Dispute with Neighbour

[Pinkpeanut27]

Our next door neighbour has a large hedge which he has planted on the property line . Every year he trims it , so far that’s been fine as it’s not bothered us much , he annoyingly never picks up after him but there you go.
Today I asked him if he could cut it right back to the boundary line as he was trimming it as it was now blocking our side access .Also could be clear up as we have all out tools in storage and he has a leaf hoover
He replied he would cut it back a bit but didn’t want to do too much in case it died and no he was too busy to clear up and even though our wheelie bin was full no he couldn’t dispose of the leaves himself . He said pick it up with your hands and take it to the tip and got very stroppy that he was doing us a favour as most neighbours wouldn’t cut our side .
We both hate gardening and have one small tree and some grass and that’s it as we want low maintenance, so also have limited garden tools .

I’m really annoyed ( possibly over annoyed ) so would it be ok for me to employ a Gardner to cut it back properly, that way it won’t die . DH says I can’t have my own chain saw !

And if I can should I pop a note through to let him know what I’m doing ?

Why do you expect him to cut your side and to pick up the mess?

When we had a hedge on our boundary line we did our side and NDNs did theirs.

It’s not really his fault if your bin is full is it?

Nope,you dont have to let him know anything if it's only cutting your side to the boundry line

You are fine to cut it back to the boundary line.

You can do whatever you like to the bit of it that's on your side of the boundary so yanbu! And he should be clearing up after himself. Can you bag up the cuttings and deliver them to his doorstep?

You can cut it yourself and send the clipping over to him, but unreasonable to expect him to cut it your side

I think do whatever you want on your side of the boundary and be very grateful to your neighbour he is helping you at all

Because it’s his hedge that he planted and I thought it was his responsibility, can I also point out we have a big tree coming over our fence which again he planted on the boundary and loads of shrubs and ivy that is destroying outer fence .

I’m fine if he shouldn’t be expected to do it but assume then I can do as I please my side without actually trying to kill the flipping thing !

You want him to cut your side and pick up the mess? That's unreasonable. Yes get a gardener. You're responsible for your side.

Just to add if I’d planted any thing I would assume responsibility for it .

And he should be clearing up after himself

So he's cutting OPs side of the hedge - which he doesn't need to do - why can't OP clear up the mess as it's her hedge in her property and he is doing them a favour!!!

Maybe he should make tea and bring cake next time so OP doesn't get horse barking her orders.

The law is that you are allowed to trim anything on your side of the boundary but that you are supposed to return the trimmings to him. In my experience most people don’t bother with the last bit but if you otherwise can’t dispose of the garden waste then I might be tempted to pop round and give him the neatly bagged cuttings or leave them on the doorstep. But you are definitely being unreasonable if you are expecting him to come round and trim from your side and then to clear up your garden.

If it's his hedge it should have been planted a couple of feet within his garden so that the hedge itself does not impinge on your land.

Clearly he hasn't done this so you are perfectly within your rights to cut it back to the boundary line.

It is kind of annoying when neighbours plant massive things on the boundary (ours have a very twisty wisteria growing on and through the fence we have responsibility for), but you can cut back anything on your side. It’s nice of him to do your bit for you even if it would have been nicer for him to plant something less massive or fast growing in the first place.

It’s rubbish isn’t it, we have loads of ivy coming over our fence planted on neighbours lands. I trim it right back.
You can do the same don’t worry about killing it. Not your problem you’ve given him the chance

Is this your first home op? Or first garden?

Normally anything you need to be on your property to trim etc is your responsibility to manage.

You can cut it back to the boundary line as long as that doesn’t kill it. Ditto the tree branches.

It does sound like this is your first home OP, is that right?

You sound a little naive.
The purpose of the boundary is that it marks where your responsibilities and rights begin. So it is your right not to have overhanging hedges, trees, shrubs etc on your land, but it is your responsibility to keep these trimmed back so they don't overhang. Now there is a convention that anything you cut off belongs to your neighbour (as the source is on their land) so should be returned but in this case your neighbour says he is too busy to deal with it. So take a few tools from storage and deal with it, get it bagged up and take them to the tip for the green waste. You could also get in a gardener to do this and to take care of the disposal. But only on your side, and only up to the boundary.
Neighbour's coming on to people's lands to do 'favours' is often the source of neighbourly disputes.

Looking at your later post, should you plant something that grows to overhang your neighbour's land, don't presume that you then need to go onto his land to trim it, and don't get the grumps if he trims it back himself to the boundary as the above applies to him too.
I have over 450 metres of boundary, all heavily hedged, shrubbed and tree'd so I have a lot of experience of being overhanged (??) and overhanging (??).

Your right not to have stuff overhanging - you can chop back to the boundary as you please, and if it dies then he shouldn't have planted on the boundary where he can't control pruning as he pleases - his problem.

However, no he does not have to trim stuff that's over the boundary, so that is your problem.

However however, if you do find yourself having to trim shrubs planted from his side, technically the offcuts are his and you can throw them over! But - don't do this. Just bag up and get rid. Maybe offer to do some of his too if you're going to the tip. Maintain good relations if you can. But don't be afraid to chop anything on your side as vigorously as you like!

You are responsible for your side - he isn't. He is doing you a favour by trimming your side.

If you cut your side, you are supposed to offer the trimmings back to him. He is NOT obliged to take them to the dump for you. You are.

just to add if I’d planted any thing I would assume responsibility for it - you can't, though. If you'd planted say, an apple tree and the branches overhang next door, they are perfectly within their rights to cut any overhanging branches back to the border. And to pick and eat any apples that grow or fall onto their side.
Any overhanging bits are their responsibility, much as your side of the hedge is yours.

the rules on boundary hedges from the .gov website

You're being a bit ridiculous. Just cut the bloody thing on your side and clear up the bits on your side. It's so not worth a neighbour feud.

Then enjoy having a well kept hedge between you and your next door.

Just make sure there are no nesting birds in it before you trim it right back!

It’s not my hedge it is his and as I’ve said usually we have been reasonable about picking it up etc , as a one off I thought he could do it as we have no tools and I would rather he had done it another day bla bla .
I wouldn’t plant things that went into our neighbours garden and if they did I would assume I had to keep it under control or that the neighbour had a right to do what he likes .
At the back of outer garden our neighbour has planted some high fir frees than again come over into our garden . He rents the property out so I have no contact with them . Recently I say they were being cut down on the other side of the fence and asked the guy to do ours while he was at it and paid him . Next thing I know the neighbour has been told and he comes round to apologise and refund our money . I guess that just set a president .

No this is not our first house but we have never had this sort of issue before .
I cut down all the other things that over hang our garden and deal with them , I just don’t have a chain saw to cut the hedge !

I’m fine if I ABU, as I’m pretty cranky at the moment and this guy has been rightly or wrongly winding me up over the past 6 months . Hence why I asked for a more reasoned view !

Neither of you should be cutting back hedges at the minute-birds are still nesting and it's illegal to disturb them.