensioners to deal with 200 feet of their high privet hedge! If the lady is happy for you to enter her garden periodically to maintain your hedge, wouldn't that be a kindness to do so?

Good luck getting it sorted amicably.