to ask neighbour to be responsible for their English ivy

[bodgerthebadger]

We live in a terraced house and share a back wall with the neighbour. They have English ivy growing in abundance on their side which has taken over our garden and the back wall of our house. They rented their downstairs flats to tenants so never bothered with the garden which means that the ivy has grown unchecked. We have tried to cut it back where we can but feel that we're fighting a losing battle. The more you cut it, the quicker it seems to grow.

We now have an issue where the ivy has overtaken the back of our house which goes up three storeys. There is ivy creeping all over the roof tiles on the third floor. We just can't access the tops bits with a ladder and worry about being that high with shears. Even where we cut our side, the ivy comes back faster than ever on their side. We realised that the ivy has damaged our wooden window frames and the creepers have now got into crevices in the bricks. It's a nightmare to take off without damaging the mortar at the same time. When we expressed concern about structural damage and highlighted that they face the same risk (the ivy is worse on their side), they have now said they will remove the ivy at the root. Since they sold the upstairs flat and lease downstairs, this is the easiest solution for them going forwards. However, whilst they will pay for the cost for the ivy to be removed on their side (i.e. from the downstairs flat they own as the ivy grows in this garden) and consequently from the wall of the upstairs flat they recently sold, they refuse to pay for it to be removed from our side. Once the ivy is cut at the root, I'm assuming that the ivy on our wall will wither and die but the creepers will still be attached so it still needs removing.

There is a little bit of history here. We have always tried to be nice neighbours. When their builders accidentally broke our garden parasol and our front fence, we covered the cost. When the shared fence diving our back gardens came down in a storm, we covered the cost of replacing it as they were quite happy to live with fallen down panels. We weren't especially as we have young kids and we don't want them wandering over into someone else's garden. I feel this time we shouldn't have to pay for the cost. I spent 5 hours this weekend pruning and cutting back their ivy where I can reach it. I'm fed up! AIBU to expect that they ask their gardener to remove it on our side as well?

[Cherrysoup]

They should pay. Virginia creeper from my side totally wrapped my house and the semi attached next door. I paid for the whole lot to be removed. Ivy is loads worse and will, as you say, ruin your pointing.