Can we kill ivy in our front garden but growing up neighbour's wall

[Fuckedoffat48b]

We are due to complete today on our first property. We bought off a landlord and there are a number of maintance issues that need to be seen to.

One of these is the ivy that is growing from a bed in our front garden, up the neighbour's wall and over onto our roof. We want to get rid of the ivy before it causes any -more- damage to our roof.

Family have suggested as it is growing from our bed we just kill it i.e saw it at the bottom and wait for it to die. Then inform next door about what we have done. I'm aware we will need to pay someone to come and remove it/clear up the wall when it is dead and am willing to pay for that.

Is this really the best way to do this, or should we ask neighbours first? I'm wary of appearing like I am asking permission though.

@loveka

I claim no expertise on the question of liability for ivy growing up a neighbour's house.

I'm quite willing to believe there's a case on it in English Law. but I have never seen or heard of it. It sounds like you have, so if you'd tell us the name or post a link, I'm sure it will be helpful.

If you have, please do.

The original question was actually to do with etiquette about how to inform neighbours we are going to remove ivy.

The ivy could do damage if it is there, removing it could also cause damage. I am aware of this, and would also like to point out this is an existing maintenance issue on a property I have just bought a couple of hours ago. It isn't my negligence that has caused this.

It is absolutely a truth that yiu cannot legally grow plants onto someone elses property.

I'm a keen reader of Gardenlaw too.

Yes, it's a truth as stated above but in the OP's case they haven't planted any plants onto someone else's property - the plant is based on their property and it's grown over, as plants tend to do.

I think you're getting mixed up with dogs? A dog-owner has a legal responsibility to keep their dog confined on their own land and would have responsibility for any damage they caused if they were allowed to wander into other gardens.

Legally, the neighbours were completely within their rights to cut the ivy back at the point it crossed the boundary, but they obviously chose not to. The OP has absolutely no responsibility to compensate them for any damage or losses caused by a plant they allowed to grow freely on their house.

If you don't believe this, why now post the scenario on GL? I'll keep an eye out for it.

If anybody wanted an update: We have now moved in, and I have spoken to next door neighbour who is very clear he doesn't have a problem with the ivy but he doesn't care what I do with it.

Now I just need to find the saw from in amongst all the boxes….

OP - Good news.

We have ivy in our new house, it is breaking the fence between us and the neighbour due to the weight of it and is also growing up our wall.

I am trying to think of the best way to get rid of it.

It's a bugger to get rid of and such hard work.

In my little patch of a front garden, a garden company removed it and put a membrane over the soil (+ gravel) to stop it coming back. Also got it off the house with minimal remaining markings / 'scarring'. V impressed.

Back garden a different matter though. Did the cutting of stems at the bottom and removed as much of it as I could from the fences (and where it was starting to grow up a tree) - but that's only a temporary solution as it emerges vigorous and triumphant from the soil.

Plus now a neighbour has their own ivy creeping through the fence (all I can is snap it off) - though I wonder if I sprayed stuff on it would it kill the 'branches'?

Ah, yes - ivy Many, many moons ago, I planted an ivy in our teeny back yard. A couple of years ago, DP removed it - and, compared to many, it was relatively small. He used secatuers and a saw and filled many bin bags. He sawed the stump as low as possible - it's next to a tree, so couldn't dig it up - and, thankfully, it's not resprouted. Yes, small new shoots in the garden since, but just keep on top of them as soon as you spot them and you will eradicate them.

Congratulations on your new house, OP, and I'm very glad your neighbour is reasonable.

I just pull it off op and that seems to work the best so long as it hasn't got too thick. Glad you have got the matter resolved without too much trouble although Loveka had us all terrified with the mystery law about painting your neighbour's house following minor vegetative invasion.

Glad you have the ivy situation sorted 👌🏼

On a tangent but similar area, my neighbour has quite an unruly garden... I like mine neat and contained. I am bored of constantly trying to control their clematis and other plants that come creeping over causing damage to my structures and fencing. Would spraying whatever is in my garden with weed killer be an unlawful thing to do?

My NDN have honeysuckle on the fence and it makes me gag , I hate the smell of it . They said just to cut it ,
We have a fruit tree that they didn't want dropping petals then pears on their side so we cut it back before the flowers opened ,where it grew over (we left our side )
I think that's the only thing to do with the clematis , just wade in with secateurs and cut it back.

Seems a shame with flowers but what your NDN grows isn't always what you want yourself !

That’s what I have been doing... but it’s constant and it grows so fast 😩

It’s also all behind my woodshed and over my brick built shed, such a pain in the arse! I’ll have a fairly new baby by the time it starts growing this year... really not looking forward to the continuous maintenance it requires ☹️

Since I last commented I have basically hacked at my ivy. It is off the house and a good deal has been cut along the fence. We filled wheelie bin after wheelie bin of the stuff plus trips to the tip. I will attempt to dig out the roots in early spring. The fence isn't great, it has stopped leaning as much but the weight of the ivy hasn't done it much good. It also had grown behind the fence posts so was pushing out the panels out even more. I will paint it as well and see if that helps, but ultimately I think it will need to be replaced at our cost even though it is the neighbors fence.

The house isn't too bad, there wasn't that much but the one fence is dreadful with the left behind fibres.