To build a fence and chop their hedge.

[Sportynotspice]

There's a laurel hedge between our garden and next doors and it's only 5 foot at its highest; the garden slopes towards the back so there are sections even shorter and we can see straight into next doors garden and theirs ours. We have asked them politely to allow us to grow the hedge up as we'd like more privacy but they have refused and continued to cut the hedge ever shorter. They have extra long hedge trimmers and cut our half as well because apparently the previous owners never kept it neat enough for their liking and never protested when they started taking over the trimming. We've been polite but very clear that we don't like the height and would like it to grow up an extra foot but they have once again cut it too short and cut our side. The hedge actually sits much more into our boundary than theirs so DH, who has reached his final straw after coming home to yet another few inches off the hedge tonight, has declared he's ordering fence panels this weekend, chopping the hedge back right to the boundary and putting up the fence. The hedge will look utterly rubbish on their side because of how little actually encroaches their side of the boundary so I said to DH maybe we should just build the fence from when the hedge finishes now but DH, rightly, points out that means we lose a foot of our garden because the hedge takes up so much space as it is. As we have tried to be reasonable with them, DH doesn't care about upsetting them by chopping back so much of the hedge.
We have only lived here 9 months and they have been here 20 years plus and their argument for not letting the hedge grow is this is how its always been and no one that's lived here before has ever had an issue with it. But this is our home now and I really don't think it's unreasonable to have a proper barrier between our garden and next doors!
I will go speak to them tomorrow to advise that this is what we are going to do but we're not asking permission, just informing as a courtesy. Are we being unreasonable? I don't think they've really left us much more choice.

They shouldn’t be cutting the side of hedge that’s on your side so give them the option to only cut their side which they can keep short if they want but you will be growing your side higher whether they like it or not, otherwise you’ll be cutting back to the boundary and putting a fence up. They don’t get to decide what you do to a hedge that’s on your property. I wouldn’t rip it all out though as it’s been a well established boundary for years so you may have legal problems there.

They shouldn't be cutting the part of the hedge that is your side of the boundary.

I would inform them what is happening because they insist on cutting the hedge too low and on your se.

Privacy is priceless in a garden IMO.

@EvenRosesHaveThorns

Are they a bit older? I.e. they might not be able to reach and manage a hedge that's high for them. Perhaps you could offer to maintain the hedge

That is a good point. I am not elderly but still struggle to use the shears above my head, so anything around 5 ft or lower is ideal IMO!

I'm team fence

If the trees are planted on your side of the boundary then I don't see why you shouldn't remove it. I would have thought where the trunks enter the ground would be a very good indicator, the top growth not so much as laurels will spread quite a bit. It would be worth finding out because trying to put a fence up if you have to navigate roots might be a challenge, although you may be able to sink fence posts between the roots. If the Laurel is theirs and you decide to go the fence route then don't worry about cutting the Laurel back to your boundary, they recover really quickly but they shouldn't damage your fence as they won't get enough light on the fence side to add growth.

I wouldn't try to dig the roots of an established Laurel hedge out without mechanical assistance, I speak from bitter, naive experience. I still have one Laurel hedge and its the bain of my life.

I’m with your dh. You tell them, and if the hedge is on their side it will grow back.

This seems really antagonistic behaviour on your part. You’re new. They’ve got used to how things were with the previous neighbours.

Do you really want to fall out so spectacularly? You will kill any chance of a friendly relationship with them if you do this. And that will make your life so much more unpleasant than it needs to be for many years to come.

Invite them round. Be assertive about what you want. Be prepared to compromise.

If that doesn’t work, local councils sometimes have mediation services for neighbour disputes. Better to get them involved now, before any long-term animosity is triggered by a rash and ill-thought out action.

When anyone trots out that boring old horse "no one has ever objected before" my response is that ""well Im here now, I object and my opinion has value too."

NDNs who have "lived here 20 years" and expect me to kowtow to them get no extra brownie points from me.

@HeddaGarbled I'm honestly not bothered about having a particularly friendly relationship with them if it means I'm expected to feel like I'm sharing my garden with them. As far as I'm concerned they are the ones who are doing the damage to any friendly relations by completely ignoring our request for them to stop trimming our side of the hedge. The very fact that we can walk up to them and have a face to face conversation with them about this over the hedge is the problem here. I'm not at all planning to be rude, just inform them that as we obviously can't agree a height of the hedge we are simply going to have to build a fence and let that be that. I don't care if this annoys them because at least I won't be able to see them anymore and they can scowl away at us till their heart's content.

YANBU and it sounds like a good plan. Although you are not worried about them not liking your decision at least think about what they may do in retaliation. And I reckon they will do something. Try to anticipate what that would be so you are one step ahead.

@Sportynotspice

[..,] tell them they can't store their hedge in our garden?

and yanbu -- they're idiots.

I would leave the hedge. Just because hedges are so much nicer to look at than fences, support more wildlife, allow access for things like hedgehogs too

There is this to consider, plus the benefits of flood-alleviation and ambient temperature reduction.

If youve asked them to leave your side of the hedge alone and they won't then I'd just cut hedge back and put fence in as suggested. It might try and grow through the hedge though?

Is it easy to define the boundary line?

@Monestera

I would leave the hedge. Just because hedges are so much nicer to look at than fences, support more wildlife, allow access for things like hedgehogs too

There is this to consider, plus the benefits of flood-alleviation and ambient temperature reduction.

Yes, I would consider the wildlife and environmental aspect before chopping down the hedge.

Maybe the mere threat of erecting a fence will push your neighbours into being more reasonable.

@Sportynotspice

As you go out of the back of your house which side is it on? You normally own the left?

If you own instruct them not to cut the top with a letter

Put up a camera and catch them.

Hedge better than fence.

Let it grow taller.

Find out who owns the boundary and the hedge to see if you can remove the hedge.

A concern would be if you did chop the hedge to your boundary line, leave it there and put up a fence, the mature growing hedge could over the next couple of years damage your fence. We currently have this problem with our neighbours now mature bushes that were originally planted too close to the existing fence.

Cut it back and put a fence in. Don't go and talk to them to let them know you are doing it. They are the ones who have chosen to be rude and inconsiderate, and this is the consequence. Perhaps if they'd been able to have a civilised conversation with you and made some effort to compromise, you would be more inclined to consider their feelings.

Oh well. Their loss. Life goes on.

If 3/4 of the hedge is on your side, where are the roots? It sounds as though it may actually be your hedge. Legally they can’t cut anything, which grows in your land without your permission. Ergo, 3/4 of the hedge should be at the height you want. If you really don’t care about neighbourly relations, I would ascertain exactly where the boundary lies, where the roots are then write a stiffly worded letter stating they have asked nicely for them to stop cutting the part of the hedge encroaching in your land (or your hedge if it is on your land). Include that the next time they do this, you will be considering your options, including legal proceedings.

A hedge is more attractive and cheaper than a fence plus you won’t have the added hassle of removing most/all the hedge. From the description, it sounds like someone somewhere along the line planted a hedge on / too close to the boundary.

Similar issue, my parents planted a tiny ivy plant against a wall 25 years ago, it's now up and over the wall and is everywhere, the neighbours are desperate for us not to remove it as it goes over the wall into their garden behind their garage where they have made a bird paradise.
We would love to get rid but they love it and it gets full of sparrows etc

It sticks out down the path s as long the side of the house so I trim it all the time as I don't like getting poked by it (spiders etc) so as time goes by on our side it's getting more and more barren.

One day I'll start on the thick branches

Feel your pain. Our neighbour does the same (coming into our garden to do it). We only want another foot or so for privacy but no, every couple of months or so we get home and it’s gone down again.

Talk to them. I’ve been in my house 17 years and would be furious if my brand new neighbours changed something that has such a huge impact to both sides without discussion. If they are having issues such as ability to reach higher then maybe offer to take over the cutting if they let it grow higher. Fences blow over so consider any pets that might escape if the hedge is replaced with fence.

My old neighbours started to remove a conifer hedge before they moved but the fence was much more of a pain. However, on the flip side the confers are hard to maintain at the right height too. Not sure whose they were as they were there when we both moved in.

First I would check whose boundary this is. Second if they continue plant bamboo in front (if this is their hedge)?

YANBU. I’ve had major drama with a neighbor over fence stuff (he’s suing etc) and it’s exhausting.

Here in my part of the US it doesn’t matter where the roots are; whatever is growing on your side, you can cut that part. So if your neighbor has a massive tree but branches way over your property, you can cut those branches. I’m not sure about there though.

We had the same situation. Unfortunately the deeds did not show who owned the hedge. The next door neighbours were continually cutting it down to five foot and threatened us that they would come round and cut our side. This even though they were also complaining that they didn’t want to look at our house...

I would have loved to put a fence in and make them disappear, but the hedge is absolutely full of birds and putting a fence in would have had a major negative impact on all the birds who basically wouldn’t have been able to live in it anymore.

OP, High hedges legislation says an evergreen hedge must be kept at 6 foot. Is another foot in height going to make any difference with the sloping land you describe?

To get round the problem, we planted a row of trees our side of the hedge which will grow much taller than the hedge and provide much better privacy. If you go for the right mix of deciduous and evergreen trees, you aren’t limited by the 6 foot height rule. The next door neighbour was not happy about the trees. But - when we explained why we felt we had no option but to plant them - they no longer cut the hedge down to five foot. The trees look great and we’re pleased.