What to do about hedge between council property and mine

[thisisnotmyllama]

Can I call the council to cut - or ideally remove and replace with a fence or something - a now approx 10ft high hedge between my neighbour’s (council) back garden and mine (owner occupied former council property)?

It’s really got beyond my ability to keep it trimmed myself and I don’t see why I should have to pay to get it done. It’s definitely ‘hers’ because I’m in the end terrace and the other side of my garden is a wall bordering an alleyway which I have partial responsibility for. I doubt very much that the neighbour actually planted the hedge herself but it’s still in her garden and therefore the council’s responsibility, surely? To make matters worse, an elder tree has seeded itself within the hedge so it’s really more tree than hedge at this point.

Unfortunately the neighbour and I aren’t on speaking terms due to an unrelated historical dispute. I don’t want to worsen the situation or make her think I’m being vindictive about the hedge by calling the council, but I would just like it gone really or at least for them to send someone once a year to keep it trimmed.

Can I do this? Or am I legally responsible for the side that borders my garden? What about the top of the hedge, whose responsibility is that? She trims her side and what she can reach of the top, but I would never have chosen to have such a thing in my garden and I would imagine she’d prefer to have something more manageable as well, as she now has mobility issues and has to get her teenage kids to do it.

TIA

you can complain to the council about hedges, in reality they will probably then send her a letter to make sure she trims her hedge, they won’t send someone round to do it for her or they would have thousands of council tenants gardens to do. The only time the council got involved in DM’s garden was when a large oak tree -there when she moved in-was deemed to be an issue and they removed it. She had only been there 6 months though so definitely wasn’t her tree.
I don’t see a way that it won’t affect neighbourly relations further tbh. I also don’t think you can say it’s definitely hers unless you look on your property deeds though. You might just have to talk to her and see if there is a resolution you can both work out.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council

The council aren't responsible for garden maintenance. It's up to the tenant to do. Most they'll do is as pp said is contact her but even that's unlikely.

My neighbour is a council tenant. Not long moved in and the garden is like a jungle but shes having to sort it herself. The minute the council gave her the keys they passed responsibility for the garden to her

You can trim your side, and any of the top that it's over the boundary between your properties.
In your shoes, I would do that, and then leave it a while to see what happens.
If their side doesn't get but down, that's your time to complain to the council.

Hedges are tenants responsibility to maintain.

She needs to get a gardener to do it if she doesn’t have the skills. 10ft is too high. Needs taking down to 6ft.

You can complain to her landlord and housing officer should write. However it’s not something that will be a priority to be honest.

@Kinneddar

The council aren't responsible for garden maintenance. It's up to the tenant to do. Most they'll do is as pp said is contact her but even that's unlikely.

My neighbour is a council tenant. Not long moved in and the garden is like a jungle but shes having to sort it herself. The minute the council gave her the keys they passed responsibility for the garden to her

I work for a LA. ^ this There is a high hedge law, but it’s difficult to actually follow through with, plus you have to pay a few hundred. What does the hedge consist of? You can’t touch the height (unless you ask).

It’s not about her trimming her side - hers is ok. It’s about the fact that I have to trim the other side despite my not having chosen to have it in my garden. If the council (or a previous tenant maybe) planted it, then don’t they own it? I get that tenants are responsible for garden maintenance, but what about something that’s technically in her garden but encroaches mine? If she was an owner occupier, we’d have to reach an agreement about the hedge eg. if she wanted it there then she would have to cut (or pay someone to cut) my side. So if it’s technically the council’s property then shouldn’t they do the same for me?

The height is just due to rampant growth and isn’t consistent across the whole hedge. I’d say when I moved in it was about 7ft high. Her son has managed to trim part of the highest bit on their side as far as I can tell. But on my side it can’t be reached without standing on top of a shed which isn’t safe, and even then there’s no way you could reach all of it.

I don’t know what actual species of hedge it is. Not privet - not as dense, and with bigger leaves. Complicated by the incursion of the elder tree which is now thoroughly intertwined with the hedge; I’d say it’s about 50% tree at this point, which is obviously adding to the height. I don’t mind the tree per se but it makes trimming the whole thing back even harder.

Honestly.. life is too short. Trim the hedge back and do the top. How many times a year do you have to do it?

Hedges are super important for wildlife habitat. Being high sucks, but ripping it out would suck absolute balls.

You may have to bite the bullet and pay someone to do a thorough job on your side. Once back to 6 foot, it might be easier for you to maintain, I know you shouldn't have to but be pragmatic.

No she’s not obliged to maintain it from your side at all. That’s your responsibility.

I'm afraid you are working on the basis of an incorrect assumption. ANY branches, greenery, bushes etc on your side of the boundary are your responsibility. Regardless of whether the neighbour owns it, rents it or neglects it. You can cut it right up to the boundary on your side. You are also within your rights to put up a fence on your side which would need to be strong enough to withstand the hedge growing against it and you would still need to cut back the 4ft of branches above your 6ft fence. The Council and the tenant are under no legal responsibility to do anything about your side of the hedge. Regardless of whose hedge it is.

As other posters have said, it’s your responsibility to trim your side even if it isn’t your hedge unfortunately. Also, just because you own the other side of your garden doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t own the other side. One of the end terrace houses will have to own both sides if you think about it. If everyone owns the left hand side (or the right) you’ll get to the end terrace and one of them will own both. It might be worth checking your deeds because if it’s yours you can get rid of it.

If it’s not, could you put a sturdy fence up against it on your side? The lack of light might mean it won’t grow much on the fence side.

Are you 100% sure it's not your side?

We are responsible for both sides of our garden even though we are in a semi. Next door is only responsible for one side which doesn't join to anyone else. Check your deeds.

Why don’t you ask if it can be removed entirely? You will need to pay half, if not all costs though. Or ask if the height can be reduced to 6ft or lower, so you can maintain it. Other people’s plants are a pita.
I had a lot of useful help when I posted in the gardening forum.

Ok I accept this, and will check the plans, but if it does turn out to belong to her garden then would the council not consider replacing it with a fence, maybe if she petitions them on the grounds that she’s no longer able to maintain it?

It’s not possible to erect a fence next to it because the back part of it is right against a large metal shed (like almost garage sized) which is concreted into the ground at the end of my garden. My son can just about slip in between the two but in order to do any work, either the shed or the back portion of the hedge would have to come down, and the hedge can only be accessed from her garden at that point.

Thinking about it, the council did come (eventually) and replace the front fence between her front garden and mine, after it blew down in a high wind a couple of autumns ago. She organised that entirely with them and I wasn’t involved at all. So wouldn’t that imply that the equivalent border at the back also belongs to her side?

I guess another way of asking the question is: IF (and it’s a big ‘if’) I was able to speak with her amicably about it and we both agreed that the hedge is a huge PITA for both of us and we’d much rather see it gone, would the council (again assuming it belongs to her side) be able to stop us if we agreed to split the costs of getting it taken down and replaced by a fence? Or could she ask the council to cover her half of those costs, on the basis that she has a disability and can’t personally maintain the hedge any more?

Sorry to the person who said about wildlife - I hear you, but this isn’t a rural hedgerow, it’s a suburban hedge which is negatively impacting the lives of several people with long term health conditions. There is plenty of other biodiversity around here as the houses border a nature reserve at the back (which is where the flipping elder tree has seeded from).

How is it negatively impacting your life to the point you need it removed, though? If it's just that you don't like it, that's not exactly a negative impact. Sounds like the hedge has been there a while. If it's that the hedge is not kept tidy, that's a neighbour issue, not a hedge issue. To get the council to do anything about it, you'd have to have a better reason that untidiness surely? I would just get on with having it trimmed myself, and if the neighbour complains say oops, didn't realise it was yours. Here are the trimmings, and you owe me £x. Easiest solution if you're not on speaking terms.

Yup - I'm afraid you're working from the incorrect assumption that if you both owned and her hedge impacted you, she would have to be responsible for cutting your side - she wouldn't.

My (owned) neighbours have a similar fence that massively impacts my garden. It tough - I have to deal with it. I either have to pay a gardener £60 once a year to trim my side back to the fence line, or do it myself with secateurs, which took 12 bin bags of cuttings and two trips to the dump for my this year. It's a pain, but they're under no obligation to get rid of it just because I don't like it.

The council won't cover the costs of removing it if she can't manage the upkeep, she has to incur those costs herself, so if you can't agree to go 50/50 each, then you're stuck

IF you both agree to share the costs of getting it removed and replaced with a fence then she would have to get permission in writing from the council to do so .

But that’s going to be expensive and I’d be surprised if she agrees.

The council will not pay for it, its her responsibility . She can pay a gardener or get her kids to do it. Or she could apply for a transfer to a property with a garden she can maintain / no garden.

Or just get permission from your neighbour for a gardener to do it. Or you do it yourself. Or your teenagers.

I cut my own hedge which is 9 ft high - I use a ladder.

@RincewindsHat

How is it negatively impacting your life to the point you need it removed, though? If it's just that you don't like it, that's not exactly a negative impact. Sounds like the hedge has been there a while. If it's that the hedge is not kept tidy, that's a neighbour issue, not a hedge issue. To get the council to do anything about it, you'd have to have a better reason that untidiness surely? I would just get on with having it trimmed myself, and if the neighbour complains say oops, didn't realise it was yours. Here are the trimmings, and you owe me £x. Easiest solution if you're not on speaking terms.

Because I too have mobility issues which mean that I can’t climb up to cut the high part. This wasn’t the case when I moved in (for me or for her) and without going massively into the long backstory, I had never planned to live here for more than about three years. Now that it’s going to be a longer term issue, and given that neither of us can now cut it adequately ourselves, I’d have assumed it would be in both our interests to get rid of it and replace it with a more manageable solution. Especially as she has what looks like a similar issue with the hedge on the other side of her garden.

I’m happy to pay half for this but it doesn’t feel fair that I should have to pay the entire cost, unless it belongs 100% to me obviously. So I thought that the council, as the other ‘property owner’ concerned, ought to be responsible for the other half at least. But if as people are saying, the garden is the tenant’s responsibility in council properties, presumably at that tenant’s own expense, then I guess not.

So does this mean that if we can agree to remove it and split the costs (or if she doesn’t agree to pay but I decide to just do it anyway), we don’t have to inform the council or ask their permission? I just don’t understand why they’d accept responsibility for the front fence, but wash their hands entirely of the back one.

@IM0GEN

IF you both agree to share the costs of getting it removed and replaced with a fence then she would have to get permission in writing from the council to do so .

But that’s going to be expensive and I’d be surprised if she agrees.

The council will not pay for it, its her responsibility . She can pay a gardener or get her kids to do it. Or she could apply for a transfer to a property with a garden she can maintain / no garden.

Or just get permission from your neighbour for a gardener to do it. Or you do it yourself. Or your teenagers.

I cut my own hedge which is 9 ft high - I use a ladder.

Oops, sorry, cross-posted with you. Unfortunately I can no longer climb a high ladder and my DS is too young to do this job. The neighbour on the other side offered to do it for me but I don’t think it’s safe so would rather pay someone as at least they’d be insured.

Wouldn’t the council be more likely to grant permission to replace it if she told them her neighbour was complaining about it? Which I’m not, exactly - I don’t have any issue with how she maintains her side. But if we both wanted it gone and we could agree, then I’d be happy for her to cast me in the role of complaining neighbour when speaking to the council, if it got them to do something!

I think it’s quite likely that the council will grant her permission to replace it with a suitable fence. But they won’t pay for it.

You can complain to your neighbour all you like. But it won’t make the council pay for it. It’s probably in her tenancy agreement that she has to maintain the garden.

You can complain to the council if you like but they will just tell your neighbour that you are complaining about her.

I’m afraid it’s her job to maintain her hedge and your job to maintain your side ( if you want to). Or pay someone to do it.

What would you do if the neighbour was an owner occupier as well? Who do you think would pay for your proposed hedge removal and fence then ?

I’m afraid that maintenance is just one of the extra costs that come with owning your own house with a garden.

I would speak to your neighbour and ask what height she would like it to be- hopefully much lower!

Pay for a professional to cut it back to the boundary your side and lower it.

Maintaining it thereafter will be much easier.

I’d grant permission for removal but on understanding that tenant funds it and maintains Fence on going.