Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Boundary hedge

39 replies

MikeUniformMike · 13/10/2019 20:01

NDN has cut down the hedge between our gardens and is telling me I need to put up a fence.
I don't know whose boundary it is but I think it was his hedge.
I have no privacy.
What do I do?

My house number follows his (e.g. his is 15 and mine is 17)

OP posts:
Original poster
MikeUniformMike · 13/10/2019 20:03

He's saying that the council said his was between no, 13 and no. 15, but it wouldn't be the council would it.
Is he being a CF?

OP posts:
johnd2 · 13/10/2019 20:05

Well you don't have to have anything at all, and neither of you have any obligation to put up a fence. Unless you're the original owners of the house in which case check the deeds. But if you keep a dog or anything you'd have to prevent them damaging next doors garden otherwise you'd have to pay for repairs.
Seems a bit odd to chop a hedge and tell the other person to fence it though, maybe hoping for saving money.

ivykaty44 · 13/10/2019 20:08

It may be your boundary - it maybe his boundary, but whoever’s boundary it is has to put up a fence. There is no requirement to put up a fence on a boundary line.

It’s winter so wait till spring and decide then.

Do you own or rent?

LIZS · 13/10/2019 20:14

Your title deeds might indicate this or vendors' enquiries form from solicitor if you purchased it. You could download yours and theirs from Land Registry. Numbering means nothing.

cometothinkofit · 13/10/2019 20:14

You could always plant another hedge, it would probably work out cheaper than a fence.

Original poster
MikeUniformMike · 13/10/2019 20:14

Own. Mine is mortgaged so I don't have the deeds at hand.
He has asked me in the past to cut my hedge - the same hedge, but today he was saying he planted it. I'm tempted to but a bamboo hedge in.
I normally get on ok with them but I didn't expect to come home from the shops and find 3/4 of the hedge gone.
They have had relatives staying there for ages and nobody did maintenance.

OP posts:
Original poster
MikeUniformMike · 13/10/2019 20:18

I'm not that bothered but it is loss of privacy. It's the fence on the left, and I always thought that the one between me and no 19 was mine.

OP posts:
Windygate · 13/10/2019 20:28

Pop on to the land registry site and invest less than £5 in a copy of your deeds. The whole left/right thing is a fallacy. Either your neighbour has cut down his own hedge and can put up a fence if he wishes or he has criminally damaged your hedge.

Yubaba · 13/10/2019 20:32

Your boundary might not be marked on your deeds.
Mine aren’t and neither are my neighbours, my house was in the same family since 1934 and was never registered with the land registry (it was done when we bought it in 2011)

RandomMess · 13/10/2019 20:42

I would simply tell him "I don't want a fence, but if you do obviously you can put one on your side of the boundary"

He's an idiot!

You do need to establish to boundary line so he doesn't stealth steal some of your garden though.

filka · 13/10/2019 20:46

Are you still renting from the council, or have you bought ex-council houses?

if you've bought then you need to look at your title deeds, they will show the line of the fence and should have a little tick mark on one side that indicates who is responsible for the fence. It doesn't necessarily run with the house numbers.

If you are still renting from the council, isn't it their problem as the landlord?

You also need to consider where is the boundary line between the houses.

  • If the hedge was right on the boundary and the fencing responsibility is yours, then he has damaged your property and you could (try to) claim for the cost of the new fence from him.
  • If the hedge was clearly on his side of the boundary, that's probably why he cut it down, and he's entitled to do so.

But to do that without any discussion, definitely CF

ivykaty44 · 13/10/2019 20:48

www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/frontpage.html

This website is really good

It advises that hedges shouldn’t be planted on the boundary but a set distance into the garden of whoever plants the hedge

CoolcoolcoolcoolcoolNoDoubt · 13/10/2019 20:50

That’s a good point - it either belongs to him, or if it does belong to you, he’s surely committed damage to your property!!

johnd2 · 13/10/2019 20:58

The marks on the title deeds are just to transfer the ownership of the original fences, and may be to oblige the original owner to maintain those fences. However after all these years it would be anyone's guess who owns the fence or other boundary feature, and the person who lives there has no obligation on either side to actually put up a fence if there isn't one. Look up the difference between positive and negative covenants.
Only problem you might have would be damage caused to others property, but by not having a fence you're neatly sidestepping any chance of your fence damaging their property.

Lunafortheloveogod · 13/10/2019 21:11

Check deeds? Ask number 19 if they know too?

Technically you don’t need to put a fence up and you can simply tell him “we thought the hedge was fine, if you hadn’t removed it the gardens would be divided/secure/private. We aren’t putting a fence up but if you want one you can put one up yourself”

Obviously if the hedge was yours you could go for criminal damages but I’m not sure if that’d be an issue (neighbour dispute) when selling?

Itsarainyday555 · 13/10/2019 21:41

He's cut it now,so even if it was yours, realistically getting excited about criminal damage isn't going to get you very far. Unless there is a covenant in your deeds requiring you to maintain a boundary fence you don't have to. Stick some stakes in to maintain the boundary line and take your time considering what you want to do. I would call his bluff and say he can put one up if he likes. Remember though that thing kind of person often isn't rational so it might be best to put up a whacking 6ft fence and forget about him.

Original poster
MikeUniformMike · 14/10/2019 07:18

Thanks for the replies. I will ask no. 13 if they put up the fence between them and no 15.

It is not a council property and AFAIK never has been. I referred to the council because he said he had checked with the council about whose boundary it was.

OP posts:
RandomMess · 14/10/2019 08:09

If you legally have to install a fence then that would be in your deeds! It would be very rare in anything but a fairly new property to have that stipulated.

Maintaining the boundary just means have it marked out, you could put in some canes and string to do that...

Hoppinggreen · 14/10/2019 08:16

The council will have no idea who’s boundary it is
We have been trying to find out which fence is ours for ages now, it didn’t show on the land registry and even the original builders couldn’t help.

Original poster
MikeUniformMike · 14/10/2019 13:26

The hedge was leylandii but trimmed to about 6 ft. They have left the trunks ranging from about a few inches to a few feet. The roots are still there.

Any suggestions of how I could put up a temporary barrier between the gardens, please?

OP posts:
AmIAWeed · 14/10/2019 13:57

Cheapest option I found was plastic stakes used for electrical tape around horse fields. Stab those in at intervals with tape across to mark the boundary like these: www.electric-fence.co.uk/20x-voss-farming-farm-105-electric-fence-post-105-cm-8-lugs-green.html

I'd be tempted to keep it pretty ugly and cheap (especially as its winter and you wont be using the garden much) to call their bluff and buy you time to work out what you want to do

Original poster
MikeUniformMike · 14/10/2019 14:58

Thanks. A bit too pricy. I have some of those hooks that you hang little laterns from. That and some netting might do as something temporary but what they have done looks a complete mess.

OP posts:
RandomMess · 14/10/2019 15:01

At the moment you don't even know where the legal boundary is do you?

If those stumps turns out to be the remains of your hedge I would be billing them for the costs of professional removal and replacement and pursue it through small claims to get money up front!

Original poster
MikeUniformMike · 14/10/2019 15:33

I can work out where the boundary is. It's a long straight garden . The trunks are in that line, planted on their side but have grown wider so would make putting up a fence on the boundary difficult.

OP posts:
RandomMess · 14/10/2019 15:58

Well they will have to remove them if they want a fence on the boundary then...

They haven't thought this through at all have they!

Confused