Neighbour trespassed and hacked our hedge down

Jadeelizabeth95

Hi all,

Just after some advice really (first time home owner).
We purchased the property and we own the hedge on the left. Obviously I know they need to trim their side and that's fine but today they didn't realise I was off work and they have trespassed into my garden (one concern being I have dogs who protect their property, if they were out at the time I dread to imagine). I have now gone out to see what he's done and apart from completely hacking it he has taken it upon himself to take the hedge down to about 2/3ft. This leaves a complete entrance into their garden and looks absolutely horrendous. I'm really upset by this as we've just started to make the garden our own and they probably saw me out in the storm on the weekend planting my new flowers. I'm not sure if I can post pictures here but it's bad!

Jadeelizabeth95

Also just wanted to add that like with most hedges we get a lot of little birds in there. Not sure if they nest in there, I've never gone out searching but when you walk up to the bushes tons fly out!!

Sea_Shell

Did they actually enter your garden through a closed/unlocked gate?

Is it a front or rear garden? If front Does your postman know you have dogs, if when in the garden, might protect (attack intruders)?

If you were in, off work, why didn't you go out and say something if you saw them entering your garden?

-taff

Is the hedge completely inside your boundary or does it straddle it?
How did he trespass?
Your easiest way to resolve any difficulties is to go round or invite them round to discuss the fence and what you would like and not like them to do with it. And be tactful, even if they have trespassed because for now, as new neighbours, you have no idea what their impression of the fence is or whether they had an agreement to cut it down with the previous owner. And tell them about your attack dogs [ after ptting up suitable signage...]
Not excusing what they've done either, they shouldhave had a chat with you about it before hacking it.

spadoosh

The flip side of this is ive got a hedge that is 8ft on my side and about 20ft on my neighbours side.

My neighbours are a bit weird so prefer not talking to them hence the situation. The neighbour i do talk to though, weve achieved a lot between our shared gardens because were happy to talk to each other.

The point im making is you can only get a resolution (one that youd want anyway, i mean you could sue him to recover damages but then youre declaring it when selling and going to court over a section of hedge sounds like a pursuit for the permanently bored) by talking to your neighbour.

Davesnave

The advice is straightforward; you ask your neighbour why they did this. Then, maybe advise them you don't want the hedge lowered again, as you have dogs which might escape. You certainly wish the neighbour to ask before coming onto your property in future for any maintenance task.

You ask them why first, because it's possible the neighbour thinks the hedge belongs to them, and it may even do so. Just because your title documents say you have a responsibility to maintain that boundary, it doesn't automatically follow that the hedge is yours. It doesn't even mean that the neighbour must agree with your view on where the boundary is.

For example, it could be that back in the mists of time, a previous occupant failed to mark the boundary and the neighbour planted the hedge on what they considered their land.

Jadeelizabeth95

Sea Shell Did they actually enter your garden through a closed/unlocked gate?
They have no fence on their side so he got up onto the wall and into the hedge.

Is it a front or rear garden? If front Does your postman know you have dogs, if when in the garden, might protect (attack intruders)?
Rear garden, and we're friendly with the postman anyway. They're not "attack dogs" I just don't think they'd be too happy about a uninvited stranger in their back garden (as most dogs wouldn't be!)

If you were in, off work, why didn't you go out and say something if you saw them entering your garden?
I was in total shock and needed to cool off, they're older and very unfriendly as it is. I didn't want to go out when I'm home alone, I'd rather wait for my partner to also be there.

Jadeelizabeth95

I have all the documents that state it's mine also it's really obvious where the boundary is, there's a wall, garage and a boundary line so there's no excuses 😅

Jadeelizabeth95

We're in similar situation with our right side owners, they're lovely and we share everything. These neighbours on the flip side have always been rude to us since we moved in. Blocking our drive way ect when they know we're on our way to work. Hence why I didn't want to go round on my own because I know she will blow up on me.

Sea_Shell

What do you want to happen now and in the future?

Your going to have to talk to them about it one way or the other. They can't stick the foliage back on, so you need to come to an agreement with them, going forwards.

spadoosh

Jadeelizabeth95 wrote: »

I have all the documents that state it's mine also it's really obvious where the boundary is, there's a wall, garage and a boundary line so there's no excuses 😅

The penil line on your plans scaled up would be about 1ft across. Are you sure there is no ambiguity with boundaries because they crop up in legal cases all the time?

Going back to my neighbours, i had a hedge on that side too and they didnt want to deal with the hedge so installed fencing (long before i was there) just their side of the hedge. I removed the hedge and now have an offset boundary giving me a strip of land about 1ft wide down the majority of the garden, his land, on my side of the fence. Im pretty sure i can argue its my land now though adverse possession. Things like this are very common in properties.