Boundary problem - fence/hedge (pics)

staffie1

If it were me, I'd have had this ironed out during the conveyancing stage, rather than walk into a known problem with the potential for a boundary dispute. Would have been so much easier.

coachman12

Except for the silly suggestion to leave yourself open to criminal damage, there are some good ideas on this thread for O/P to consider. The best is early on the thread by ProDave, followed by theoretica and frogglet.  Their ideas seem the way to proceed.
But, I've noticed in so many threads like this, the O/P never says if he's even talked to the next door neighbour-----and that is the most obvious thing to do. Are neighbours so frightening ??  If you don't even talk to the neighbour, I normally feel you deserve all you get.
But , assuming you have done so, I think this matter is easily resolved along the lines of the good posts above which I have already referred to. Good luck, and enjoy your new home instead of getting obsessed about what is in fact trivial and easily resolved in a number of ways.

MaiTai

AskAsk said:

lol.  that is so weird.  they obviously don't appreciate the space as they would have been better off getting the hedge removed than just build a fence around it!

have you spoken to them about it?  maybe they think the hedge belongs to you?

if it was me, i would remove your fence and the hedge and use it as your land as they obviously have decided it is of no use to them.  then after 7 years (i think it is 7 years), the land becomes yours if they don't dispute it 

Words fail me!
 

coachman12

Yes MaiTai-----words failed me too. It seems to be the same on a number of threads  

sgun

AskAsk said:

if it was me, i would remove your fence and the hedge and use it as your land as they obviously have decided it is of no use to them.  then after 7 years (i think it is 7 years), the land becomes yours if they don't dispute it 

Adverse possession is far more legally complex than this. It is also highly unlikely that the neighbour wouldn't contest it if the OP actually used the land for 10 years and put in a claim. The neighbour would almost certainly win as implied permission to use the land would exist (due to the neighbour being able to see that the OP was using the land). So there would be no adversity. 

Its a privet hedge, they aren't that robust and don't have large branches but they will always bush out when pruned from the top. I would take down the old fence, cut the hedge back to the boundary and put up the new fence along the actual boundary line. If the neighbours were ok with it, I would cut the hedge back to the trunk on your side, leave the top to grow another foot or so before any cutting back. Then the hedge would be more inclined to grow from the top towards the light (which can be cut) rather than from the sides (which would be in the shade and any side growth would be weak).

coachman12

sgun said:

AskAsk said:

if it was me, i would remove your fence and the hedge and use it as your land as they obviously have decided it is of no use to them.  then after 7 years (i think it is 7 years), the land becomes yours if they don't dispute it 

Adverse possession is far more legally complex than this. It is also highly unlikely that the neighbour wouldn't contest it if the OP actually used the land for 10 years and put in a claim. The neighbour would almost certainly win as implied permission to use the land would exist (due to the neighbour being able to see that the OP was using the land). So there would be no adversity. 

Its a privet hedge, they aren't that robust and don't have large branches but they will always bush out when pruned from the top. I would take down the old fence, cut the hedge back to the boundary and put up the new fence along the actual boundary line. If the neighbours were ok with it, I would cut the hedge back to the trunk on your side, leave the top to grow another foot or so before any cutting back. Then the hedge would be more inclined to grow from the top towards the light (which can be cut) rather than from the sides (which would be in the shade and any side growth would be weak).

I think you're wasting your very good points on that poster, sgun..............

getmore4less

Previous thread. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6188496/strange-garden-boundary-observation-wwyd-pics-sort-of

allconnected

You’re  overthinking this. You’ve bought a house. You’re not happy with the feature marking the boundary so you want to replace it. Fine, go ahead and build a new fence at the boundary. If you like, you can either simply lop off the growth overhanging your land to do this or you can ask your neighbours if they don’t mind you going a bit further and lopping down the hedge more severely, to save  you the trouble of trimming the overgrowth for a while. Other than this ignore the hedge - it’s just the plants on the other side of the boundary. 

You’re getting hung up on the fact that your neighbour has built an internal fence, but what’s on their land isn’t really relevant - it could be a shed three foot from the boundary,  or any other feature that causes  them problems accessing part of their own property. 

Build your fence, and if the neighbours plants damage it (unlikely) then ask them to tackle it. You’re entitled to lop off anything that encroaches onto your property and a hedge pinned between two sturdy fences simply won’t grow well enough to damage them.

Allconnected.

coachman12

allconnected said:

You’re  overthinking this. You’ve bought a house. You’re not happy with the feature marking the boundary so you want to replace it. Fine, go ahead and build a new fence at the boundary. If you like, you can either simply lop off the growth overhanging your land to do this or you can ask your neighbours if they don’t mind you going a bit further and lopping down the hedge more severely, to save  you the trouble of trimming the overgrowth for a while. Other than this ignore the hedge - it’s just the plants on the other side of the boundary. 

You’re getting hung up on the fact that your neighbour has built an internal fence, but what’s on their land isn’t really relevant - it could be a shed three foot from the boundary,  or any other feature that causes  them problems accessing part of their own property. 

Build your fence, and if the neighbours plants damage it (unlikely) then ask them to tackle it. You’re entitled to lop off anything that encroaches onto your property and a hedge pinned between two sturdy fences simply won’t grow well enough to damage them.

Allconnected.

Allconnected says it all here. There is no rocket science and no huge legal wrangles that will be heard in the High Court ( or any other court----so long as some off the silly advice is not taken). 
It all sounds ----and is----so simple. Just as Allconnected suggests.

fiwen30

allconnected said:

You’re  overthinking this. You’ve bought a house. You’re not happy with the feature marking the boundary so you want to replace it. Fine, go ahead and build a new fence at the boundary. If you like, you can either simply lop off the growth overhanging your land to do this or you can ask your neighbours if they don’t mind you going a bit further and lopping down the hedge more severely, to save  you the trouble of trimming the overgrowth for a while. Other than this ignore the hedge - it’s just the plants on the other side of the boundary. 

You’re getting hung up on the fact that your neighbour has built an internal fence, but what’s on their land isn’t really relevant - it could be a shed three foot from the boundary,  or any other feature that causes  them problems accessing part of their own property. 

Build your fence, and if the neighbours plants damage it (unlikely) then ask them to tackle it. You’re entitled to lop off anything that encroaches onto your property and a hedge pinned between two sturdy fences simply won’t grow well enough to damage them.

Allconnected.

Thank you, this is very sound advice, and likely the route we’ll take.
We’ve only had the keys for a week, and have been flat out with stripping the walls, skirts, and floors ready for decorating & moving, and so haven’t crossed paths with the neighbours yet to even introduce ourselves, let alone raise questions re. hedge.

Of course we don’t want to get off on the wrong foot, hence the WWYD post.