To be annoyed with neighbour re fence

[Tygertiger]

I live in a terraced house. The gardens are separated by laurel hedges which are very dense and provide a natural secure boundary. The deeds are clear in terms of who owns which side, but we all just maintain both our garden-side bits so they don’t get too overgrown. All fine. I have an escapologist dog who got over the back wall of our garden before we reinforced that, but he’s never been able to get through the hedges so the sides are secure. Laurel would not have been my choice of a hedge, but it’s what we inherited, all the houses in the row have it so it is what it is.

Anyway, new neighbour has moved in and drastically thinned out the hedge which is legally his. It’s his hedge, totally his right to do what he wants with it, no issue. But in consequence there are now huge gaps at ground level which my dog would easily get through. I’ve told him this - he says he’s not going to put a fence up as he doesn’t like the look of them and he doesn’t want to plant anything else in the space. But he also has been very clear he doesn’t expect to see my dog in his garden! Again, fair enough. But now that means I’m going to have to put a fence up on my side - which will reduce the width of my garden hugely as the laurel is wide and goes over both boundaries, so effectively I’m giving him another three feet of garden. Neighbour has said he’s not going to take the laurel out altogether, he just wanted to thin it, and the gaps don’t bother him as he has no pets or small children so doesn’t need a secure boundary.

I know it’s his hedge and I know it’s my duty to not let my dog in his garden. But AIBU that he’s backed me into a corner here and I’m now going to have to pay for a fence and lose some garden? There’s no way of just covering the gap as the dog is very adept at wiggling round or through things and the laurel is so thick I can’t just wiggle chicken wire through it or similar.

Cut the laurel right back to your boundary and have a fence put up. Doesn’t save you money but does give you the space.

What about cutting back the hedge on your side of the garden, to the boundary line, before you erect the fence? That way, you will actually gain back more garden than you had before.

Ahh cross posted, there!

Cut the hedge back to the trunk and put up a chicken wire fence on your side. The laurel will the grow back through to wire so it will look the same as before.

Cut anything on your side… he can’t moan about that. It’s your boundary, and then chuck up a cheap fence…

Perfect! It’s your dog you need to keep secure.

I can’t see how it will help three foot lost - just cut back right to the boundary line and put a low fence in there. Then the laurel will bush out over the height of the fence so you still have the benefit of a green, nature, aspect. Maybe even a picket style fence, the laurel would then grow through if you wanted to maintain the look of a hedge.

editing - haha, yes essentially what everyone else said - I’m just a slow typer obvs

It’s annoying, but your dog your problem. Our neighbours dog sometimes came into our garden though our thick hedge, so when we got a dog we fenced up against the hedge. The hedge is ours so we cut it right back but some of our land is just behind the fence so we took lots of pictures to prove the boundary before we put the fence up.

It’s annoying you’ve now got to do this, but this was always the risk you were taking by having a dog and no fence.

Yes, we could try. The thing is we’ve never cut it back to the boundary before as due to the way it grows, we’d potentially be leaving huge gaps - as he’s now done. I’d be worried he’d say we’ve damaged his hedge too much. It’s hard to describe but cutting it to the boundary would mean taking out trunk as it grows very higgledy-piggeldy with big branches at odd angles.

That’s his problem if it’s his hedge but on your side though. Get a professional in to do it and cut it to your boundary.

Cut it right right back. It might stress the plant enough that it dies anyway, if it does that's entirely his problem. I'd then put a metal chain link fence right against it, if the hedge doesn't die it may grow back through

I had a similar but not identical situation. I put a series of 2ft high metal poles and chicken wire along the actual boundary with labels on ‘BOUNDARY’ so that was what neighbours saw from their garden through their newly thinned hedge. Then I put an attractive 3ft fence along against the hedge so it looked nice from my side with the laurel leaves peeping above the fence.
After all, as I said to my neighbours, it’s very important that the boundary is clearly marked in case you get confused and start maintaining my side 😁 we don’t want to cause you any extra work…
The hedge was soon allowed to thicken up again to disguise the chicken wire fence.

It’s very unlikely it would kill the laurel. The stuff is indestructible. The harder you cut it back, the more it will bush out (so in theory neighbour has a shot himself in the foot 😅).

Tell him what you’re planning to do and why so you don’t fall out over it.

Remember not to do it until autumn because of birds nesting. Ideally it would be done in late winter, but the laurel won’t really care if you do it in autumn.

I would do the chicken wire thing.

What about electric poultry/sheep netting on your side of the hedge? Much cheaper than installing a permanent fence, easy to remove when the gaps in the hedge have filled in.

No need to take out trunks, you can be very creative with fencing around trunks, or them poking through it. I’m surrounded by huge trees and hedges on all sides, most of them mine within the boundary, but along the back the poplar tree trunks straddle the boundary so we have wooden panels up to the trunks and then half circle wrought iron around them. Keeps the dog safely in.

OP, I'd do the fence thing rather than the chicken wire, and would cut out small hedgehog-sized holes in the fence.

Hedgehogs might wander about and use that hedge to get from a to b - they wander miles in the night ,foraging. I think they've endangered, so they need all the help they can get.

YABU.

The neighbour has made his wishes clear, so just cut the laurel right up to the boundary line then install a fence.

My friend has something very similar but just used a chicken wire style fence.

You can get 6ft tall chicken wire on a 50m roll for about £65, then just need some posts to attach it to. The laurel will then grow back through it but you can then be sure of no gaps!

Digging the posts out is physical hard work but not too difficult. Plenty of YouTube videos on how to put secure fence posts in.

We put in an electronic border for our dog, who loves to get into neighbours gardens. You dig a small tunnel the length of the boundary and lay it down, the dog wears a collar that makes noises and warns him that he is getting close to it. if he goes over it he gets an electric shock. He never goes over it and happily lets us put his collar on when he wants to go into the garden. It works very well. We have similar hedges that would be impossible to seal.

We have an odd shaped garden with a huge perimeter bordered by bushes. We used green, square wire mesh around the garden to keep the dog in. It is great. It sort of fades into the background and then the bushes grow through.

I would use something more substantial that chicken wire, perhaps this sort of mesh. (It will support itself much better than chicken wire.) Hope this link works...

https://www.sure-green.com/wire-panel-8ft-4ft-12-gauge.html?mh_matchtype=&mh_keyword=&mh_adgroupid=&mh_network=x&mh_campaignid=22826147939&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22820392791&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImNa53NOCjwMV7oZQBh1ceBhlEAQYASABEgJblfD_BwE

Yabu to be shocked that a new owner cut their hedge back, you knew it could happen and that it’s your job to keep your dog secure. You should have always done something your side as they could and have at any point remove or cut their hedge.

I know this seems like a no-brainer but we’ve lived here 20 years, and nobody along the row has ever done anything to substantially thin the hedges. People have come and gone and they’ve never changed them. So yes, you’re right, but this is just not something that anyone has done before so it’s been a bit unexpected.

Yanbu. I have a dickhead neighbour and had to lose 1ft of my garden as they wouldn't put a fence up.

My kids could have literally walked into their garden and out their unsecured back gate into the street if they'd wanted to.

I wouldn't worry about inconveniencing him. He's not bothered about inconveniencing you, so cut it back to the boundary line and put your fence up. He's made it clear he doesn't want your dog in his garden so what else are you supposed to do? If there's trunk on your land then I guess technically it's yours. He's put you in this position so you having to find a solution that works for you
Don't feel bad about what you do with your own land. He doesn't.