Changes to your property without consent

[Trixiee]

As I was leaving for a short holiday last week, I said hello to my neighbour's gardener (that's the property to my left hand side). Now I've returned, it looks like he has cut down part of my hedge!

A similar thing happened last year with the property to my right. When looking out of my lounge window one morning, I noticed the tenants changing the fence panels that border our properties! They had not informed me, and neither it seems their landlord.

Has anyone else had changes made to their property without their consent?

On the deeds, which, of any of those boundaries are yours to maintain? And which are theirs? Is the hedge on your land or theirs?

I think we need more information before we can comment Op. Does the hedge belong to you and is it sited on your land?
Did you pay for the fence panels and place them on your land, or do they belong to your neighbour, or are they shared?
Depending on your answers, the neighbours could either be CFs, or well within their rights to alter the boundaries.

When my house was empty between tenants, my new neighbour (Henry the developer), decided to change all my fence panels around so that he had the “nice” side. Given that I had paid for all of the panels and the concrete posts were on my land, I insisted that he returned it back to how I wanted. Thankfully, he did it, but only after he had attempted to try out the grey paint colour on part of a fence panel. I think he was hoping that I would have only noticed after he had flipped the property and sold it on.

The neighbours are allowed to cut any vegetation that overhangs the boundary into their property without your permission.

Who owns the fence?

The hedge is on my land saraclara. I checked it regularly and trimmed it when necessary. Why didn't he speak to me about it? I'm sure he wouldn't have done it if he knew I wasn't going to be away.

Go and speak to him and ask why he’s trimmed your hedge and maybe request he leaves it alone in future. Was it really high or something?
A neighbours hedge is now so wide it comes onto my path. It’s also over 8ft tall. I’m regularly trimming my side and the top that is over on my side of the boundary, but I leave their half of the height alone. It looks ridiculous, but the hedge is ridiculously high and in danger of me not being able to maintain my side, which they never come and offer to do.