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Issues with neighbour and hedge

ElizabethHudsonElizabethHudson Posts: 16
edited July 2020 in Problem solving
Lived in same house over 20 years. Next door have been there for 13 years. Their house and garden is behind us so very long drive goes all the way down the side of our plot. Since we moved in we have pruned the hedge on top and both sides as the previous neighbour always wanted us to do this. Current neighbour was ok for a few years but has now told us we are trespassing if we cut the other side. 

 title deeds have a comment in them that we are responsible for maintaining this hedge and replanting. Doesnt say anything about sides.

Just wondered who's correct. I'd like to have a civil conversation to sort it out rather than have the current bad feeling in both sides.


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  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Have you asked why?  Do you go on to their land to cut the other side?  Do they want to cut it? Our neighbour was ecstatic when we offered to run the big hedge trimmer over his side  as well as ours. He picked up the clippings and got rid. Since he only had little clippers, it saved him a job.
  • ElizabethHudsonElizabethHudson Posts: 16
    We have to go their side to trim the other side of the hedge but have been doing this for over 20 years. Always clear up. Person who owned the house before them always expected us to trim it. Since as deeds say we are responsible for maintaining it we always did both sides. Happy for them to trim but hedge damaged where ivy has been pulled out. Now has big holes in it.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    edited July 2020
    If your neighbours don't want you to go on their land and trim their side, there's not much you can do about it. The responsibility of maintaining does not imply that both sides must be trimmed. The deeds should state if there is a legal right to go onto the neighbours land to trim the hedge. If they don't, then you haven't. 
    It might look untidy if you only trim your side and the top, but that's their problem not yours. I would be thankful I don't have to do the extra work!
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • ElizabethHudsonElizabethHudson Posts: 16
    Ok. That makes sense. Our earlier neighbour was fanatical about it being today. I think we're in the habit of pruning it after all these years :)
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    @ElizabethHudson - I'd enjoy the rest then and perhaps enjoy even more the sneaky feeling of pleasure you'll get when your neighbours regret being so high-handed!
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    @ElizabethHudson  I think I'd ponder what their motive might be?  An unbalanced hedge will tend to lean because of all the weight being on one side, and that may damage its function as a neat hedge.  They may be angling for it to collapse so that it can be replaced by a fence of some sort and, if so, whose responsibility would it be? 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Maybe the Covid thing has just made them more anxious about people visiting their property?  It’s causing a lot of people a lot of stress. 
    I would just do as they ask and not worry about it. Life’s too short ... or it can be ... 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'd see it as a chance for a break!
    Joking apart, if I was the neighbour, I wouldn't be that enamoured about someone else cutting 'my' side of a hedge, but it seems odd if they've been happy for you to do it in the past. Might be worth checking the title deed properly, as it does seem slightly odd if it states that you have responsibility when it also borders the other property. 
    There may be an underlying reason, but it's also easy to start conspiracy theories about it. My Dad's neighbour,  suddenly became 'odd' about him cutting the hedge which was on a joint boundary. Dad had planted it, but they had always been happy for him to do it all [they moved in many years after it was planted] and being my Dad - he was very careful and particular about it all. Sometimes, people just change for no obvious reason.

    Maybe they just don't like how you do it  ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • HelloFellowGardenersHelloFellowGardeners Posts: 18
    Where your new neighbours aware of the arrangements and agreements that you had with your previous neighbour BEFORE they bought their house? I bought a house that had these sort of arrangements (that I didn't know about) and within days of moving into my new home I was wondering why there were regularly cars parked in my drive (apparently the previous owner told half the road they could use her drive as she didn't own a car anymore). I wondered why one of my new neighbours was coming into my garden cutting my roses as they started to bloom (apparently the previous owner told her she could do it for the church flower arrangements each week). One day I came out to find my next door neighbour had opened my side gate (I didn't know he had a key) and was trimming his shrubs via my garden (apparently the previous owner had given him a key and told him to 'do what you like'). I asked him to stop this and changed the locks. 
    I was annoyed by all this because people were carrying on as they wanted with my house because someone else told them they could. No one had spoken to me and when I confronted people I found using my property I was met with anger and sometimes rage because how dare I tell them to stop what they've been doing for years. I felt they were being rude by using my property without speaking to me first (I'd never met these people and didn't know who they were). I'm not saying this is true for your situation, but don't assume because you've been doing something on someone else's property for years that when new people move in they'll be happy for you to continue your agreement with someone else. Perhaps speak to the 'new' neighbour and ask them what they want and try to come to some sort of mutual agreement if possible. Maybe the day and time you were cutting was inconvenient for them or maybe they don't like the way you're trimming or maybe it's something entirely different, won't know unless you ask.
    On the plus side it's now less work for you to do.
  • ElizabethHudsonElizabethHudson Posts: 16
    Thanks all. It's hard to break a habit. Our concern is that the hedge has been left with large holes and dead parts after they pulled ivy out. Hedge borders our front and back garden but only their drive. It's cost me around £200 in hedging plants as we're meant to plant any dead parts according to deeds. I'd like a long brick wall but not do good for the wildlife.
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