House Boundaries - need a bit of advice please..............

[looneytune]

We moved house 5 months ago and are very happy with our new neighbours but are a little unhappy about what one of them has done.

The right hand side of our back garden is hedging and when we moved, you couldn't see anything at all beyond our own garden. It was LOVELY and secluded and this is what we wanted.

Well, yesterday they got someone to trim their hedges (or should I say hack to death!!) and we can now see all of their garden so they'll be able to see ours. Some people may think what's the problem? but we really like our privacy. Not only can we see all their garden and now also the people who live behind too, but the actual job done on the hedges is TERRIBLE!!!! It's not straight, big clumps in the middle sticking out and of course, left overs all over the edge of our garden etc.

Questions:

a) are we allowed to trim the tops a little to tidy them up a bit - it's ruined the look of our garden?

b) are we allowed to plant anything in our own garden that may be taller than their hedges to give us our privacy back?

note - i've had a good look and there is chicken wire between our houses and the hedges are in THEIR garden

One thing that worries me is that there are gaps in the chicken wire and I'm a childminder so need to be totally sectioned off. Before the hedging was hacked to death, there were no gaps so it was fine.

Any advice on where we stand would be great, thanks.

yes you can put a fence or hedge in your garden

other options would be a pergola and grow vines or hops or clematis and roses over if the rear of it was lower than the front then this gives a good degree of prvacy quickly to you

alternatively large shrubs like malow grow quickly or small trees like ronia, mountain ash, acer, or birch can be coppiced for a nice effect

robinia

afaik you can trim anything that crosses your side of the boundary but by the sounds of it this hedge doesn't. Whose boundary fence is it ? You can fence or plant your side of the chicken wire one up to a certain height (max. 2m I think but your title deeds may detail less) and just let them know out of courtesy what you are doing as you need additional security, or if the boundary is yours to maintain you coudl replace the wire one. Remember the hedge will grow back though and they often look awful when first cut!

Thanks so much for the advice! Think we'll put fence panels up and that should solve the problem!n Feel better now I know we can do something about this so thanks

You can certainly put up fence panels, which might be sensible given your occupation and is a good reason if your neighbours ask why you are doing it. However, hedges tend to grow pretty quickly and you may find that your problem resolves itself before your fence panels have hit your bank balance.

Thanks Freckle, my dad said the same about the hedges but as it's only 2/3 small fence panels that are needed (as part of the boundary is their extention, then a fence panel), I think we'll do that anyway