Shred Boundary hedge / fence?

maisie_cat

If the fence is knackered then it could be removed and the hedge serve as a boundary hedge instead. You have no responsibility to replace the fence, you could replace it with blue string to mark it if you wish. If you want to maintain something dog proof then chain link is a cheap option and neither of you will see it as the hedge will grow through.

Davesnave

maisie_cat wrote: »

If you want to maintain something dog proof then chain link is a cheap option and neither of you will see it as the hedge will grow through.

But it would b*ggar the gearbox on any hedge trimmer you used on it, sooner rather than later.


Been there, done that!

12603taylor

Sorry I meant she had presented is with a quote . I wasn’t very Clear.

Davesnave

12603taylor wrote: »

Sorry I meant she had presented is with a quote . I wasn’t very Clear.

It's OK, most of us do inferential comprehension.

AdrianC

The hedge is a perfectly adequate boundary, and meets your obligation. It should be a bit shorter, though - 2m max.


If she wants a fence as well, then she's free to install one on her side of the boundary.


You do not have any obligation to maintain your side of the hedge - she can do so, but must offer you the clippings back. You do not have to accept them. However, given the relatively low amount of extra work, it would seem the neighbourly thing to do to offer to trim her side at the same time as you do yours.

12603taylor

And just to clarify we already maintain the top of the hedge, across the whole breadth of it, we just don’t maintain the inside of the hedge from her garden side of it. It’s a shared boundary and the hedge has been there for well over 30 years ....we’ve lived her for 9 years. Before the hedge existed, back in the early 70s it was apparently just a fence there ....or so we are told by this neighbour. Which is why she believes a fence should always exist, but from our lint of view it’s not in the deeds and we didn’t even know if it’s existance until this week. We thought the hedge was the boundary, and have been taking on the majority of care of looking after / cutting this hedge.

If a new fence was to be put up the other side of this 2 ft thick / 7ft high hedge we would have no way of maintaining it or knowing what state it is in as we can’t see it.

AnotherJoe

Are you happy to go round and prune it ? I have a similar situation except its my neighbours hedge and I just prune it back because she's a nasty piece of work and asking her to keep it trimmed would cause more aggravation than it's worth. Luckily it's only a very small hedge.
I do think it is unfair to impose an obligation on your neighbour to trim and dispose of the cuttings from a very large hedge.
As others have said , I agree you do not have any obligation to maintain a fence there, though it would minimise the amount of trimming you'd need to do.

moneyistooshorttomention

I can see her pov:
- she has a fence currently
- she wishes to keep that fence (albeit a replacement one)
- it does sound like the fence is the original dividing boundary feature and maintained jointly and hence her thinking "Why should things change - when I havent changed them?"

Maybe the best way to deal with this is to explain that you understand how things used to be (including jointly sharing responsibility for the fence) and invite her to come and look at the hedge from your side and explain that that's all you have ever known as the situation.

Followed by saying to her that you are wondering if her basic concern is that if the (joint) fence is removed (as too rotten to stay), then you understand her concern that your hedge may invade her garden (it probably would in fact) and guarantee that you will come round at reasonable intervals (with appropriate notice given) and trim her side of your hedge, so that it doesnt invade her garden.

I can understand why someone wouldnt want A.N. Other's hedge invading their garden (as it could mean the loss of several feet of her garden).

Would that be acceptable to her?

I would say that possible solution is "lesser of two evils" to paying half the cost of what does honestly sound like a shared fence responsibility (morally if not legally).

Davesnave

I think people's sympathies here will depend to a great degree on what their previous experience is. We've had nothing less than 100' of 7'-8' high hedge to maintain for the past 30 years, and now we've much more than that, but it's never occurred to us that the person on t'other side ought to come round and do the trimming in our garden, even when it's clearly their hedge.


My wife goes into next door's garden with their agreement and cuts our 80' beech hedge annually to prevent 'invasion,' or whatever you want to call it, but that's because there are no useful, able- bodied or financially secure people in there to get it done. If there were, they'd have to get on with doing it themselves, or live with the consequences.

So, for me, it comes down to what I said earlier, if the neighbour has the physical capability or money, she ought to deal with the hedge and/or fence on her side herself.

AnotherJoe

BTW, I've just spottted the typo in the subject line.

I suggest you dont do that