To ask neighbours to cut back their grapevine

[horseyhorsey17]

The garden that backs onto mine has a large leylandii screen, several metres high, with a grapevine growing through it that is currently dropping grapes into my garden. I have two dogs and am worried about them eating the grapes and getting poisoned. I have been sweeping them up but it's not really a solution as they drop down all the time. There were only a few last year so it wasn't so much of a problem but there are LOADS this year and they're really high up in the trees - which aren't on my land so I couldn't put a ladder up to cut the overhanging bits down if I wanted to. Can I ask my neighbour to cut the overhanging bits down - super politely of course? Is there any obligation for them to do so? I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do, short of keeping my dogs out of the garden for the next three months until I'm sure the grapes have all come down out of the trees.

I would check out the law around evergreen hedges? If the trees are over two meters and blocking light to your garden then the council can insist they are reduced but you do have to speak to your neighbours first. A six meter hedge, assuming you are in an average suburban garden, is unreasonable.

You can buy extendable tree loppers for about £30 - £35 (Spear and Jackson make a well reviewed pair) which may help you reach some of the vines although most loppers for general domestic use won't stretch to 6 meters.

I know right. Wonder if this person would have posted the same if instead of grapes, it was deadly nighshade berries, and instead of dogs, it was toddlers. Knowing MN - probably. Makes you wonder why anyone posts on here at all, it's full of such bad faith these days.

Regardless of whether the grapes are poisonous, if I don't want someone's vine growing onto my land, I'd still have a conversation with them and ask them to cut it back before hacking it back myself. Entitled? Ridiculous.

Ah that's interesting. The leylandii hedge is HUGE - well over two metres, probably seven or eight - and it does block the light so I was going to talk to the neighbour about maybe going halves on getting it trimmed at some point, so it's good to know I do have some actual leverage over that.

The netting idea on the fence could be a good one to catch the grapes as PP said - how far into your garden do the grapes fall?

Is there anyway to perhaps segregate that part of the garden so the dogs can't get into the area they might fall?

Quite a long way as the leylandii hedge (which I hate) is massive. So on reflection, I don't think the netting would work. Also I think that's their fence.

Why post in AIBU if you are not receptive to being told YABU?

PP was advising that the neighbours are under no obligation to cut back (although I would add, with the exception of the high hedges act).

Of course you can ask them, and most people would be happy to, but they are not obliged to so you might want to have a backup plan. The netting suggestion might be a good fallback position.

Some helpful advice from the government

www.gov.uk/government/publications/over-the-garden-hedge/over-the-garden-hedge

LifeInTheGrass · Today 12:10
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You can cut anything overhanging on your side but you have to give them the cuttings back.
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They have no obligation to cut it back. Why would they? The dogs are your problem.”

Hostile and rude!

Perfectly reasonable for you to ask them to cut it back, OP. I’d tell them why, too. Most people wouldn’t want to harm their neighbour’s pet.

I'm receptive to being told I am BU, but not when I am told I am being unreasonable for owning dogs at all.

The tree isn't the issue the grapes are

Ahhh I will ignore them from now on then.

🤣 lol ^ love this!

To be honest I think people should have to deal with their own overhanging shrubbery, especially if it’s bloody messy!

I’m team dog, so if they were my grapes I’d be happy to oblige so as not to poison the dogs.

How I would love to throw my neighbours vegetation back! Including their bloody Japanese knotweed! Entitled neighbours indeed!

Apologies, I must have missed that. Was it deleted?

TBH - although I do not want to start neighbour wars - I think they are being a bit unreasonable with the massive leylandii hedge. It's an eyesore apart from anything else. Honestly, I am slightly regretting buying this house as one of the reasons I bought it was because it had a fully enclosed garden that I was safe to let the dogs out in without them escaping/coming to any harm, and now it's full of bloody poisonous fruits!

Are you seriously calling me a “goady fucker” for suggesting you might want to put up a net in case your neighbours don’t want to cut their trees down?

I'm talking about the other poster. The goady one.

Speak to the neighbours, offering to share the cost of reducing the height of the hedge is generous of you. The may (or may not) be concerned about your dogs' health. They are probably unaware of the impact of the high hedge on your garden. They may want to keep the grapes for themselves and be grateful for a reminder to retrain the vine.

Good luck

We have grapes on our pergola and they grow like mad. I've told my neighbours they're welcome to any grapes hanging down their side. And to cut them back as they wish or we're happy to come over to cut them.

As for dogs, we didn't know they were potentially poisonous until we got a puppy in August. We've blocked off the area where the grapes fall but what a nightmare it is.

Might try the netting too.

If your neighbours are decent people then they shouldn't mind you asking for help with a solution

My neighbours have a large tree overhanging my garden with little red berries that drop onto my lawn. I had a tree surgeon come and cut the bits overhanging knowing this was my right (and ?my responsibiliy since it's my garden I want berry free!) If i posted not knowing this was OK and legal, wondering how to keep my small children safe from toxic berries, you know the answers on the thread would be very different. You have the right to have a garden clear of waste, whatever form that may be, from your neighbours.

To be fair. Your neighbours don't actually care about their grapes because they wouldn't have let them grow to 5/6m high. Everywhere grapes are grown for production or shade they are no higher than 2.5/3m.
This maybe a way that they benefit as well as you. Also grapes should be pruned back to about 30cm before the winter. When they start to grow in spring they need trimming so the strength goes into the grapes rather than loads of leaves. So they should get better quality grapes for those they pick next year. And they won't be 5/6m high.
Fingers crossed.

As helpful as the poster was with the netting suggestion, don't do this. It sounds great, until the net catches the grapes and then a couple of weeks later you have a net with mouldy grapes hanging up in the tree. Then what do you do?

I thought it was obvious - you take them out of the net that you've fixed at a height that is accessible to you.