Neighbours behind angry and coming round about cutting holly bush

[Bellasmummy1980]

Hi all

We live in a rented (ex-council) house (3 bed, long back garden, all very tidy). There is an alley way that leads round to the back and holly bushes all along the back of the alley (so in the 'council owned' alley). The holly bushes are out of control and lean right into our garden creating mess on the trampoline. My husband decided to have a 'trim'. Hes chopped it back at the bottom and has made it a bit 'thin' so its a bit 'gappy'. The neighbour next door told us that the neighbours behind are very angry as we have cut his bushes and ruined his privacy. Also he dosent want to see "those nasty council houses"

Would ibu to tell the snob to eff off when he comes round to complain?

So he's added the fence to encompass the holly bushes?

That's called sneakily stealing land!

If i were you i'd check with the local council who actually owns that strip and the bushes - then tell them about the fencing off of council owned land!

Cacti, how can you say that when the bushes that have been cut are outside the OP's garden?

Because

A. If the bush is in an alley, it's not on the neighbours property
B. Anything that overhangs your property, you're entitled to cut it back
C. The neighbour can't control what other people do on land they don't own

You can cut any overhanging branches, however to trim it to the level you have described is not just trimming the overhanging which you have to give back, irregardless if your just renting or it.

Cacti - is the alley in the OP's garden - no, it's behind their back fence. Have they trimmed the bushes to OP's back fence? no, they've chopped them back within the alley (based on what OP has said) - therefore they're not just chopping back to their own fence line, they're including the alley which may well not be part of the OP's house's ownership.

If a property has access to an alleyway (wether it is rented or owned) it is the responsibility (or at least part) of the occupier to maintain that part of the alley.

I'm confused with the layout as well.

Does it go your fence -> holly -> alley -> neighbour's fence? In which case YANBU.

Or is it your fence -> alley -> holly -> neighbour's fence? In which case you might be reasonable or unreasonable depending on how bad the holly was and how much you cut back.

Your later posts imply it's your fence -> alley -> neighbour's fence -> holly, which is totally unreasonable but presumably I've misunderstood because how could the holly get into your garden through two fences and an alley, and how could your DH get at it to cut it back?

Sounds like your stirring neighbour is to blame. Holly man probably didn't mean you to hear the comment about the council house.

I'm presuming the holly is a tree which reaches across the tops of the fences?

Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown 👑

The only thing I would say is that if you are renting the house, perhaps you should check with the landlord before chopping the bushes.

OP- you need to draw a diagram, no one understands what you mean.

You sound crazy defensive about living in a ex-council house.

So it goes:

Your garden, Fence, Alley, Holly Bush, Neighbours Garden?

You cut his bush and are VVVU!

You could point out to the man that if this escalates into a neighbour dispute he has to declare it to buyers - it is in his interest to not rock the boat or his posh house could be seriously devalued...

I'm struggling to make sense of what's where and in what order so I'll give you the general lowdown until there is more clarity.

If you have trimmed foliage/branches/bushes/whatever that is overhanging onto YOUR property you are allowed to do this even if what you have trimmed actually belongs to someone else (i.e planted in a neighbours garden.

If you have trimmed further than that or to the extent that the "hedge" no longer forms such you could well find your self in hot water. You do state that this is not the case, but in some posts it sounds like it might in fact be the case.

I wouldn't go down the road of escalating to landlords or other bodies if you can avoid it.

Something similar, but far more severe happened to me when my neighbour absolutely fucking MASSACRED MY hedge. After going completely nuclear at him I sought legal advice as he entirely destroyed the hedge and my privacy in the process.

Interesting little nugget - I successfully sued the shit out of him. He tried to argue that he believed the hedge was his, or at the very least "shared" - not so. Ownership is decided ENTIRELY by whose land the hedge/tree/whatever is actually planted on and nothing else. It matters not what the deeds show either, although this won't usually be an issue unless boundaries are vague.

If said holly trees are planted in his garden, they are his (provided he hasn't nicked the land they're on to claim as his own)
If said holly trees are planted in the alley, they belong to whoever owns said alley. In either case you can trim what overhangs your property provided you don't butcher it in such a way as the "plant" is severely damaged or killed off. Snot allowed.

That's the legal position, I spent a hell of a lot of time researching this when it happened to me last summer, my solicitor massacred him in the same way he massacred my hedge.

HTH