My hedge is destroyed

Theresa7

I have a personality disorder and find your comment very hurtful, just because he does something he shouldn't you should not assume anything about his mental health.
Btw, I would never damage anybody's property

I also find all the comments blaming “mental issues” to be off.

I’m sorry that you’ve been hurt by people’s thoughtless blaming

The house next door to us is on a corner. It had been allowed to fall into a state of neglect and disrepair and the garden is a wilderness (which I quite like as it is full of wildlife). However the hedges and shrubs at the front are totally and absolutely overgrown , right across the pavement and both sides of the corner. The property has been bought and the new owners are having the house completely gutted and renovated but have done nothing with the hedges. Most of the workmen speak no or little English and we rarely see the new owner. I am a total coward and hate any form of confrontation or ill will so I intend to take the cowards way out and post a letter from "a concerned local resident and dog walker" ( we are very close to a park and lots of dog walkers go past) asking him , very politely, to arrange to have the hedges cut back. Another close neighbour is a landscape gardener and could do it in a few minutes. But I would never, ever dream of doing it myself!

*send not sent

I don't know if he can legally just cut the trees/shrubs down but I do know he cannot just dump the off cuts on your path. Years ago it was a case of you could cut overhanging branches but you had to return them to the tree owner. This changed a while back & you can cut a neighbours overhanging branches but you must ask i they want the branches & if they don't then you must dispose of them. What this man has done is classed as fly tipping. I imagine he also trespassed in order to do this. Contact the council and sent pictures of what he has done.

Definitely not normal. Many years ago this happened to me from a new neighbour.
It's definitely criminal damage. I remember how I had to stop my tears, especially at the quince Bush I'd been growing for years!
Always gave the quince fruit to my sis who was into jam making at the time!

I literally never acknowledged him again, not a nod, not a word. I just thought what a cheeky idiot.
But I've never forgotten!

Next door did something similar when they moved in ten years ago. We have lived here 27 years and the previous occupants had some conifers which were over 30 feet high. On the day he moved in he cut them all down to the ground then dug the stumps out, which was ok because they were too big anyway. However what was not ok was him then trying to cut our Laurel hedge at the top of our garden because HE wanted it open plan. I told him to leave it alone because it didn't belong to him and it gave us some privacy (it's only 5 foot high). He did but now when he mows his lawn, every now and then he will trim them without asking so they don't scratch his car (fair enough), as long as he doesn't keep trying to cut the height any lower.

I think he was very wrong to not point out the problem to you. Definitely.
BUT I also think that you cannot decide how much is "enough" pavement.

I know this from my own council who had a complaint about my hedge from a neighbour. The neighbour never spoke to me about it and there was still enough room for at least three adults to walk side by side. It's actually a very wide pavement so I had thought nothing of it. But, technically my land ends at the pavement. If I want bushy hedges I was told to move them further back onto my land so that the furthest branches are within my boundary.

I have cut mine hard back now. I keep it this way. I don't like it so much but now a double buggy, a motorised wheelchair and a single adult can all fit down easily. The fact that councils don't always enforce the boundaries doesn't make it right for people like me to take advantage of it. Unfortunately.

Oh dear !
As he's renting he might not stay long ? Nothing much you can do without further upset , so just go out and tidy up the bad job as much as is possible then maintain it so he won't do it again . [flowers ]

biba70, we never see him to ask as he is rarely here otherwise we would.

Llamedoes 13- why on earth don't you just ask him? Why do people not talk/communicate and wait for things to get out of hand- I can never understand.

I totally agree alexa Good idea keep away from neighbour disagreements that can make life not worth living

I think it would smooth things over if you dropped a note through his letter box "Sorry about the hedge I shall keep it trimmed better in future."

Craftyone - I think your response is way off, you seem to have misunderstood Cava's post.
Cava - Yes, most definitely speak to your local PCSO about this and ask that a record be kept in case of any further problems with this man. You cannot go interferring with other peoples property and causing damage to same and expect them to be grateful. You mention you live in a cul de sac so what is his problem. Its not a main road with articulated waggons hurtling past. He should have spoken to you in the first instance when he would have found out that the matter was in hand - end of.
He sounds an arrogant person who will attempt to walk all over you (bully) and anyone else given half the chance. He needs the error of his ways pointing out and a lesson in getting along with the neighbours. I suspect he wont take it from you but he would have to listen to a non aggressive 'friendly' word from a PCSO.
I used to live next door to someone very similar, upon returning home from work one day I found he had dug up a length of my low & neat hedge than ran between the front of our properties in order to fill in the gaps of his own hedge to the front of his property. I was dumbfounded. He boasted hed done it to me too. When I asked him what on earth he thought he was playing at he couldnt see he had done anything wrong. I had the rest of my hedge removed and replaced with a low, tasteful wooden fence which his son proceeded to kick to pieces. His wife was mortified, he was just plain arrogant. That was the start of a whole string of awful anti neighbourly behaviour from him.
If you can nip it in the bud now, he needs to be told what is and what is not acceptable.

my last message was meant for Lullydully

I have a personality disorder and find your comment very hurtful, just because he does something he shouldn't you should not assume anything about his mental health.
Btw, I would never damage anybody's property

I haven't time to read all the posts but I think that this is classed as "Criminal Damage." If it was between the boundaries with your neighbour, it would be a civil dispute. Inform the police and ask if there is someone who can have a word. Explain you don't want to take up a lot of their time but his manner was aggressive so you are concerned.
Secondly, if he cuts up rough, write to his landlord. There will normally be a clause in his contract regarding him living peaceably within the property and not disturbing the neighbours. They should warn him that he is breaking the terms of the lease. They may not kick him out (I wouldn't necessarily say it warrants that anyway) which is an expensive avenue for them to follow but they may not renew the lease which is normally for 6 months in the first instance.

Now I’m feeling a bit guilty! The house next door to me which borders my garden is empty and being renovated.My husband would cut the grass there when doing ours, just to keep the weeds down. Now I’m thinking we shouldn’t be doing this. I noticed the new owner just dropped off a lawnmower though he hasn’t actually used it, maybe it’s his way of telling us to butt out?

If it was me knowing that due to austerity cutbacks and a lack in motivation enthusiasm , lack of staff etc in the relevant service providers I wouldn’t spend ages trying to get somewhere with the authority. I can only speak from up North not down South as they’re two different worlds. etc etc I am pretty certain neither the council nor the police would be interested unless there’s a serious crime or amount of harassment taking place. They would tell you to keep a diary which is a good thing to do as you Ned to document evidence in case you need it later. Have you joined your local neighbourhood group . I have recently and it’s quite useful for keeping an ear to the ground without airing grievences public and potentially feeling vulnerable. I personally wouldn’t speak to the gobby twerp at all ever again . He obviously has the potential to go from 0 to 100 and you don’t know his history.Actually you don’t even need to given he’s been there less than 5 mins and acts like a two year old in a tantrum. I would monitor and record any incidents . If you needed to go to court god forbid, your diary record ie dates times will be invaluable. Unfortunately we’re in strange times where neighbour disputes not involving assault or threats of assault are at the bottom of the list re importance to the authorities. I feel that the whole process of lifting yourself up of the floor and going through the struggle of trying to be taken seriously is just ongoing stress for you. . People like him don’t necessarily have any respect for authority anyway. It’s all wrong but that’s how the cookie crumbles as I see it.

What a horrible comment by craftyone.

This complete mania for weed killer and strimming or cutting any plant that dares to take up more than a few centimetres is driving nature to extinction and us with it.

What’s so harmful about a few sprays of leaves brushing against your arm as you walk past? Do we all want to live in a concrete nightmare? With no bees or butterflies?

This man is an idiot and there are plenty about but if you do nothing he’ll carry on doing exactly what he wants,

Mollygo
Is the footpath over which the hedge hangs a public highway ? if so contact your local council and report an obstruction.

I agree you should report it, but low key. I had an incident with someone who lives near me and found that you could send in a report online. I didn't want there to be any repercussions at the time but just wanted some very aggressive behavior on record in case it happened again.
I made it very clear that I didn't want the police to talk to the person in case that escalated whatever the problem was. . One of the PCSOs ( Is that correct?) called on me a while later to check if I was OK and as far as I know did not speak to the person concerned, but it hasn't happened again.
Maybe you could do something similar?

Can I just chip in while we are on the subject of overhanging bushes/shrubs. Nobody has mentioned people with visual impairments. No white stick or guide dog can alert them to head high foliage. Some plants are viciously thorny, brambles especially can do significant damage to someones face. Like someone mentioned before, I often have a pair of secateurs in my pocket to whip off those awful bramble suckers! Main road footpaths which should be maintained by the council, are a nightmare at this time of the year. Hope everything works out ok for you Cava

It’s done now, he was in the wrong rude and obviously not thought things through and you are going to get it done properly I would not make an enemy it won’t put your hedge back
The police have real crimes they can’t even manage the council can’t do anything now because it’s been done I would put it behind you, you don’t know the story because he’s chosen to act instead of talk, maybe one of his kids was scratched by it or stepped into the road to avoid it I m certainly not condoning his actions which were misjudged and wrong, but is it really worth making an enemy of a new neighbour I wouldn’t but up to you of course to take what action you see fit but these kind of things can escalate into real nastiness for years

The man had no right to just take matters into his own hands without at least discussing the matter with you first as it affects you even if it overhanged the street. He was just plain thoughtless, rude and impudent.
I once had a new neighbor who cut down a magnificent tree while I was at work. The old tree had a wide trunk that sat on the corner of 3 properties—mine, my next door neighbor and his which was in back of ours. I always enjoyed watching it seasonally flower as it’s’ branches gracefully hung over into my backyard. Without it his new ugly fence was my only view there. He claimed he was protecting his children in the event it fell down in a storm. I complained so much that he reimbursed me some, not all, for the bushes I planted to hide his fence.
P.S. A few years later, the tree NEXT to his house which he had never touched, fell down on his porch and destroyed it. Karma!