Neighbour trespassed and hacked our hedge down

Fire_Fox

Jadeelizabeth95 wrote: »

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!

Welcome to MSE. I can see why you are upset, I used to love gardening (now in a city centre flat!).

Communicate with your neighbour. To keep the situation calm, consider tempering your language ([STRIKE]trespassed and hacked[/STRIKE] entered and cut back hard).

This may be a simple mistake, the person who cut the hedge may genuinely believe that the hedge is your neighbours.

Please do not ever leave your 'protective' dogs in the garden unattended, not even whilst you use the bathroom, or drink a glass of water, or answer the telephone. A child could come in to fetch their ball, or a teenager to see what they can 'borrow'.

How does the Dangerous Dogs Act affect my dog?

Whether you own a large dog or a miniature breed, and however calm and friendly your dog is, the Dangerous Dogs Act still applies to you.

Under the Act, it's illegal for a dog to be 'out of control' or to bite or attack someone. The legislation also makes it an offence if a person is worried or afraid (the term is 'reasonable apprehension') that a dog may bite them. So it's important to ensure that your dog is kept under control at all times and in all places.

So here's what you need to know about the Act:

The Act includes incidents on private property

Since 1991 it has been illegal for dogs to be 'out of control in a public place'. In 2014 the law was amended to include incidents on private property - so inside your home and others' homes, including front and back gardens.

Your dog is considered dangerously out of control if it:

Injures someone
Makes someone worried that it might injure them

What if my dog is protecting me from an intruder?

The law does provides a defence if your dog attacks an intruder in your own home.

However, rather confusingly, if your dog attacks an intruder in your garden this is an offence which could land you in court.

Link to full RSPCA article

HTH.

sevenhills

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 ��

Is the wall the boundary?
I am confused, as why would they cut your hedge down to 3ft. How tall was it before?

Benight

spadoosh wrote: »

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

It sounds like your garden is on one heck of a gradient :eek:

Jadeelizabeth95

I'd just like to point out again our dogs are not attack dogs ect. They are two elderly dogs. But any dog will be likely to attack if a complete stranger enters their garden and scares them. They are never left in the garden alone anyway.

Unfortunately I am not allowed to post pictures as a new member so it's hard to explain but I'll give it a go!

So basically our garden is over two layers. The hedge is on the side of the top (with the grass). Because it's been landscaped there is a wall and this is in line with our boundary line fence. He has stepped into the wall and into the hedge and cut a huge hole in it. On further inspection it has been cut down to 2 foot (but remember it's on a wall)

neilmcl

Just post the link without the https://, someone will do the rest.

Jadeelizabeth95

Awesome thank you 😊

drive.google.com/file/d/1jtO-iNN7svLVXBnS-YCQg_Ns1Odd4Cjr/view?usp=drivesdk

Sea_Shell

It might be upsetting but what's done is done.

You still haven't said what you actually want to happen next.

neilmcl

Maybe they thought they were doing you a favour by cutting the hedge from both sides. It would look a bit stupid if they only cut their side of the top of the hedge. Hedges are not like fences, they may be growing from your boundary but in reality they tend to be shared along with their maintenance.

Jadeelizabeth95

It's about 6.5ft, I've popped a link for a picture down below.

They approached my partner two weeks ago asking if we would have it taken down as they don't like trimming it (even through they have hedges around the whole of their garden. They then said don't worry about it yet through as they'd like it done towards the end of summer so we can chat about it in a few months and they will pay half if it's not too expensive (?!) and now this today. Looking at what he's done to me it looks like they've purposely tried to ruin it so we rip it out ourselves.

Jadeelizabeth95

Honestly have you looked at the picture?! It's more than upsetting. I want it rectified so I can enjoy my garden without them staring through the hole in the hedge they have created.

I have spoken to the non emergency police and they have offered to come out tomorrow and speak to us and them so I will do that. It's not a accident it's malicious and if you look at the picture you will see so for yourself