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Original poster

Accidently damaged a neighbours bramble

37 replies

user1471541408 · 08/07/2020 08:34

Any advice? I was having a new fence installed on my side in front of my neighbours fence. Her fence had some damage to a panel and my landscaper fixed it. They also removed some roots from a bramble (on my side but the bramble is hers). The bramble has now been quite badly damaged. It's huge and about half of it has been killed. I didn't do it intentionally and I've apologised profusely. I've offered to pay for her to have the bramble removed and replaced with plants of her choosing. I didn't ask her if I could fix her fence because I just didn't think about it. It's the back of her garden and she can't see it. I know this was stupid now.

She has accused me of deliberately breaking her fence to destroy her bramble as well as putting down weedkiller. I have photos of the damaged fence to show I didn't damage it. I didn't put down weedkiller and I certainly didn't intentionally danger her bramble.

She's indicating criminal damage and trespass and I'm under the impression she is getting legal advice/wants to press charges. Not sure what else I can do. Anyone else had similar experience?

OP posts:

vinoelle · 08/07/2020 08:37

no advice sorry - seems bonkers to get upset over a bramble tho - they are horrible! if it was a nice established plant id understand - but really brambles are a weed and will grow with vengeance back anyway!

Finfintytint · 08/07/2020 08:41

Pass on the landscapers’ details to her. They will have insurance presumably. She can take it up with the company.

loutypips · 08/07/2020 08:43

www.blbsolicitors.co.uk/blog/liability-for-tree-roots-and-branches/

This is for trees, but I'd imagine that it's the same for plants. Basically her roots shouldn't grow over the boundary line, and if they do you can remove them.

Davodia · 08/07/2020 08:45

A bramble is a weed. And if the roots are on your side you can legally cut them off.

DonLewis · 08/07/2020 08:45

She can't press charges. Even trespass is a civil matter, not criminal. And if she thinks the police have time to deal with this, she's bonkers.

All you can do is offer to put right the damage, which it sounds like you have. But I'm amazed she is bothered about a bramble!

Lucked · 08/07/2020 08:49

Tell her that she has a day to consider your offer after which it is off the table and she will have to go down the legal root but you are confident you have done nothing wrong so it will only cost her and not you.

Also can you come and kill off the brambles in my garden please.

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 08/07/2020 08:51

How can you even kill a bramble? They are indestructible, unless faced with nuclear device.

JaJaDingDong · 08/07/2020 08:53

If you actually mean a bramble, she probably didn't plant it anyway, and it will grow back.
But your contractors did the damage, not you, so put her in touch with them.

CaptainMyCaptain · 08/07/2020 08:54

Brambles grow like weeds. I used to have a narrow terraced house garden. I went on holiday for two weeks and when I came back a bramble had grown from my neighbour on one side, over my garden, to reach my neighbour on the other side.

I'm sure no permanent damage has been done.

QuestionableMouse · 08/07/2020 08:56

@Lucked

Also can you come and kill off the brambles in my garden please.

Was root not route a freudian slip there? 😂😂😂

@user1471541408 your neighbour is bonkers. Brambles are horrible to get rid of and it'll probably grow back if she gives it some time.

CrotchetyQuaver · 08/07/2020 09:01

If it is actually a bramble that's been damaged then your neighbour is being ridiculous. It is a weed, not a desirable plant.

OohKittens · 08/07/2020 09:03

My garden backs onto wild woods which is a mass of bramble. How big was her bramble and did she actually plant it?

Original poster

user1471541408 · 08/07/2020 09:10

Thanks for the sanity check. It feels very over the top but she's a bit like this, hence me putting up my own fence.

I've called it a bramble - it's a large, out of control wild blackberry. That's a bramble right? I'm from NZ so that's what I would call it there. It's definitely not all dead. And, as you all have said, practically impossible to kill. I do however feel terrible and have offered to pay /sort out/replace.

I don't feel like there is anything else I can do. Even a lawyer would tell her that, right?

OP posts:

Jessbow · 08/07/2020 09:10

Just be aware that not all brambles are weeds. By a Bramble I assume you mean a blackberry bush.

Recently moved, we have won ourselves an award winning Blackberry bush, which is laden with fruit.

That said, if the neighbour damaged to root, I'd say fair cop, if it was in their garden. Might be a bit Grrrrr if they cut the bush back though.

is it perhaps a burgler deterent?

TimeWastingButFun · 08/07/2020 09:12

If you only cut the bits on your side you haven't done anything wrong. Her fault for planting the bramble so close the boundary. We've got some but they're not on a neighbours fence!

3cats · 08/07/2020 09:13

I’d just leave it. You haven’t done anything wrong and the fence needed fixing. Just leave her be.

TimeWastingButFun · 08/07/2020 09:13

CrotchetyQuaver
It may not be a weed. We have a row of thornless blackberries that we bought and planted!

Destroyedpeople · 08/07/2020 09:14

It's a bramble?
Do nothing.

OohKittens · 08/07/2020 09:16

The wild ones at the back of my garden had massive blackberries last year. I didn't need to leave my garden to go picking.

SunflowerProsecco · 08/07/2020 09:17

We also planted blackberries at our house. We love them and eat them fresh and also make blackberry and Apple jam. They are also good for wildlife and preventing trespassing
Could this be the case with your neighbour OP?

SoupDragon · 08/07/2020 09:17

Take back your offer to pay anything and let her crack on with her legal fight.

I have lots of brambles. The fuckers come back every single year.

ResumetonormalASAP · 08/07/2020 09:18

Imagine the court case - I want the value of the bramble in compensation - it's a weed and grows really fast......

Say sorry the person that did the fence did their best, it will grow back...if she moans on, ignore her.

Original poster

user1471541408 · 08/07/2020 09:38

@SunflowerProsecco

Unlikely as she can't really reach them. It's just wild. And they grow so fast! I cut back every year on my side. It has very very nasty thorns so has gone totally wild.

Her back garden adjoins my side garden and is quite shallow. They do provide some screening. However, my fence is 6 foot deliberately to help with screening and I'm planting a tall flax (tallest I can buy!) to provide additional screening.

I'll see what she does and go from there.

OP posts:

mumwon · 08/07/2020 09:39

give her some cultivated thornless blackberry plants - job done if they are wild ones...daft bat & ditto pp -please come & eliminate mine (actually pp I suspect they are like cockroaches & would regrow after a nuclear bomb)
www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/wild-blackberry
you can buy the damn things - hey mn we can dig up our brambles & sell them on the internet!

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 08/07/2020 10:05

Half my life is battling brambles - all she'd need to do is pin down a branch from the non-dead bit and it'll root itself and keep growing - stuff is a nightmare to get rid of when you want to!

In any case, the roots were on your land, you have done nothing wrong, and have been more than generous (because yes, dead brambles are a pig to clear with the thorns). Think nothing more of it.

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