Neighbours planting conifers

[krj2608]

Hi all

So we have annoying neighbours to our right. We had a fence installed last year, 6ft concrete posts, pretty secure. They have concreted the fence down 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ we followed the right process and reported it to the council as they are council tenants. Nothing come of it.

They have bonfires about 2ft away from our fence. We noticed two weeks ago water running through one of our fence panels, they set the fence alight. My husband went and spoke to them and asked them to move it across as it is far too closed.

So we noticed last week, the neighbours have planted 10 conifers on their side running along the whole fence, around a foot away from it. We understand that conifers grow quite large and can damage fences. Is there anything we can do?

Thanks all

[Bluntness100]

You can’t do anything about the conifers no, not until they cause a problem. You can cut down anything that over hangs your property.

As for the bonfires if they are banned in your area you can report, if not no there is not much to be done.

[CandleNoBra]

Tbh I’d be happy about the conifers for now. It’ll keep them and their bonfires away from the fence. If the trees become a problem in the future deal with in then, but they might not or it might be years from now.

Either way nothing you can do at the moment so take what positives you can.

[krj2608]

@CandleNoBra yes that's a good way of looking at it.

To be honest, it's got to the point of us looking to buy another house as it's quite uncomfortable. The other neighbours also have trouble with her. Not the only reasons stated here.

[WhoWouldHaveThoughtThat]

There is a lot of info on hedge heights on government/local council Web sites. I think that whereas a tree can grow to its natural height there may be a restriction of 2metres if a number are planted as a hedge. I would suggest you ask your local council planning dept. You want to avoid a war with your neighbours as if you do sell up and move you have to declare any disputes and they may put off a prospective buyer. I doubt the issue of a bonfire too close to your fence would count as a dispute - just someone being thoughtless.

[DoubleDessertPlease]

There’s the possibility that they’re (hopefully!) the slow growing variety. I’ve a couple in my garden that have only grown a few inches in the last decade.

[crustycrab]

Your husband asked them to move what across? The bonfire? Once a fire takes hold it can't be moved. People say there's nothing you can do but if someone was setting fire to my fence I'd be putting their fires out with a hose every time. This is the result of a "fence fire" in the last couple of weeks. 3 homes destroyed by a nuisance neighbour

[Thesuzle]

OMG. Get on top of this now... have lived next to trees that got above the fence line, they are horrid things, if they merge into a hedge effect then the centre dies out and you will be left looking at dead branches, no green from any bedroom windows that over look that side.

I though there was a law now about keeping them to a specific height ? Find it and put it into a letter via solicitor to them
Good luck

[Walkacrossthesand]

Forgive my ignorance, but what does 'concreted the fence down' mean?

[MarieG10]

The problem is likely in future years if they decide to let them grown over 6 feet in size. You are then into maintaining your side as if you don't, and then cut back there will be no greenery and it looks awful. Plus the trunks will grow and them breach your boundary and push the fence. TBH planting a prolific grower like conifers, presuming Leylandi they should be 2 feet away.

Our neighbours have some that were planted before them. They are about 10 feet high now but they draw so much water that the soil at the bottom of them from spring onward is totally dry and more like a dust. Very difficult to grow anything and grass struggles to stay anywhere near green during summer.

We don't want an argument with our neighbours but when we were doing some work we were tempted to dig a huge trench down the building line to cut off the roots as we are getting concerned about spread but they would have certainly killed the trees. BIL had similar with his house and when he extended he had to put in deeper and extended foundations due to the neighbours conifers which cost an an additional £5k which he wasn't happy about

[Footywife]

You can't do anything at all until the trees become a 'nuisance'. People telling you to 'get on top of it now' are just being ridiculous and antagonistic. You simply can't dictate what someone plants on their property and you have no idea if they're going to let them grow too large anyway. How would you like it if you'd just planted something and your neighbours started causing trouble?

I appreciate what it's like to have difficult neighbours, but they haven't actually done anything wrong by planting conifers.

[Chillipeanuts]

Conifers make excellent hedging. No reason why they can’t be trimmed to the permissible 7ft, as other hedges.

They’re probably wanting to hide the concrete posts as quickly as possible: I find them really ugly.

[krj2608]

Maybe @Chillipeanuts but they have concrete posts and fence the other side with no conifers 😂 They are ugly, but the fence is 18 panels long so hopefully less chance of wind damage.

[krj2608]

@crustycrab the bonfire was in one of those metal bins with handles. He asked it to be move before their next bonfire.

[GenderApostate19]

If they’ve got a gravel board full height fence, why the hell do they need conifers as well?
I remember when we bought our house 22 years ago, there were 8 huge conifers in the garden, we had them all cut down.
We’ve just taken a shed and summer house down and the old conifer stumps behind them are still like iron!
I hope their conifers are the dwarf decorative ones and not leylandi - they are storing up trouble otherwise.