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?

[quote Whyyyyyyyohhhhhwhyyyyyy]@Shehasadiamondinthesky the photo attached IS his garden, there's not even the smallest amount of my garden in that photo [/quote]
Yes I know, I realised that. That's what my neighbours gardens looked like on both sides. It was horrific. And we had rats living in that.

Can't you get a gardener to remove the brambles overhanging your garden and then have a wall built? Wall shouldn't be pushed over by brambles.

The whole thing gets me down, from the eyesore that it is, to wondering what 'lurk beneath', to the amount of money it's going to cost, to the time and effort it's going to take, I've lived with this for 4 years now, nothing gets done from him, it's disheartening knowing you've chopped and chopped but it feels like within weeks there's more to chop at. It shouldn't bother me as much as it does but then I've never really had to deal with an issue like this before, surely the landlord knew that it would quickly grow out of control? I dread to think of what it will look like in another 4 years if he doesn't get it under control now

I should have added I got someone to only dig up the ivy and brambles where the new fence was going to go, they had to dig a trench for it and rip up all the massive ivy roots that were sitting there from next door.
They had to get a mini digger in for the right hand side one because nobody could have dug up that ternch by hand, the roots were as thick as a man's thigh.
It pissed me right off having to spend all that money to sort out the neighbours crap.

If you asked the landlord and they said yes, why not politely follow up with them? Set a date to get it done? Get a quote for clearing it and send that to the landlord?

Who lives on the other side? Might be worth joining forces with them to get the owner to do something?

You could remove the fence between your garden and this part of his garden (if its yours) and then, in 10 years claim adverse possession I'm only half joking.

Otherwise all you can really do is dig down and put in concrete footings and a wall on top to try and prevent the jungle encroaching.

We have a similar (less bad) situation with a field next door and its impossible to keep on top of the weeds and brambles which come into our garden from this field. It used to stress me out but I've come to accept our "wilderness garden" now and I'm much calmer as a result.

We lived next to a disused plot that had been left for many, many years. The hedgehogs loved it. It was full of brambles and other stuff but it never caused any problems in our garden. We had to cut it back occasionally. I’m slightly surprised it is causing you so many issues. They eventually built on it. The new neighbours were lovely and had a very neat lawn but I much preferred the bramble filled mess.

It could be so much worse! Trampoline, noisy bbqs, hot tubs, loud hobbies…

Wow I can see from your photo just how bad it is! Could you pay someone to remove the growth and root from your side?

So has the Landlord said WHY he's fenced it off? (I'm guessing the planning permission suggestion is probably on the money though - in which case you've probably little to work with if he actually wants it to look a state)

Can you speak to the tenants? It's usually the tenants responsibility to keep the garden neat, certainly always been the case when I've rented.

That is bad and I think you can assume he is going for planning. It will be expensive but long term if there is any way at all you can, I would be trying to get a wall built then start planting on your side in readiness for a house being there to give you privacy.

Very different situation but house behind us had massive conifers, much taller than house kind of thing. It was on the market for 3 years in the end. I put several plants in anticipating new people would want the trees down as they did and have had the benefit of what I planted being on the way to providing privacy rather than having to start from scratch.

Throw lots of conkers, sweet chestnuts and acorns over.

A few of them will manage to struggle through the brambles, and in a few years time, there will be decent sized trees.
If you can afford it, throw lots of snowdrop and bluebell bulbs as well, once the trees get going, they'll shade out the brambles and the bulbs will spread.

You could ask if he wants to sell it, and make your garden much larger

We've just bought a house where am old owner had bamboo which has spread to every neighbouring garden. Unfortunately one on the side of us has a large area of wild land abutting us (they have a massive plot which they've just applied to build houses on) and the bamboo has spread there so even if we dig it out it'll come back. In some ways the issue of the weeds, bamboo and sycamores will be done if they build, but until then I'm considering buying a root barrier, which should at least help a little.

What's a bit odd is that it's brambles and not trees.
The brambles are outcrowding any young trees. If that garden had trees screening the sun from the brambles they would die back. If you clear patches of roots and plant a tree, protected with chicken wire or similar to stop rabbits, it will grow in a couple of years, and if there are several of them,be a small wood, in 10 years.
Get some strong weedkiller and use it all along the border in the early spring as soon as the brambles start shooting and have bright green new leaves. It might not kill them first time but will weaken them.
Ash trees grow like mad but will cast a shadow when they grow. Hazel trees are a good bet and grow quickly. Goat willow grows fast, laurel is dense and grows quickly.

As someone who was fortunate enough to grow up with a nature reserve on the other side of the fence, this garden isn't that bad.
Please don't throw weed killer over.
I live on the edge of a National Park and we have many areas like this with lots of people rewilding parts of their property, almost as an extension of farm set aside. Unfortunately more are keeping their gardens tidy with nasty AstroTurf.
As I see it your only option is to attempt to purchase the obviously unwanted land.

I’m with the OP. Neighbour’s shouldn’t be able to do anything on their land which damages the OPs property. I bet you’d all get pissed off if your neighbours built in their gardens and blocked out your light or could see right into your rooms. Do you think the neighbour should have the right to play loud music in their garden all night because it’s their land?

For those suggesting the op buy the land - where I live a piece of land with access to a road & possibility for planning sells for close to a million pounds! If the owner has their eye on developing the land he’s not going to sell it for a few quid.