Can I remove this hedge?

[VoleThenFerret]

I rent a Housing Association flat. It is a fairly big estate but only a few buildings are Housing Association. The rest of the estate is managed by a private company.

There is a boundary hedge between our block of flats and the car park. The car park is managed by the private company. They say they are not responsible for the hedge. The housing association also says it is not responsible for the hedge. As a result nobody has done anything with it in five years. It is an eyesore, it has grown over the parking spaces and in the summer there are a lot of wasps' nests. It also just gets in the way in that you have to walk around the thing when you go in and out of the building.

Given that no one apparently owns it or wants it, could I just pay a gardener to come and remove it? I know I could pay for it to be cut but I'd then need to keep doing that.

I would tell the housing association and the management company what I am going to do, obviously, but if it's not theirs they can't object. If it is theirs (whosever it is), they can sort out the maintenance.

Wow. Nobody wants to talk about my problematic hedge.

What about if I call it a bush? As in : should I remove this bush?

Bird Nesting season now so you can’t legally remove it.
Wasps don’t normally nest in hedges, so I am confused by this . Surely the best thing would be to simply prune it back a bit at the end of the Summer ?

Hedges are vital for wildlife so just cut it back. Only needs doing every 2yrs so it's not that arduous.

Also as pp says, hedge cutting season is over as birds are beginning to nest.

Report it to the council - they can enforce trimming of overgrown hedges/bushes

I bet if you said that you’re going to remove a hedge that no one admits liability… they’d suddenly become responsible

Then you can tell them to cut it back

I'm not going to cut it myself! 😂 I don't have a garden or any space to keep gardening tools. And it's definitely not my hedge.

@ivykaty44 that's kind of what I'm thinking.

Your title should have been...
Help needed with my big bush..
Lots of answers would have come your way!

Lol 🤣

Leave well alone for now. Get it trimmed in September and enjoy the fact that the birds will continue to benefit from it. Hedgerows are a dwindling habitat so it would be great if you can look after it.

I don't want to look after it! It's not mine. It's just in my way and in summer it has loads of wasps that come into my apartment. My rent includes a service charge for gardening but apparently that doesn't cover this hedge.

I've certainly had a wasp's nest in the hedge in my garden. It was a facinating thing and we took it apart after they left, however we didn't enjoy the wasps flying in and out all summer, as they built it on a bit close to a junction of a couple of paths.
But yes it is probably too late to have it cut back this year.

Exactly, it gets like running the gauntlet with all these wasps at you as you go in and out. And it's not even my hedge. Apparently it's nobody's hedge.

I agree with cutting it back - email both the HA and private company and advise them that you will be cutting it down after nesting season unless you receive confirmation that the hedge belongs to them. If that’s the case then you know who to take it up with, and it gives them plenty of time to look into ownership.

I am not going to cut it myself as i do not have the tools, time, ability or garden waste bin. Paying someone to remove it costs about as much as paying someone to cut it and then it's done.

Sorry, when I said you would cutting it down I meant you will be arranging for it to be cut down.

What a shame.

Oh ok. Trouble is that whoever it is owns it would probably be quite happy for me to do that given they've already shirked their responsibility for some time. And that could go on forever. I've looked into costs and it's not much more to get it removed than it is to get it cut which is a one time rather than multiple ongoing cost. So this way I can hopefully force their hands and if they do call my bluff I'll just go right ahead and get rid of the the bloody thing. And yeah wildlife yadda yadda but I haven't created this situation. Somebody is responsible for it, they're not stepping up and they don't have to live with loads of wasps for six months a year. We don't have much green space here, just a tiny patch of grass but we can't use it because there's so many wasps around, it is quite miserable.

And yeah wildlife yadda yadda

Potentially killing baby birds in their nests... Nice attitude!

You should have got it done over winter if you were that upset about wasps, you've left it too late now

Nesting birds are protected by law so you'd do well to note that OP.

I shouldn't have got anything done over winter because it's not my hedge!

If you have no intention of doing anything with it why start a thread titled 'can I remove this hedge'?

I don't want to do anything with it but I'll get it removed it no one else shifts themselves. Just don't want to get done for criminal damage or whatever is all. Wondering how likely that would be.

If it’s not your hedge, you have no right to touch it save to trim it if encroaches on your property.

Also it is nesting season and it is an offence to deliberately disturb birds’ nests whilst in use and/or their eggs.

@titchy

If you have no intention of doing anything with it why start a thread titled 'can I remove this hedge'?

The thread is in 'legal' so presumably the OP is asking the question to find out the potential legal position of whether or not the hedge could be removed, bearing in mind that nobody else will accept responsibility for its maintenance.

Exactly @Fernandina. Apparently it doesn't belong to anyone.

I don't think there's any birds' nests there either rn as it goes. Presumably the entire country doesn't grind to a halt, hedge-wise, for six months a year anyway.