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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Overgrown garden

22 replies

StopItAndTidyUpNow · 30/08/2018 14:26

I live in a semi - the house next door has a jungle for a garden.

The house was inherited by an 18 year old who currently lives in it with her boyfriend and her 2 mates - so 4 18 year olds live there.
It's owned outright so no mortgage company or landlord.

The parents of the girl that inherited it live abroad AFAIK. Don't know who the parents of the other teenagers are.

Anyway - the garden is massively overgrown, I have ivy coming through (their) fence aswell as brambles busting through. Now i know this isn't my fence so I can't complain that the weeds are breaking it but the brambles have grown so tall they are dropping down and re-routing in my garden. Bind weed is also also coming underneath the fence and wrapping around plants in my flower bed.

I'm trying to keep them under control by snipping off any that come into my side, but there are so many it's getting difficult.

Last year when the house was unoccupied I paid someone to come in and put weedkiller all over it which definitely helped but unfortunately they have come back with a vengeance.

Also - and this may be a coincidence - my garden is becoming full of weeds no matter how much I try to maintain it, I have spread that weed magic stuff and re-seeded but it's just getting more weeds and no grass, i suspect next doors weeds are re-seeding into my garden.

I've been onto the council - not interested because its privately owned

I've been onto environmental health who went round but no-one would answer the door and they said there wasn't really much they could do to enforce it anyway, usually a visit and a word usually motivates people into doing something.

I have tried speaking to them, I very rarely see any of them as they refuse to answer the door, they only tend to come out at night to go to the shop so I bumped into the boyfriend one night who said he would sort the garden but that was 6 months ago and nothing has been done. I offered at the time to either help them or lend them my equipment, none of them work so i assumed money was tight so the option was there incase it was a case of not having equipment to do it.

I can't afford to keep buying weedkiller as its a huge garden and would need a LOT - aswell as trying to keep my own weeds at bay.

Is there anything else I can do?

OP posts:

Confusedbeetle · 30/08/2018 14:28

You only have a right to deal with stuff that hangs over to your garden. The rest is not your business

Bluntness100 · 30/08/2018 14:31

Other than offer to do it for them or send it a gardener, no. There is nothing you can do.

PersianCatLady · 30/08/2018 14:33

Nothing you can do other than cut anything that comes over onto your side.

Actually, you could move.

BlueSuffragette · 30/08/2018 14:34

Sorry, you paid to have weedkiller put all over the neighbours garden? If that's what you did I'd be very careful, as you are technically trespassing and damaging their property....I know it must be really irritating. Will they give you permission to 'help clear' the garden if you ask again? There maybe some hidden gems you could acquire?

RatherBeRiding · 30/08/2018 14:40

Unfortunately not, as the property is privately owned. The only time Environmental Health/local authority are likely to take action is if the state of the garden leads to vermin problems - such as rotting rubbish. Doesn't sound as though this is the case here.

All you can do is chop back anything growing over your boundary, even if the fence belongs to them. By law you are supposed to offer the prunings back to them though (but it sounds as though they won't want them!)

I would be inclined to get some really powerful systemic weedkiller and liberally coat anything and everything that bursts through the fence, comes over the fence, or under the fence. And keep coating fresh growth - might take a while but there are a lot of weedkillers designed to kill down to the roots of tough perennials.

Not sure of the legality of treating your neighbour's plants with weedkiller but a) they are unlikely to notice b) would be unlikely to care even if they did and c) the stuff is on your property anyway,

Original poster

StopItAndTidyUpNow · 30/08/2018 14:52

Yeah they definitely wouldn't care or notice if their garden disappeared overnight to be fair but THEY don't want to do anything about it.

I am planning on moving at some point, not because of this issue, I imagine I am going to take a massive hit aswell because of their garden.

OP posts:

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 · 30/08/2018 14:55

Could you write to the owners and explain the situation and how awful it is living next to it?

PersianCatLady · 30/08/2018 14:55

You can't make people want to do something just because it is what you want.

PersianCatLady · 30/08/2018 14:55

Could you write to the owners and explain the situation and how awful it is living next to it?
What are you talking about?

The owners live in the house, they inherited it.

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 · 30/08/2018 14:55

Ignore my post - I see the 18 year old is the owner.

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 · 30/08/2018 14:56

cross posts

PersianCatLady · 30/08/2018 15:00

Ignore my post - I see the 18 year old is the owner
I can see why you thought that somebody owned the house though!!

Original poster

StopItAndTidyUpNow · 30/08/2018 15:29

I know I personally can't make them do what I want hence why I have asked here for advice - I just assumed that when it came to the outside of your home you couldn't just do (or not do) what you wanted especially when it's this type of issue rather than something petty.
.

OP posts:

Rollercoaster1920 · 30/08/2018 15:34

You could offer to maintain it for them. 20 quid a month or so. I bet they would like somewhere to bbq but are just too lazy.

HoleyCoMoley · 30/08/2018 15:38

See if you can speak to them again and explain about the weeds growing over and under your fence, see if they will cut them down or maybe offer to help with that. You can't pour weedkiller over someone else's property without their permission, you can keep cutting the ivy and rambles back which are on your side and the bindweed if it's on your flower patch. People can do what they likewith their their back garden as long as it's not damaging your foundations or causing a health risk, what do you mean this type of issue, it's just weeds. You will find it impossible to prove their weeds are sprouting in your garden lawn, seeds are carried by the wind, animals, birds, other gardens.

PoisonousSmurf · 30/08/2018 15:38

Nothing you can do really. Some people don't appreciate what they have

PersianCatLady · 30/08/2018 15:43

Maybe before you sell your house, you could pay to have their garden done so it doesn't affect your sale as much?

PersianCatLady · 30/08/2018 15:45

You could offer to maintain it for them. 20 quid a month or so. I bet they would like somewhere to bbq but are just too lazy
If they don't care about the garden then why would they pay anything at all?

Maybe offer to do it for free?

Jaxhog · 30/08/2018 15:49

Spray weedkiller and plant a thick fast growing hedge on your side. Or bamboo, with a membrane on your side only.

Nicola345 · 30/08/2018 15:57

I dont think theres much you can do, we have the same problem with the brambles coming over ours and we just cut them back. Maybe have another word next time you see them.

asdad · 30/08/2018 16:00

Lol, I would tread very carefully with any idea of making it useable for them or they may repay you by partying in it all night.

CSIblonde · 30/08/2018 16:13

Offering to do it is the only way you'll get it done. They don't care & any more chats you'll be seen as a nagging mum figure so they'll just dig their heels in.

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