neighbour's high hedge, who is responsible for costs of trimming our side?

erik85

Hi all,

sorry for yet another post about a neighbour's hedge!
We live in a terraced house where our next door neighbour have a fence on their land which tends to grow very tall, especially towards the bottom of the garden where ground is on a slope.
We understand that, without prior agreement, we are only allowed to trim branches and roots which are trespassing into our property.

However, when the hedge happens to be extremely high and a professional with ladders and telescopic hedge trimmers must be called in to trim our side, are we 100% in charge of the costs?
If this world were to be fair and the sustained costs are to be split 50/50, in the case of the neighbours being a private housing association tenant, would the neighbours themselves have to fork out or the housing association?

As a side note, we like the hedge for privacy, we don't like that we have to pay to keep it tamed; we would do trim our side ourselves wouldn't the hedge be so high.
Thanks

Retrogamer

You may ask the neighbour to contribute towards costs but there is no requirement for them to pay anything towards trimming or maintaining your side.

It might be worth checking with your local authority about the height of the hedge as there are usually restrictions of some kind. If there are and you complain your neighbour would then be responsible for resolving the height but it might spark a dispute / tension.

twopenny

Who planted the hedge?
Previous owners, the housing association who are current owners or the tenants?

erik85

twopenny said:

Who planted the hedge?
Previous owners, the housing association who are current owners or the tenants?

definitely not the tenants, so it is either HA (I doubt it), or previous owners.
Does it make a difference?

goldfinches

erik85 said:

twopenny said:

Who planted the hedge?
Previous owners, the housing association who are current owners or the tenants?

definitely not the tenants, so it is either HA (I doubt it), or previous owners.
Does it make a difference?

Definitely. If the HA planted the hedge and you raise the issue they may be inclined to do something that keeps the hedge in place whatever that would be. If they didn't plant the hedge and you raise the issue they may take a look at it and decide that maintenance is going to be an ongoing problem as their tenants are unlikely to be able to trim their side let alone yours and conclude that they should replace it with an alternative that is easier to manage which will probably be a (f)ugly fence. 
You say you like the hedge for the privacy it affords you so if I were you I would have a careful think before you do anything which might change the status quo.
On a more positive note which plant or plants is the hedge composed of; some hedging plants can be controlled with chemicals which are applied via a watering can. There may also be money saving suggestions for trimming that others can pass on if you post some photos of the hedge on this thread.

twopenny

The tenants don't have any responsibility so that's one thing out.

I would approach the HA with a letter stating that you aren't objecting to the hedge itself, just the size and cost of dealing with it on your side.

If they do tackle it though you may find that they remove it because of the cost of maintenance. You need to consider that.

As Goldfinches said, post a picture is best, or at least say what the plant is so that we may be able to offer some suggestions.

erik85

Yes, it would be great if someone can identify what hedge is it, as my partner and I always end up in a debate!

@goldfinches thank you for the very wise words; indeed we are very conscious that if we start kicking up a fuss about the hedge, the HA might decide to remove it, as you also mentioned @twopenny

I suppose to conclude, it is our duty to pay for our side; thanks for the confirmation, I am sure we will keep having it cut and pay for it, I just wanted to make sure that was the case rather than finding out years down the line that the onus is on HA/tenants!

If  anyone thinks this hedge can be sprayed with growth inhibitor substances, please let me know!

RAS

Privet, cut it back now but in the spring again, maybe 2 foot lower that you want it, then trim the new growth each time it makes 3 inches to bush it out.

goldfinches

RAS said:

Privet, cut it back now but in the spring again, maybe 2 foot lower that you want it, then trim the new growth each time it makes 3 inches to bush it out.

I think it looks more like laurel, though I could be wrong due to nothing to give a sense of scale in the photo.

RAS

That was my initial thought but on a second look I think the stems are too fine and the leaves not robust enough.

OP, any chance you could tape a small coin to a leaf to show scale and post another photo? If you can tape the coin on, it's more likely laurel. If it's a problem try a match or paperclip?

MalMonroe

twopenny said:

The tenants don't have any responsibility so that's one thing out.

I would approach the HA with a letter stating that you aren't objecting to the hedge itself, just the size and cost of dealing with it on your side.

If they do tackle it though you may find that they remove it because of the cost of maintenance. You need to consider that.

As Goldfinches said, post a picture is best, or at least say what the plant is so that we may be able to offer some suggestions.

The tenants do actually have some responsibility. Most housing association landlords, including mine, have rules that specify that their tenants must keep their gardens to a ‘satisfactory standard’ as part of their tenancy agreement. What actually constitutes ‘satisfactory’ can vary from one opinion to another however and there are rarely set-out lists of things that a tenant must do in order to satisfy this clause of their agreement.

Have you spoken to your neighbours about this?  What's wrong with having a word and asking if they, or the HA, can just trim some off the tops of the hedge? 

It seems crazy to be trying to solve the problem without going to the source before you even start.

P.S. It looks like privet to me too. But it doesn't really make that much difference what it is, does it?