neighbour - is this legal?

[icancount]

Would there be any circumstances you can think of, where it would be ok to lean over a 6ft fence (theirs) and chop off the top of our hedge without mentioning anything to us before hand?
(hedge was there first, then they put the fence up, then built a building - with windows - about 1m away from the fence.)

How tall is the building? Within 1m of your property there are planning rules on maximum height if you are in England

The law says that they can trim anything that overhangs their property but if the bulk of the fence is on your side, it is absolutely illegal to touch it. I would go and talk to them and tell them that you’re quite happy to discuss any problems they have with the hedge and try to come to some arrangement, but make it clear that if they do this again there will be legal consequences.

It depends where you live. I know in some places there are laws governing the height of fences and hedges

Only for farmers and landowners.

@icancount You are definitely not being unreasonable. I also have the same kind of delightful neighbour! They came through our gate, walked across our patio and garden bed to then snap all the lead branches of our delightful Cherry Tree. This was not because of loss of light or overhang due to it being at least 12 foot from boundary! We think it was to stunt growth and reduce petal fall blowing onto their property. We didn’t notice straight away so felt unable to challenge.

More recently we are having a problem with them jet washing their patio and blasting resulting mucky debris onto our property.

If you’re very brave you could try to discuss it with them. After all it would be deemed criminal damage. Good luck!

OP they can only trim any part of the hedge that is intruding over there part of the boundary (i.e. branches over hanging etc.). Yes you are correct they cannot cut 2ft of the height that is classed as criminal damage.

You are well within your rights to report it on 101, but I can pretty much when the police decided to send some one round (days usually). They will pretty much push you to accept them speaking to the neighbour only. They will most likely give you a load of spiel they know best and at best they will give them a warning.

As for breeding birds, nesting is defined as when the first nesting material is placed be it a twig or a piece of straw. But you would have to prove the nest has been disturbed or harmed in some way. If you could prove this then raise it with Natural England.

CCTV may help in the future, just as a deterrent but as said the police will see it as pretty low key and highly likely only speak to your neighbour and put you off. If you are really determined you could take it to small claims court though.

The High Hedge Act only applies to hedges that are predominantly evergreen.

Not true.

It is illegal to disturb nesting birds. But if you've checked the hedge and it's free of nesting birds, you can cut it

If you add trellis to the top it will need to be with permission of the fence owner and if it exceeds 2m then you’ll need planning permission.

Surly if it's your hedge and they've cut the top off that's criminal damage right? The only reason I'm doubting that slightly is we're on page 2 and no one else has said it!

Do it.

Are the trees leylandii? Your neighbours might be worried they will block light when they get too tall. If they are nice people they might have got carried away cutting so it might be worth talking to them. We have a line of trees right next to our house and our nasty neighbour refuses to do anything. They are a pain and might have caused your neighbours problems before. Try to talk so you don’t end up like us with a nasty neighbour who ignores us

What they have done is not legal, no.

Do they have planning permission for the building they built by the boundary? Or is it allowable under permitted development?

I find this forum very helpful and knowledgeable:
www.gardenlaw.co.uk

I have, so have a couple of others 😬

If there is a law against it what are you planning to do? Do you expect the police to get involved?

My neighbour leans over my fence to cut my hedge. We don't get on!

If they’ve cut 2ft off the top, so the hedge is now the same height as the fence, that means the hedge was originally 8ft tall? It was probably blocking light into their garden. I know they’ve put the fence up, but is the hedge still actually on their property? Were they the ones that maintained the hedge before the fence went up? If it’s their hedge, that doesn’t change because they’ve put a fence up. Definitely try asking them about it first. I’m not sure I’d be bothered about neighbours cutting an 8ft hedge down to 6ft, if they’ve done a tidy job. Saves me a job!

My power tool happy neighbour did this. I went & yelled at him. All good. Tho I think he still does it, just more surreptitiously.

Their fence isn’t necessarily the boundary. Have you double checked the deeds? Usually you can only cut what over hangs but if the hedge is on the boundary it’s a bit different. As you say the fence is new ish then there’s a chance the boundary is not the fence line.

I'm not sure why posters are referring to legal heights of hedges... it's totally irrelevant. If my neighbour builds an illegal structure in their garden I can't just go in and take it upon myself to remove it.

Nope it's not legal what they've done... but I'm not sure how far you'd get with it. But I'd definitely be speaking to them about it.

Thanks everyone.
We do not get on as neighbours. We had a boundary dispute when they built the building. We had to prove that the hedge was ours, and on our property.
When discussing the fence being put up, it was promised that it would be higher than the windows, which it is not. As the hedge was already there, we just let it grow so the widows do not overlook our garden. the building - which is continuously lived in - is about 1m away from the fence/boundary.

I won't bother the police, I just wanted other people's opinions before we muster up the courage to knock on their door.