Neighbour's ivy and conifer has destroyed our fence

pushing40

Hi everyone.  I'm not sure if this is in the right topic area (please advise me where else I can post if not).
Our alcoholic neighbour's wife left him a few years ago.  Since she's been gone, he has done very little to maintain his property and his lack of effort is plain to see.  He hasn't been pruning anything in his garden and as a consequence, two enormous conifers and ivy have practically destroyed our fence.  The ivy is SO invasive - it has worked its way through every tiny gap in the fence and has weakened it, and now the conifers branches are doing the same.  We regularly cut back what we can from our side but it's obviously getting worse, not better.  The weight of the ivy is crushing the fence that we can't easily access (the fence behind our own shrubs and trees).  I think (though I'm not 100% sure) that the fence is ours (its a newish build and it's the left hand fence in the back garden as we stand inside our house looking out).  We have legal cover on our home insurance.  Can we pursue him through insurance to pay for a new fence?  

Black_Cat2

You might want to start by checking the fence is definitely your responsibility by checking your house deeds, it might be his fence? 🐈

JGB1955

A boundary doesn't need to be a fence - just a piece of string will suffice. We had a wire fence between us and our neighbours for the first 5 years... we miss it, as now we have to chat over the fence!

twopenny

Probably not the way you want to go but I had a similar problem with a neighbour.

I turned the boundary into an ivy hedge. Very few dropped leaves. Really easy to maintain with a hedge trimmer and more wildlife friendly. Also gave more wind shelter.

As for the conifer. There are ways and means that are simple to create it's demise that he will never know if he's not interested.

pushing40

twopenny said:

As for the conifer. There are ways and means that are simple to create it's demise that he will never know if he's not interested.

Ooh, please do tell...

Davesnave

pushing40 said:

Hi everyone.  I'm not sure if this is in the right topic area (please advise me where else I can post if not).
Our alcoholic neighbour's wife left him a few years ago.  Since she's been gone, he has done very little to maintain his property and his lack of effort is plain to see.  He hasn't been pruning anything in his garden and as a consequence, two enormous conifers and ivy have practically destroyed our fence.  The ivy is SO invasive - it has worked its way through every tiny gap in the fence and has weakened it, and now the conifers branches are doing the same.  We regularly cut back what we can from our side but it's obviously getting worse, not better.  The weight of the ivy is crushing the fence that we can't easily access (the fence behind our own shrubs and trees).  I think (though I'm not 100% sure) that the fence is ours (its a newish build and it's the left hand fence in the back garden as we stand inside our house looking out).  We have legal cover on our home insurance.  Can we pursue him through insurance to pay for a new fence?  

The neighbour's lack of effort is not 'plain to see' because you've provided no picture. Is that a lack of effort on your part?

 We also can't know who the fence belongs to. It's possible on a new build that the title plan or some other paperwork might indicate responsibility, either with T marks or in another way, but only you may consult that. In the absence of any proof one way or the other, it's nobody's fence, so nobody can be forced to pay for a new one.

So, what you're left with is ivy and branches affecting a fence you might own, which you 'can't easily access' because of your own shrubs and trees, yet you expect your neighbour with an addiction (and possibly depression too) to care about this and get there somehow to take care of the problem. Hmmm.

Maintenance of a fence you care about needs to be done from your side. Similarly, a neighbour's trees or other plants which encroach need cutting back from your side. If you can't get there, that's your problem.

twopenny

Pushing, not sure that I can on here. GIYF.  Besides here can be hefty fines for compensation.

However here is the law on the subject

https://www.townandcountrytrees.co.uk/tree-laws