To tell my neighbour he's a fucking knobhead

[NobbyNeighbour]

So we have a bungalow at the back of us, always got on with the lady who lived there. We have a thick conifer hedge between us which is about 8ft tall. It's our hedge, dh cuts the height and our side. Occasionally she would ask us to cut her side and being nice I would send dh to do it even though technically it's her responsibility.

Her adult (in his 40s) son moved in and the word is in the village he's not nice but I never had anything to do with him. Then last year he came banging on our front door ranting at dd about the hedge. Told her "tell your parents they've got till 5pm tonight to decide what they're doing, either they cut my side of the hedge this weekend or I cut it and send them the bill". Really shouty. I didn't bother going round to discuss with him as I knew neither option would be occurring. It was a foot deep in snow so hardly hedge cutting weather and I'm not paying for something that's his responsibility. He's never been back and hasn't cut the hedge.

Then yesterday evening he lights a bonfire 2ft from our hedge. It's not the first big fire he's had on the boundary but this was the worst. Right on our side of the hedge we have a garden office. The flames were at least 9ft high, I could see them over the hedge. He's a cowboy builder and often has bonfires as he burns stuff from his work. Ash was raining down all over the garden. I was scared for the hedge and garden office, I could smell petrol so think he'd put petrol on it. There were little bangs and explosions so God knows what he was burning. I started shouting at him and he was laughing and shouting "you need to cut your hedge". I lost my shit at that point and called him a fucking knobhead and dialled 999. Fire brigade put the fire out. But apparently he felt I was overreacting. Stupid idiot has actually burnt the fascia board on his own garage!

I don't even think he's doing it to try and damage the hedge, I just think he's as thick as mince and doesn't give a shit. Apparently he's always threatening people in the village. I know he was mouthing off in the shop a bit ago threatening to burn some people out if he found who had objected to his planning permission.

So while I'm still mad as hell I'm also slightly nervous! I videoed quite a bit yesterday, not sure if I contacted the council whether they'd talk to him about the bonfires but guess I can't prove he's burning non domestic stuff?

If I bought a house that already had established hedges, there’d be no need to cut the neighbours side. OP has said they’re her hedges, implying she planted them, well then she has to take responsibility for them invading her neighbours. OP later said, they’re not something we’d have planted, so actually, no idea what’s going on as OP seems to change her mind. But, if they’re not OP’s then why say they are, and why cut the neighbours side for 20 years 🤷‍♀️🤔

It’s not really! You have no legal right to enter your neighbours property. You’re not even likely to know who they are if they’re at the back rather than next door

This summer, I got a gardener to cut some overgrown ivy at my back which could best be done from the other side. First I had to work out which street it was in, find exact house, ask the resident’s permission to enter her garden then warn her of the exact date and time that a strange man would be appearing in her garden!

I think you’ve been very reasonable with his mum and although I can’t say I like anyone being called what you called him, you aren’t wrong! But I am genuinely worried you may have put yourself in danger - he sounds dreadful! Please document everything, call the Fire Brigade for any big/dangerous fires, and the Police if you feel threatened. I can’t imagine how scary all this is :(

You sound very selfish. You should be maintaining the hedge why should they need to do any work on something you want. Our neighbours have huge trees that overhang our boundary. I hate them and the work it takes us to maintain them. Constantly clearing up the leaves in the autumn and winter.

It's unusual for a hedge to be fully dogproof.

If the hedge were to become damaged, it would be his responsibility to keep his dog contained so he would need to put a fence up, even though (presumably) the boundary is yours. Your job is just to maintain the boundary, you have no obligation to make it dogproof. However in practice this would just be a different, nasty battle to have with him.

People who know the detail of the law are usually different people from those who threaten and demand things from their neighbours.

I'm still glad I live next to my neighbours, who cut their whole hedge, though.

Not changed my mind. They’re “my” hedges because the deeds clearly show it’s our property’s boundary/responsibility. I didn’t plant them though, the house is a 100 years old. I’m presuming a previous occupant planted them.

Leaving aside whose responsibility it is to cut the neighbour's side, in your shoes I would offer to do it just to avoid him doing something destructive himself. I wouldn't want to actually talk to him given his aggression, but would write (keep a copy) saying you want to cut his side but access is difficult on his side, so could he remove rubble, make an even surface etc. so you can do the work. Keep a record of correspondence and any incidents, plus when work is done to the hedge.

In that case you were daft to even start cutting them in the first place.

Seems very simple when you put it like that.

Of course you should trim the hedge. We have a hedge that grows on the other side in our neighbours garden. It’s an absolute no brainer that it’s your responsibility. You are also out of order to call him what you did. He sounds like an idiot.

But the neighbour has made it dangerous, if not impossible, for them to cut the hedge by piling unsafe rubble up against it!

What HE needs to do, is cut the branches back on his side of the hedge and then put up a fence so the trees don’t affect him. And YOU need to keep them to less than 2m high (that’s under 7’ tall) and ensure that the trees don’t damage his fence.

For everyone saying it’s OP’s responsibility. I have an elderly neighbour. Her garden plants are invading my garden. We had to get a new fence as they had grown through. They are not my plants, I didn’t want them. Surely I should be making her keep them trimmed going off the consensus on here.

Shocking how many people think you should be going round and cutting the hedge. It was nice of you to do while you did it but as you've rightly researched, it's not your responsibility to.
As annoying as maintaining a hedge that you didn't ask for is, it's just one of those things in life / law.