So when we moved into the house there was a conifer hedge which is our boundary down one side and along the bottom of us. Our boundary. DH cuts our side twice a year and also controls the height. We wouldn't have planted one but in total it's 120ft of hedge length which we can't afford to rip out or replace so it;s staying.
So there is a house at the back of us and before covid the lady who lived there asked dh nicely to cut her side of it and we said yes with her being elderly, etc.
Am I right in thinking even though it's our hedge her side of it is legally her responsibility?
Her adult son has moved in with her (before covid) and the hedge hasn't been mentioned in years. Her son came round today demanding we cut the hedge and if we don't he will and he will send us a bill for his time. So I'm slightly snarked over his attitude and not overly predisposed to do it now. He hasn't had an answer yet as all of this was relayed to my dd. I'd have preferred he hadn't engaged her in a conversation about it as she felt he was aggressive in his tone and she's now upset. He knew she's not the house owner.
I've tried googling and it says something about the hedge is our responsibility on his side if it's causing damage. But there's no damage, it's just encroaching on his land. But I'm also nervous that if we don't do it he could be the sort of person to just chainsaw the lot down to stumps and leave us with no boundary.
DH is not going to be impressed about him coming round and talking to dd like this so I'm expecting fireworks now. This guy has applied for planning permission to build a house in his garden and numerous people objected and I do wonder if this is some sort of payback for that. Because the hedge hasn't been cut his side or mentioned for like 6 years.