Forum home Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

What my neighbour did!

13

Posts

  • DesthemoanerDesthemoaner Posts: 191

    Good to hear that you have resolved the situation without too much bad feeling.

    In our previous home we had an eight foot high privet hedge around our small front drive and garden. It became obvious not long after we moved in that our adjoining neighbour wanted to get rid of the hedge and replace it with a brick wall, but I was adamant in the few discussions that we had about the topic that I wouldn't consent to its removal.

     Over the next ten years or so he dropped the odd hint about removing the hedge but without taking any further action. Eventually he put his house on the market, and when after about six months it had failed to sell, he clearly decided that the shadow cast by the tall hedge on his front porch was partially responsible.  Whilst I was out he called in some friends with a chainsaw and they began to attack it. My wife was at home by herself and she flew out in a panic, demanding that he stop. She swears to this day that he laughed at her as his friends carried on cutting, but in the end they stopped short of removing the hedge altogether, but instead reduced its height from around eight feet to just three feet high. I was apoplectic when I got home and found out what he'd done, but in the long run the hedge actually thrived from the benefit of a good stiff haircut. Not only that, but I no longer had to get my wobbly old stepladders out to trim the top. So every cloud, etc.

    During the course of our ten year standoff and in an effort to be prepared if he decided to take unilateral action, I read up about boundary disputes. Just in passing, if there is any question about whose land the bush is on, and if you can show that you are the one taking responsibility for its upkeep, then you are deemed to have ownership rights. I cut my side, the top and occasionally his side, but in the end he went and butchered it anyway. 

    Much clearer, of course, if as in your case, the plant is on your land.

  • Tropical SamTropical Sam Posts: 1,488

    I would feed the roots of the hedge with lots of good general feed and it will repair itself by the end of September. 2metres is not a limit to hedge height. All 2 metres means is the height over which local authorities will take into account in any tall hedge disputes and nothing more.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Tim - maybe  she just wanted a better view of YOU image

    Verd's right - some people just want a 'sterile' area - I work with someone like that. Not much you can do except create a lovely environment in your own plot image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • WelshonionWelshonion Posts: 3,114
    You only have to look in magazines to see how minimalist some people want their lives and environment. Not for me however!
  • Although I agree that it was wrong of your neighbour to lower your hedge without your permission but I do have some empathy for him. I have the opposite situation to you in that live in a two storey house and my neighbour in a bungalow. They insist on keeping a conifer hedge at 15' high because, they claim, I could see into their lounge, from my first floor, if it was any lower. I have asked if they would lower it, at my cost, but they flatly refuse.

    Just an alternative viewpoint. We all covet our privacy but we should take time to consider what impact we can have on other people without always knowing it.

  • BoaterBoater Posts: 241

    Of course it was wrong and illegal for your neighbour to do that, but he may have done you a favour, or not.

    It's hard to tell from photos but old tall hedges are often thinning quite a bit lower down (it actually appears bushy enough in the photo) and need a good hard prune to let them recover and grow again from low down.

    When I moved into my house I had several hedges, one was on a boundary shared with the council so I trimmed my side and the top a little nervous about going round to the council side. After a couple of years it became evident the council don't cut their side and at roughly 3' wide (mayeb more) it was almost impossible to manage so I made an executive decision and started to trim the other side. What a shock! all the stems were within the first 6-12" from my side which had clearly been cut regularly for the last 50 years by previous homeowners, the rest of the massive width was straggly overhanging growth.

    I got stuck in trying to even it up acutely aware that I was going to leave the showy side completely brown and dead looking for at least most of that season. A neighbour approached saying what a great job I was doing and how the hedge has needed it for a long time offering me a load of some loppers for the thicker branches - he pointedat his own hedge and said he had to cut it back to bare sticks a few years earlier and start again (it was lookign very good as a result.)

    I never had the guts to cut the whole thing back to bare sticks but from what I've read that's what it really needs, about 12-18" high in early spring, but every spring I do prune the far side harder than my own side and it is coming back to a more presentable shape. To cut the whole thing right back would leave that boundary feeling very exposed - the council land goes up an embankment to some other houses above so without that bit of hedge the front would seem really exposed for as long as it takes to grow back up (not what I want given that I have had problems with kids in my garden in the past).

    Anyway my point is, if I ever manage to get to it, that your hedge may have been too tall for it's own good so now you get an opportunity to manage it how you want rather than just copying the way the last people did it.

  • BoaterBoater Posts: 241

    Just a thought, here 2m is the limit for a fence or wall before planning consent is required, AFAIK there is no limit to the height of hedging. It may be generally accepted that 2m is a sensible height for a hedge, but I see many much higher hedges that are well maintained and look good.

    Apart from narrowing my front hedge I also sloped it down from about 2m at the house to a height at the road side that I could see over in the car to help me avoid running over school children in the morning - again the 1.2m limit for fencing doesnt apply to the hedge, but common sense told me to cut it lower at the pavement! Because of the embankment it is debateable what the height actually is at the house - it is about 2m my side, probably about 1.2m on the council side...

    I was concerned it would look silly but it does sort of contour the slope on the far side and no-one has ever said it looks silly, the few who say anything at all reckon it's a good job, but have never said if it looks right or not!

  • DorcasDorcas Posts: 159

    For instant screening, you could try putting up windbreak material.  Green in colour and will give you pretty good privacy.  Just put in some tall canes and staple the material to it.  It will give your hedge a chance to recover and you could always grow some sweet peas up it.

  • The total height of the hedge is about 6.5 ft. It looks taller because the garden beds raise up about 18" above grass level so its not as tall from the neighbours side. It will grow back quite a lot this year but just stragglers but to get it back as dense could take 5 seasons at a guess. We own the hedge and I have someone that will be trimming the tops as has always been done by him. One of the main reasons we took on our bungalow was because of the privacy the hedges gave us. Im just going to have to live with it until it grows back. Life is too short to be falling out with neighbours because of this even though it really peed me off. Thanks for all your opinions and advice. I appreciate it.

Sign In or Register to comment.