General Chat

I think I will contact our local council and see what advice they can offer. Hopefully it can be resolved amicably. Many thanks for all your replies, very much appreciated. Jay

Is there a local bye law regarding the height of boundary hedges/fences. it might be worth asking the council. Ann Glos

The local authority can - and do - intervene in cases like this. talk to them and explain the situation, they will then discuss the siuation with your neighbour.

The thing is we wouldn't need to pay someone to do it as we could manage a 6' height fairly easily. It is the safety aspect we are most concerned about - working from the top of the stepladders to cut a 9' hedge is getting really dangerous. (we are both owner occupiers)

Do you both own your properties, if not and they are local authority you could consult the area office, they just might send someone round to trim it for you. xxhugxx

If its as tall as that, it would probably need doing every year, which is something to think about before calling in a professional. Jay

would she go halves if you got a professional in to do it? (for the whole hedge) Jenx

If we didn't trim the hedge it would soon become unsightly and, if we left the top, it would just get too high to even reach from the ladders. When the neighbour's husband was alive he occasionally trimmed the top on our side but, to be honest, it looked like a donkey's hind leg when he'd finished ! Obviously we'd like to avoid a dispute but it's difficult when one side is being unreasonable. Even if the top was lowered by 3' the hedge would still be around 6' high - an adequate screen for both sides, in my view.

I thought by law, you could 'trim' what actually overhangs your property, as long as you deposit the 'trimmings' (branches in this case) with the rightful owner, i.e you can hack off at your side from a managable height, as long as you throw the offcuts over the hedge, or place them on their drive - otherwise it is theft. jay

I googled this! Hedges and hedge cutting: A boundary hedge is usually the joint responsibility of both neighbours. Both must agree on major work, including removal, coppicing or laying. In theory, you need your neighbours agreement even before trimming the hedge. If the hedge is just inside your neighbours garden, they own it; you only have the right to trim any part that encroaches over your boundary line. Your neighbour should ask for your permission for access to trim the hedge on your property. Regardless of ownership, no-one can trim or cut a hedge if the action damages active birds nests, and hence violates the Wildlife and Countryside Act. If tall hedges or trees put your garden in the shade, you can cut off branches that overhang your boundary. You can also prune back roots that that invade your property, even if this is detrimental to the plant. You dont have the right to cut down vegetation on your neighbours property, or apply weedkiller to destroy the plants.

How long can you live with it looking uneven from your side? if you cease trimming it, what would happen?

There's an evergreen boundary hedge at the front of our property which divides our neighbour's garden from our drive. Although the roots are on our neighbour's side the growth encroaches across our drive so we usually trim it back 3 or 4 times a year. For the past 10 years we've also kept the top trimmed on our side which the neighbour has never objected to. However the hedge is now so high that it can only be cut from the top of a 6' stepladder so we asked our neighbour if she would agree to taking about 2-3' off the height to make it more manageable. Unfortunately she has flatly refused, saying that she can manage the height on her side so we should be able to do the same. She seems to have forgotten that she is at least 25 years younger than we are ! I'm not sure who to turn to for advice with this. The hedge doesn't really affect the light to our property, it's more a health and safety concern - i.e. we're getting too old to be balancing on the top of stepladders !