Someone has cut my hedge

[MeltingSugs]

I got home yesterday to find that half of my hedge has been cut

For context, the garden has needed a tremendous amount of work here. I do not proclaim to be a super gardener, but the hedge has improved a lot since we've been here with the right pruning - I am always out in the garden. This year, I have been letting the top of it grow up to even out the height ready for cutting in the autumn. To get home and find (half) of the top of it has been cut right back, and wonky, has made me quite cross.

Neighbour on the opposite side has no idea what's happened, neighbour on the side with the hedge is (so far) ignoring my text.

So as not to drip feed, the hedge is entirely on my land, it is not 'on the boundary' and therefore on my neighbour's land. The half that has been cut actually protrudes into my garden as it grew wonky, meaning my neighbour has some of my front garden. Prizes for guessing how long it's going to stay like that now!

Providing it is the neighbour, how do I be firm but fair in discussing this with them? I want to make it very clear that they are not to do anything on my property ever, but I don't want to fall out. This neighbour has told me that they felt out with the people who lived in our house before us. I think the friendship is definitely dented now though

I agree with @peachgreen...seems an overeaction to me....ive got hedges and they grow bloody quick....i have to pay somebody to cut mine back every year...i couldnt get worked up about something like this.

Ugh we had a neighbour that decided to lop about 3ft off our hedge when we were out. It did have birds nesting in there hence the fact we were leaving it until they'd flown the nest.

I refused to speak to any of them from that day forwards because I was so angry and he'd decided his need for immediate extra light in his living room trumped the nesting birds. I may have called him a few names because he couldn't wait an extra few weeks.

I can't stand ignorant wankers like this.

My mother's ndn asked if she could trim back the magnificent albertine rose that had grown all along the boundary between the gardens. My mother, being a lovely neighbour, said yes, of course. A week or so later she noticed the whole length of the plant dying - the neighbour had come in while she was out and sawn through the main stem at the root.

I provided a pen for my
Liveries to keep their goats. It was a bit overgrown and I suggested strimming it. When I came back they’d cut down two trees and couldn’t understand why I was a bit unhappy.

My mum’s neighbour’s gardener came into her garden to helpfully trim back the rather virulent leylandii and ended up cutting it right back to the brown underneath. That bit obviously wasn’t going to grow back and so she had a nice big brown patch in the hedge to look at. I think she put a cherry tree in front of it eventually but it was a few years before it was covered up. It looked shit.

He's no gardener if he did that - conifers don't regrow on old wood.

No, we know that. I think he was just some old odd job man. Or just odd.

"Please do not cut my hedge again. It is entirely on my property and you are legally forbidden from touching it. Feel free to put a fence or a wall or another hedge on your own property if you don't like the look of mine."

Leylandii are anti-social though. I read years ago that they're the cause of most neighbour disputes.

Oh Juells I would have been so upset if I’d been your mum. What a horrible thing to do.

I am returning to this thread (still quite grumpy) hoping for some suggestions.

I did get in touch with local PCSO who has failed to respond so far. I have also had a quote to install sleepers for the lower half of the drive at a cost of nearly £600

I want to mark the boundary ASAP. Also, I can see through the hedge due to how harshly it has been pruned, meaning I can see the neighbour's car etc and this is before the leaves have even dropped.

If I put something solid against the neighbour's side of my hedge, will this stunt its growth hugely? I want to block them out, and quite like the look of some woven hazel panels. It would be cheaper to just buy them and shove the in the ground. Yes my neighbour could remove them, but they would also be caught on CCTV at least.

Any other ideasv

If you are not bothered what it looks like for your neighbours-

This: www.amazon.fr/Best-Artificial-Aménagement-paysager-Protection/dp/B010SQ63H4?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_6

Or this: www.amazon.fr/ProBache-Brise-renforcé-vert-luxe/dp/B00NBWG54Y?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_3

Well that didn't work!
www.amazon.fr/ProBache-Brise-renforcé-vert-luxe/dp/B00NBWG54Y?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_3

Third time lucky, I'll go with photos.

They are held up on strong wire, and are very effective at blocking any view.

The one with leaves is tacky- but would you care?

You can disguise your side with lovely climbers while your hedge regrows and it won't cost as much as fence panel

How did you get in touch with the pcso? Have you rung 101 and said you want to report criminal damage, or just sent a message over social media?

If you get a crime ref number you could claim on your house insurance maybe, perhaps the ins Co would persue the neighbour and friend for the cost of fixing it?

I’d put in a row of troughs and plant fast growing bamboo.

Update.

We put a temporary fence up (plastic mesh on metal rods) with log roll edging we had lying around. Neighbour must have gone away as only came mid week. Within 12 hours temp fence had been ripped out and no trace of it.

She wouldn't answer the door and then seemed to be avoiding being at home. We posted a letter through her door saying if you don't return the fence in 24 hours we will report it to the police as theft and generally recapped the situation.

24 hours later we got a note back and no acknowledgment of having taken the temp fence down. Yet again, I have CCTV from the other neighbours which show her taking it down.

The police came round today and are going to speak to her both about criminal damage and theft. They said they will give her very strong words of advice about cutting the hedge again and that they will tell her I won't take the theft further if she returns the fence. I showed them some info on the CAB website which proves the hedge is not my neighbour's and the police think she's trying it on, saying that people who have lived somewhere for a long time often think they have more rights than newer inhabitants do, which obviously isn't the case.

We think she got rid of it. Another neighbour down the road told me today that they asked her what had happened to the fence and she said she had no idea

I have also filled in paperwork to claim on my house insurance. I have a friend who is a chartered surveyor so am confident we do not have anything to worry about. Neighbour reckons she has already been to a solicitor who says we are completely in the wrong..! Not worth the hassle dealing with it myself so the insurance can pick this up now. We don't have many years no claims to lose either.

Your neighbour sounds absolutely batshit!
I look forward to seeing this on the nightmare neighbour next door 😂

Hopefully she moves soon, she sounds insane.

Omg, she’s crackers! I would push the police to get the CPS to prosecute if there’s video evidence. She’s an idiot.

Wow. So if she's not returning it then she'll be charged?

She should be prosecuted or this will escalate

Never mind strong words! Get the police to prosecute her for stealing your fence and criminal.damage. wtf is their job?

On what basis does your neighbour and her “solicitor” think you’re in the wrong???