Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Legal matters

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have any legal concerns we suggest you consult a solicitor.

Flip

Original poster

Hedge cuttings - claiming damages/ Court Action

15 replies

Trickie03 · 14/09/2017 22:54

I've just received a letter from a solicitors, acting on behalf of the owners of a field at the rear of our house. They are claiming that we have cut our hedge down and deposited the cuttings in their field. They want these cuttings to be removed or they will take court action. They have also indicated that they will be claiming damages for the field.

This did not happen!! We have cut the hedge to the front of the house in recent weeks, but all trimmings were collected by waste removal. Also, there is a shed running the entire length of the rear wall. The only way we could have thrown anything over into the field is by standing on the roof, hardly likely considering I'm 37 weeks pregnant.
Anyway, where do we stand on this? It would be their word against ours but how do we prove our innocence?

I'd be grateful for any and all advice.
Thank you

OP posts:

AlternativeTentacle · 14/09/2017 22:57

send a photo back saying you think they have the wrong house as there is a shed in the way and you are 37 weeks pregnant so it would be a miracle oiking yourself over said shed, just to deposit cuttings.

LaurieFairyCake · 14/09/2017 22:58

So the rear wasn't cut at all? Only the front?

LaurieFairyCake · 14/09/2017 22:59

Just to point out though (as it's happened elsewhere) - the company you hired could have fly tipped it on their land?

Original poster

Trickie03 · 14/09/2017 23:07

There are no hedges at the rear of the house, just at the front. We rarely cut the hedge, so it is worrying me that this letter has come only a few weeks after we had cut it. We live in a terraced street, with neighbours who do have hedges at the rear of their house. I can only assume it came from one of them, but don't know how to prove it was someone else/ not us.
Our hedge trimmings were taken by the council on bin collection day so wasn't a private company.

OP posts:

LaurieFairyCake · 14/09/2017 23:11

Well you've no hedge so you don't have to prove it

It must be one of your neighbours

GreenTulips · 14/09/2017 23:19

Take photos of your none hedge - ignore the front this is a red herring! Focus on the back hedges!

(Did the company do it?)

BeepBeepMOVE · 14/09/2017 23:24

A photo of your back garden with a shed and no hedge is enough proof. Theres no need to flap, they obviously got the wrong address.

MrsBertBibby · 15/09/2017 07:46

Did your neighbours get similar letters?

Is this a genuine law firm? Check on the SRA Find a Solicitor website. There are a lot of fake firms out there.

MrsBertBibby · 15/09/2017 07:48

Also, you don't have to prove anything. It is their allegation, so they have to prove it.

RedastheRose · 15/09/2017 17:57

If this is a legitimate firm of solicitors (as pp have said check law society website) then it is likely you are just one of the people in your Terrace sent the same letter. Just take a photo of the back of your house showing the shed with no hedge in sight and tell them that this is nothing to do with you and you would appreciate it if they would confirm that their unwarranted threat of legal action has been withdrawn.

Original poster

Trickie03 · 15/09/2017 19:49

Thank you for all your replies. Phoned the solicitors today and as RedastheRose says a number of our neighbours have had letters too. Seems as though the owner of the field drove down the street and instructed his solicitors to write/threaten anyone with a hedge in the hopes that some one would admit it.

OP posts:

MrsBertBibby · 15/09/2017 20:15

That's really not OK. Solicitors are obliged by the Code of Conduct not to demand things from people that aren't legally recoverable. I would say speculatively threatening a whole street of people when you know full well only one is at fault is a clear sign of bad practice.

www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/code/content.page

Look at outcome 11.1 and Indicative Behaviour 11.8.

Complain to them and threaten with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

MonkeyJumping · 15/09/2017 20:25

That's unacceptable behaviour by the solicitors. Please do complain- obviously you found it a bit stressful, but for somebody vulnerable a letter like that could be really upsetting or scary.

HeebieJeebies456 · 19/09/2017 04:56

Our hedge trimmings were taken by the council on bin collection day so wasn't a private company.

Councils keep records.....there's your proof of what you did with your cuttings.

Ceto · 20/09/2017 23:23

It doesn't seem inherently credible that the council has kept a record of what was in everyone's bin.

However, this seems to be essentially a try-on. The damages the owner of the field has suffered will be limited to the cost of clearing and disposing of the cuttings, and if they are just clippings from one person's hedge that won't be more than an hour's work. I find it very difficult to believe that your neighbour wants all the expense of going to court for that, particularly given that the burden of proof lies with him and he doesn't seem to have any evidence.

Flip