Neighbours messy jungle of a garden what can I do?

[Whyyyyyyyohhhhhwhyyyyyy]

Without being to outing, I live next door to a privately owned house which is rented out in the private sector, the landlord has put a fence 1/4 of the way down his garden blocking off the remainder 3/4 (our gardens are HUGE) Now this wouldn't be a problem if for the last 4 years he hadn't left the blocked off side become what can only be described as a jungle, brambles/weeds/bushes have all taken over and are now spilling into my garden, I cannot do any work in my own garden until his is sorted out because I need fences and no one can put a fence along my boundary line because of said jungle taking over and setting roots into and over my boundary line, it is becoming more than just a jungle as God knows what has made its home in the mess, and I fear it won't be long now until whatever pest (mice/rats etc) start to come onto my land/infest my property, the landlord and the estate agent have both been made aware of it and a year on NOTHING has been done, in that year it has grown even more out of control, I've spoken to environmental health and they've told me because its privately owned they can't do anything (I'm pretty sure that's to fob me off). The state of it is negatively affecting my mental health as I can't do anything to my own garden whilst his is in the state it is for the reasons mentioned above.

What can I do?

I'm pretty sure that local authorities have powers to take enforcement action over land/property in disrepair. I would suggest contacting your local housing department and ask for advice. There is usually an enforcement team that will make visits and can serve notices to deal with this kind of thing.

You have my sympathy. Nobody wants to live next door to that!

More information here about what action you can take....
www.problemneighbours.co.uk/overgrown-messy-gardens.html

To be honest if it’s affecting you that badly you are the problem, not the garden.

That said I would ask the owner for permission to glyphos a few meters inside their boundary and brushcut it before putting the fence up. It will take an afternoon at worst (even with your stature), cost very little, and sort things out for a good while. If you put lifting panels in and the owner is happy you could repeat the process every year if you want.

So it sounds like you need to contact Environmental health rather than the housing dept at your local council.

I'd like to add I was using my height as a visual for how tall the vegetation has been allowed to grow.

I'm looking into industrial strength weed killer as we speak.

Is there access to this end of the garden by a road? I would guess that in a couple of years he’ll be putting in planning to build a house there. It seems to be a tactic where I live, split the long garden, let half of it become a complete wreck & then get planning to clear it & build on it (planning you wouldn’t expect them to get normally)

Burn it

I joke of course maybe but I would take a bunch of photos, include the damage to your fence and send it to the council and to the letting agent. You could tell the agent you will be taking them to court to claim for the costs of the work you would have to do to get it under control and see if that does anything.

Have you spoken to the current tenants to ask what they think? Surely it impacts on their part of the garden too?

Oh dear OP, it looks awful. I can completely understand why you feel overwhelmed. I would approach the environmental health department.

Get some industrial strength weedkiller. Given the state of it, no one cares and they probably won't even notice.

Also pursue the action you can take on such 'gardens'. All the fluffy talk of rewilding and natural habitats is missing the problem. Even natural habitats need managing.
Sympathies.

There isn't anything you can do. In my last house I lived next door to a complete single man SLOB not just on one side of my house but both sides, the weeds, ivy and bindweed eventually pushed down the fences on both sides.
I got someone in to dig up the ivy roots because I couldn't manage it and put up two very expensive very solid fences both sides with double boards dug into the ground. This kept most of their crap out and every 6 months I'd cut the overhanging branches down.
My garden looked lovely then unfortunately I had to move.
Sadly there are no laws preventing people letting their gardens go wild. This photo is of the new fence just before I did all the planting.

You can just about see the jungle on his side.

@nancy75 yes there is, and that's my bigger worry because if he built another house there it would overlook my property, but saying that I'm not sure how he could get permission to build a new home on there as it would take up the entire amount of the garden that's been left to ruin, and I think the road it ajoins (and especially myself) will be putting in complaints to stop it happening. It would make sense as to why he's hiked the monthly rent to that of a bigger sized house.

@Shehasadiamondinthesky the photo attached IS his garden, there's not even the smallest amount of my garden in that photo

Phone EH back, it is in their remit and they can do things.

[quote Whyyyyyyyohhhhhwhyyyyyy]@nancy75 yes there is, and that's my bigger worry because if he built another house there it would overlook my property, but saying that I'm not sure how he could get permission to build a new home on there as it would take up the entire amount of the garden that's been left to ruin, and I think the road it ajoins (and especially myself) will be putting in complaints to stop it happening. It would make sense as to why he's hiked the monthly rent to that of a bigger sized house.[/quote]
He thinks you’ll be so happy to get rid of the jungle you won’t contest him building on the land

@PissyMum your having a laugh aren't you?? Go live in a city 😂 for all you know luv I could well live in a city already!!

The planets fucked because i don't want to deal with a jungle garden next door? OK luv il remember that whilst your driving around in your fossil fuel consuming car, jetting around the world, buying non reusable plastics and anything else you personally do to fuck with the earth!! Don't be so sanctimonious when you aren't perfect yourself!

@hellsbells99

Phone environmental health and say there are rats there

Are there?

Yes, absolutely it’s partly due to attitudes like yours. You’re unable to cope with someone who hasn’t done anything with their garden for a few years. You can cut it back but you don’t want to. You think bramble bushes are eyesores but would probably have zero complaints if it was patiod or covered in artificial grass. Personally I’d much prefer to see brambles.

@nancy75 you could well be right, but I'd object to a new house as well, he inherited the house and it used to have a garden that was absolutely beautiful and envied now it's a far removed from what it once was :(

Cut back to your own boundary and out of a fence.
My parents deliberately leave a section of their large garden untouched and they have dozens of creatures in residence.

Holy shit that's bad, I wouldn't be happy with that coming over into my garden. Unfortunately I don't live in the UK so not sure legally what you can do. I know here in Ireland if someone's garden hangs into yours, you cut it back yourself and throw the crap into their garden. On one side of me we had to cut back very large bushes, they were actually crumbling the wall between us with the weight. I don't know what machine dh use, it was like an angle grinder and he cut out everything on our side, there was 3 of those large skip bags that dh filled and he put them on their driveway. Now I get your anger and fear of what is in there, fuck, there was no way I was doing anything, I hate crawlies and vermin. Do you know anyone who could tackle it? Sometimes you're better off just doing it yourself because garden people would charge a fortune. You could always then put up a new fence a few cms away from the old one.

@PissyMum who said I haven't been hacking at it because in my previous posts I've stated I've hacked and hacked at it.

Don't come calling me names when you yourself are contributing to the demise of the planet..

Attitudes like mine? Oh your so far removed from reality it's painful.

Have a nice day I won't be replying to you again..

Absolutely do not trespass into the neighbouring property by cutting a metre into their side without permission.

You said you’d been hacking at what had come over your side, I suggested doing it a couple of feet over his boundary. If he doesn’t care, and you have no fence anyway, no one is going to stop you. There’s also nothing to stop you digging out the tree roots unless the tree has a TPO.