Fence damage. Agent fobbing me off. What would a solicitors letter achieve?

[SarfE4sticated]

Hi there,
Hope you can help. We live next door to a tenanted house. there is very vigorous ivy growing in the tenanted house's garden and the weight of it, has buckled my fence and toppled over the fence post. That fence is mine, so I have contacted the managing agent and asked them to cut the ivy back so I can fix my fence. SEVEN WEEKS later, and they still haven't sent anyone to clear it. I email them on a weekly basis, and have been continually fobbed off. I don't expect them to repair my fence, I just want them to get rid of the ivy. I could ask my solicitor to write to the agent, but what would it actually achieve? I will want to sell and move in the next few months, so don't want any legal matters showing up, BUT I do want the ivy cleared. What can I do?

Spray the ivy on your side with a weed killer. It should die off.

If you're thinking of instructing a solicitor over this instead of cutting it back yourself you must have money to burn.

Could you not just pull it out from your side - presumably your fence is a hole now and their ivy has probably partly fallen into your garden anyway. Just shove it in some black sacks and take it to the tip and be done with it. I would not bother with legal letter. ideally only touch what is on your side.

I have removed the all of ivy from my side, but there is loads of it on their side which is weighing my fence down.

I have removed the all of ivy from my side, but there is loads of it on their side which is weighing my fence down.

Then move it.

I thought I wasn’t allowed to do that though collaborate? It’s a plant that’s in their garden.

I have experience of ivy being left to grow unchecked and appreciate how out of control it becomes.

Presumably it is affecting the whole length of your fence, not just the panel that’s fallen over.

Pretty sure this isn’t legal but if the garden next door is generally unkempt, I would go over and cut the ivy at the base as far as possible and paint any that regrows on your side with neat weed killer.

It can't just be in their garden if it is weighing down your fence. Am I missing something here?

I was imagining it was like mine although my neighbour and I dont'[ mind that some of the fence is down so just leave it wild. In our case a fair bit of "her" ivy has fallen into my side with the bits of fence

I have no idea where the actual ivy originates from, but my fence is bowed and the post broken by the weight of it growing on my neighbour's side of the fence. I keep my side of my fence clear of it. I have a small london garden and one fence panel is a 1/5th of my garden, so having it leaning over by 60 degrees is pretty noticeable.
My original post was asking whether a solicitors letter, would actually be effective in persuading the managing agent to clear the ivy from their tenant's garden. As the ivy is not in my garden, I can't just hop over and clear it myself.

The good news is that 7 weeks after my original request, and after numerous emails and phone calls, their maintenance man is coming to clear the ivy from their property's garden, so I can fix it. If he actually turns up, that is.

You can clear anything that is on your side of the boundary line even if it is on their side of the leaning fence. If the fence panel is leaning over into your garden, any ivy on top of it is in your garden and can be cleared.

contact the landlord. or just cut it.

the agent wont do anything, not gardeners.

I have a similar situation with brambles growing out of next doors tenanted flat into my back yard. Landlord not remotely interested. Tenants are not gardeners and not bothered, so I just climb over and dig the brambles out. Life’s too short.

Yes, sounds like a good plan (although in my case brambles are free food so I encourage mine to grow!)

The agent sent his people round and cleared a massive pile of ivy from the other side of the fence, so all's well that ends well thankfully.