Hedge

[Lowdown]

Our neighbour cut down our hedge while we were out. The hedge is fully on our land. They lifted out their fence panels put a chain saw through the bottom of the hedge leaving stumps and put their fence back up. The hedge was mature and 2 metres in height.

What is the best course of action? I believe in law that they only have the right to trim up to their boundary.

As part of the reparations they need to get the old roots dug out, and yes go for a more pleasing replacement - a selection of native hedging that gives berries for birds later in the year and is nicer to nest in would be good. then you can interplant with some climbers to give added interest.

I'd always add in some cherry plums or mirabelles, a cherry, and some Japanese quinces, for the flowers and the fruits, with some beeches, and possible a few sea buckthorns for the fantastic berries in the autumn.

www.habitataid.co.uk/blog/2011/10/18/native-hedge-planting/

Does a small claims court award money and then we get the work done or does it require the neighbours to do the work? This would influence what type of hedge went back.

Almost the exact same thing happened to us - we got back from holiday to find that our neighbours had removed a fence panel and come into our garden to chop down a beautiful flowering jasmine that was growing on our side. It was absolutely lovely, smelt amazing when flowering. Apparently it was damaging their fence (I saw no evidence of this) but even if it was why wouldn't you at least have a conversation about it first. They even left all the dead cuttings which made a horrible mess and took forever to clear up.

DH and I did discuss taking them to court, but we decided that actually we didn't want to live there anymore and didn't want to have to declare the dispute in case it made selling harder. I'm still pretty angry about it though and I'm hoping I can get some kind of vicarious satisfaction through you taking your neighbours to court and making them pay! Good luck

Jasmine is lovely!

I know what you mean but we don't have any intention of selling and I think they will want to move before we do so it mucks them up more.

My bigger fear is a descent into neighbour wars with petty parking and parties. We don't have anything nasty like that so I'm weighing up the upsides and downsides.

It's difficult isn't it, but I do think bullies need standing up to.

If they say the fence was damaged they will need proof, if it was then maybe they deduct the cost of the replacement and labour but it's not expensive to replace one fence panel. I don't know how small claims courts work but your legal team will know, have you had quotes for all the work yet. There are some lovely hedges and shrubs you could buy, it would be nice to have lots of wildlife in the garden. Laurel acts as a good screen cover though, we have it and it's got nests in it. Have you had a chance to speak to them about it yet, they must know They shouldn't have done it, like pp said you have to stand up to people like this or they just take the piss.

dh went round but they seem to be away this weekend.

I'm relying on him as he deals with difficult situations through work and is really good at calming people down and negotiating. I am much more likely to get flustered.

No quotes yet. Friendly conversation first, then quotes and letter. Hopefully it won't go that far.

What kind of people think that it is ok to go into someone elses garden and damage their property.

Make sure when you speak to them to follow up in writing a record of the conversation at the very least . And be clear you want it fixed to your agreed standard ie they cant just do a substandard, cheap job- and put any old hedge in. it has to be quality, like for like. So you can get quotes and so can they on same specification.

I would document your efforts to contact them in case they claim you didn't let them know there was a problem.

Wow! Where on earth do these people come from?

Thanks. The legal expert said it doesn't matter as we have 6 years to complain so it is irrelevant if we didn't do so in writing on the day. A couple of weeks after is absolutely fine and the first contact should only be verbal.

It is to show we have been reasonable and tried to talk. The legal adviser is going to keep record of the first conversation.

The letter will be the first written communication and will detail the verbal conversation. My fervent hope is that it doesn't get that far.

It is utterly shocking that people would act in this way.

They can't have thought they were doing you a favour or they would have spoken with you first. They knew they were doing wrong and, like you say, were depending on you being passive.

They’re not in because if they’ve got any sense ( although doesn’t seem so), they’ve realised what dicks they’ve been and moved. Unbelievable

RebootYourEngine
"What kind of people think that it is ok to go into someone elses garden and damage their property"

God knows! But sadly my own NDNs are that kind of people. It seems that every time we go away on holiday, the neighbours have taken the opportunity to cut down something in our garden.

I can only hope sparkle. I would be hanging out the bunting.

We been here a long time so have have lived through four different families moving in and out of the neighbours house and all the others were lovely.

You'll need to make sure you include plans to ensure that a mature hedge survives.
It's quite a job to keep large newly planted shrubs alive until they establish properly.

Did they actually lift fence panels out to cut the hedge on the the other side, ie your side? What possible objection can they have had to a hedge not in their garden? 2m high is unlikely to have blocked much light. It seems bizarre.

Wow. Can’t believe they thought they’d get away with this. Glad your house insurance will provide legal cover.

Yes. My gut feeling is that the roots got in the way of their fence. They don't like vegetation much anyway as they have gradually erased it from their garden. All very minimalist with floodlights which fortunately are not too near our house.

Still not back.

Just shocking they could do this, damaging not only the hedge but killing the birds nesting too.

Posting in support, OP.

CFs need sorting out - they seem to be taking over the world, so standing up to them (in a legal and proper way) is going to be a necessary evil for all us non-CFs.

Hope you get your hedge and nesting birds back eventually (along with all the other wildlife that had a home there).

This post is close to my heart as my NDN poisoned the hedge between us that he'd loudly and regularly protested about, despite it only being a 5ft privet full of nests. The small-ish apple tree on my side, but growing into the hedge at the bottom of the garden was also poisoned, despite bats flying into it regularly.

I absolutely KNEW something was up when they stopped complaining about it. They've randomly planted loads of trees (ash maybe) that have grown like fuck and are spreading into my garden.

I'm now left with an awful dead hedge but I refuse to pull it down in protest.

Wow! We have hedges surrounding our garden and recently moved in. The one hedge is our neighbours hedge and we haven't touched it because it's their hedge. It is getting very big and I wonder whether they have a hedge trimmer as the front is the same. So I'm going to ask them if they'd like
Me to cut it or not. I wouldn't just do it! The cheek of some people

How awful. Can not believe they had the temerity to suggest they were doing you a favour!

I think my shocked reaction must have scared them away. DH is at work tomorrow so it will have to wait until he tracks them down one evening. Frustrating.