Neighbours garden completely neglected and starting to impact on ours.

[Houseplanter]

I realise their garden is no business of ours and they can do as they please, however it is starting to affect ours.

We have 6 foot fences that we paid for, despite it being their side. The last one was falling over and they wouldn't do anything. Since then their garden has been completely neglected and is now overgrown. The shrubs and trees are starting to make the fence lean, they're way above the 6 foot fences and shading our garden. The garden is full of brambles and is way beyond what an average gardener could put right. By next summer I expect the brambles to be level with the top of the fence.

Is there anything we can do to protect our fence and garden? We've asked several times and they say they'll sort it but don't. We frequently cut back and throw things over but we're losing the battle.

https://www.gateshead.gov.uk/article/6550/Overgrown-or-untidy-gardens

the Local Authority can take action

If it gets too bad you could always just spray glyphosate over the fence at night every month or so over the summer. If it really is a untamed wilderness with nothing of value then morally it feels like an ok thing to do.

Councils are unlikely to take action unless it is causing a health hazard I'm afraid.

Councils wont be interested

And your neighbour is under no obligation to put a fence up, its a myth about 'their side/your side' being the ones to put a fence up. You can put a fence up and it becomes your fence of course, but it is their boundary if it says so in the deeds, many deeds do not specify this (ours doesnt).

In terms of the garden, you are allowed to cut anything hanging over your side and throw it back into their garden

Are they not able to maintain their garden or do they choose to have it this way? My friend has an overgrown unkempt garden but she likes it that way and once when she was on holiday the neighbour cut it all back, she was furious.

To get rid of my brambles, I cut them and dab/paint a bit of this on the cut end and that seems to kill them. You could do that on your side to any coming over to hopefully gradually kill them off.

Ugh, we have a similar problem. An overgrown tree blocks a ton of light and overgrown ivy (which is totally blocking one of their bedroom windows) is galloping up our roof. I fantasise about taking a flamethrower to it.

Roundup is your friend here. Don’t be sparing.

The thing is @soupfiend , their trees/shrubs/brambles are therefore damaging our property.. the fence.

The neighbour is lovely, just doesn't do any sort of maintenance whatsoever.. the gutters and roof are as bad.

I have considered pouring weedkiller over in large quantities and I too fantasise about a flame thrower.

Yes and thats the issue you can try to address with them, that the fence is yours, as you provided it and its being damaged. Dont get caught up with 'their side my side', its your fence and therefore needs to be protected

Have you raised it with them?

And although its not your responsbility would they welcome you to go in and cut back on their side?

Go round again and tell them that your fence is severely at risk of being pushed over and you’d hate for it to come to the point that you’re asking them to pay for the repairs so you need to Insist they sort it.

if you don’t want to go down that route I would just insist they let me into their garden to sort it myself.

Please don’t behave like this: it’s a hostile, passive aggressive act. The OP has described the neighbour as “lovely” and this is not the way to behave to lovely people.

Please, OP, discuss with your neighbours what you’d like to be done and how that might be achieved.

And remember for next time that a stitch in time saves nine.

Is it nesting season? My neighbours have asked me a couple times to do my hedge but no gardeners will touch it during nesting season because there are visible nests in there! I’ve assured them it will get done come October but we all have to put up with chaos until then because I’m not about to destroy habitat for a pretty garden.

It’s actually not legal to throw the cuttings back over. You can offer them back to the homeowner but it would be considered fly tipping to just leave the cuttings in their garden. You are allowed to cut any branches that hang over your side though but you are responsible to get rid of the cuttings. I know this because had the same issue

We have discussed it with them several times, and they make all the right noises but still don't do anything.

It's too much of a job for us to do now; we don't even have the right equipment. It used to be a lovely garden with shrubs and trees.. they're all huge now (way above the fence) and the brambles are among them. It going upwards was bad enough; now it's coming outwards it's worse. The brambles are a thick layer id guess a couple of feet deep. The problem with us cutting back is it encourages more growth, as we all know. So it's becoming more of a vicious circle

We have paid for trees in the front to be managed for them.. while ours were being maintained we asked could we include theirs for both our benefit and they were fine with this

Well IMO there are two ways you can deal with it. One is to approach them and negotiate some sort of agreement to cut it back. Responsibility may be on them, but at the end of the day if they don't have the money and are not physically capable but do actually want to do it then the only way it will get done is by either you offering to pay part or all of it or contributing physically in some way to the removal. You may find they are glad of the offer.

The other way is probably to go down the formal route of speaking to a solicitor and asking them whether it is possible to draft some sort of warning of legal action. If you can prove that their neglect is leading to your property being damaged I suspect (but do not know for certain) that you have grounds for taking legal action to get compensation to repair the damage. Sometimes the threat of action is enough to make people do the necessary. But obviously you need to speak to a solicitor about this and also bear in mind when you take the action or threat of it it will almost certainly ruin your relationship with them. A solicitor should be able to advise you on whether or not this is a good idea and whether it is likely to be successful.

Using weedkiller or other toxic chemicals on someone else's property without their permission to me is highly inadvisable and could lead to serious consequences, especially if someone ended up getting poisoned as a result. Think about how you might react if someone threw a load of toxic chemicals over your fence into your garden.

If they were elderly or disabled we would not have let the garden get to this point without offering to help.

They are very fit and keep 2 allotments (oh the irony). Neither work though so I doubt they have money to throw at it.

I don't want to use chemicals (even though if we asked them I really don't think they'd care) as there is wildlife living in there.

I really can't decide if animosity from insisting or living with it is worse

It sounds like the garden is not a high priority for them - we are not very into gardening and although have good intentions never seem to tackle getting more on top of it. If you have the energy you could discuss if they wouldnt mind if you sprayed their brambles and did some pruning or perhaps you could do this together and then have a bbq?

I do appreciate the responses, but I don't think I can describe how bad it is. I'd say 80% of the garden is now impenetrable.. there's a small patch in the middle where the lawn was that has yet to be overtaken.

I'm sure it's a job for professionals now.. and so they've likely turned a blind eye to it.

I suppose we have to decide if we can do the same (and fix any damage ourselves) or try and make them do something and put up with the inevitable bad feeling.

Just seen your post about the allotments- all sounds odd. I think if their plants are affecting the fence you will have to ask again for them to do something or allow you to do so.

I hadn't actually realised how bad some of it is until recently because we can't see the full length from the house because of their trees. I stood on a chair and looked over the fence at the bottom and was really quite taken aback.

Throwing cuttings back over is not legal but it is also counter productive as they will just take root and grow more brambles.

Yeah she has discussed it with her neighbours and nothing is being done and has achieved nothing, So what do you suggest now ? More discussion and same results?

she’s not that lovely if she’s ignoring the op’s concerns.

We have the same problem so I have huge sympathies with you. When we moved into our house the old fence was broken and falling down. Our garden is surrounded by at least 9 other gardens. A number of those neighbours actually collared us to ask if we had plans to re-fence our garden as our fence was impacting their gardens. We did re-fence the following spring. However, a number of the neighbours (some of whom were the ones who actually spoke to us about re-fencing) have let their gardens go to pot. There are brambles growing up and over the fence into our side from quite a few of the gardens. One house has piled a mound of dirt and bikes against our fence causing it to now bow into our garden. One neighbour put a chiminea next to the fence, left it unattended and it has burnt a small hole through to our side after their pampas grass (which was right next to the chiminea and the fence) set alight. One neighbour has attached some kind of decking thing to our fence and now we have huge screws coming through to our side. Honestly, it's so disrespectful and frustrating. We've spoken to the neighbours about these issues, and some have improved the situation (cutting back brambles) but others are just ignoring it or saying they will deal with it but haven't. We won't be replacing fences again anytime soon so if these fences get wrecked they'll have to replace them themselves if they want a secure boundary.

Oh @BobTheBobcatsBob that sounds awful. At least we only have one neighbour who is causing us problems, and despite their clear neglect there isn't any deliberate intent to annoy us.

Could they be doing it for the environment/nature? Just tell them it's great but affecting your fence. "Is it ok if i have access to your garden and go halves to protect the fence? I'll book it in and send you the bill?"