Boundary line argument

[jcsc]

Moved in 5 years ago. Neighbours moved in 15 years ago. Neighbours have to upkeep the right and we are the left. They drop down lower than us on the right. There is a slither on land on what we think is our side level with my drive (as they are lower down we are on a hill) she called my DH a baboon for pulling up plants that were embedded in weeds on said slither of land amongst a honeysuckle bush that she told us she planted. Found our title deeds plan before the hoise built in 1920. Our plot and the neighboir the other side has said measurement on this title, we measured it and that slither of land is on our side. Right hand side is adamant it’s theirs and keeps planting stuff there and DH keeps pulling it out. . Honeysuckle bush is now growing wild and scratching my boot on the car. DH has had enough and said now he’s going to dig it all up and cement it and it’s just going to escalate. I can’t reason with him over this.
he also going to put up a 6ft fence right the way down the garden in front of their fence as he doesn’t want to look at them. Currently a 3ft fence with trellis.
Is DH being unreasonable to remove the honeysuckle bush and cause chaos
I’m fully aware if we having a massive falling out we will have to declare it when we sell.
I said he should speak to them calmly and he said he can’t even look at them since she hammered down our door and called him a baboon 🙈
in the image the green line is the end of the measurement on the paperwork we found. Land behind the red line they think is theirs.

You might like to post this on Garden Law Forum. They have a dedicated section on boundaries and information about hedges and other issues causing strife between neighbours.

So she thinks land behind the wall is hers? That’s unlikely why would she jump to that conclusion. I’m with your DH. They lost the right to be conversed with civilly when she called him names. How fucking rude.

Regardless of whether the honeysuckle is on her land or not, you are entitled to cut it back where it encroached on your land, so why don't you just do that. Leave the plant itself, but just cut back all the branches that are going towards your land.

Did they put up the wall? If so then the fence, and so the honeysuckle, may well be on their land. If not - then probably not. If you keep the honeysuckle trimmed back on your side then I don't really see what the problem is and I certainly wouldn't antagonise her just for the sake of it.

But this bit of land is under a fence and behind a wall and is totally useless……

Just drop it!

that tiny fragment of land is not worth arguing over. you could get lawyer to write letters and waste years of your life arguing and then have to report a 'property dispute' when you want to sell one day and it will cost you money and years of misery.

or you could just decide to be a better person and leave the land alone. let the neighbour plant things. don't bother chatting to her, but don't let her and her plants take up any space in your head. Every time you look at the space, think "I have more important thing to worry about" and go on with your day.

it might be yours, it might not but it is NOT WORTH FIGHTING OVER.

In the meantime, you should cut the honeysuckle right back to be level with the edge of your paving and keep it regularly trimmed back so it does not scratch your car.
You are legally entitled to do this to any vegetation that is encroaching your property but you must then offer the cuttings to your neighbours. If they do not want them, it is your responsibility to dispose of them.

It does look from your explanation and photos as though the neighbours have encroached onto your property but unless you can categorically prove that your boundary extends past the end of your paving then it's probably not worth the stress or cost of trying to get it back.
Your DH is not unreasonable to be angry about your neighbour's behaviour which IMO is antisocial and I would probably want to put a fence up too; however a fence won't stop that honeysuckle.
I think you only have to declare formal (ie. in writing) disputes when selling but if you did have to, you would simply say there was a disagreement about the boundary line which was resolved and a new fence erected or something similar.

Posters who say just ignore it just don't get it do they? I really hate cheeky fuckers like this who get away with stuff because the rest of us are reasonable people.
Although of course your neighbours may be in the right and it is their land😉
You still need to cut that honeysuckle back though.

If it’s your land you can do what you want, including putting up a higher fence

Chop it right to the fence then nail a fence panel over the fence.... High enough you can't see her side at all.

It looks like it’s your land but when the honeysuckle was first planted it may have been within the neighbours boundary as in it was a much smaller diameter stem.
I would be inclined to just keep trimming the honeysuckle to the fence. It’s still a visual barrier but prettier than a fence panel. New growth will be soft so easy to maintain.

Your boundary should be at least up to the wooden fence shown in your first picture. The fact that your driveway paving isn’t completely up to that line doesn’t mean that it’s not your land.

As a pp said, you can cut back anything overhanging your border. Personally, I would cut back the bush completely so nothing at all comes through the fence.
Your neighbour is welcome to have honeysuckle on her property, but it doesn’t have to come through into your property.

Sliver. It’s ‘sliver’.

Is she coming onto your land (driveway) to plant stuff? I can't see how she'd be able to do so under the fence. It looks obvious to me it's your land. As others have said I'd put up a solid fence panel and gravel. On another note, if anything happened to the wall, if she thinks the sliver of land is hers, she'd be responsible for the upkeep of said wall surely?

Haha, I was going to post this too!

Neighbours have trimmed their side right back. Why don't you do the same?