My hedge is destroyed

Play the long game indeed. There is nothing worse than neighbour disputes as they seep into your whole life, and you stop feeling comfortable in your own home. Not worth it over a hedge , in my view, especially if it is likely to just grow back.

Re the renter bit. We rented a house to a family that caused upset in a small cul de sac.
As the other residents knew us we were always informed. Although, not legally responsible for their behaviour, I did always take it up with the tenants and try and sort out the problem. In the end I got rid of them. Life is too short. I now have good tenants who annoy no one.

It’s not a hedge cutting dispute between neighbours - it’s not a shared hedge. . Don’t listen to those minimising his behaviour. As someone once said ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time’. He did this deliberately, had to go and fetch the cutters - not just a spontaneous kicking of the hedge for example.

Without going into all the details, when I had to report a neighbour for exhibiting over the top angry behaviour which involved shouting at my dd and chasing her down the road and hammering on my front door and screaming, I used the online form. Two police women officers came round a few days later. They took it very seriously, said acting early prevented escalation, took my age into account, were interested in the fact he was a renter ( said they would inform landlord) and then a police officer visited the neighbour a few days later to ‘have a word’. Two years later, no more trouble ever.

Pam don’t most rental agreements have something in them that boils down in lay terms to not annoying the neighbours?

Difficult perhaps to judge, as we don't have photos or proper description of before and after. And yes, if the hedge had grown sideways to take a significant part of the pavement- it does put others in danger, children, wheelchairs, prams, mobility scooters, etc. BUT- even if that was the case - he should have discussed this with you beforehand- and should never ever have done so in your absence in this way. Totally wrong and rude. But please be honest here- was the hedge really hampering normal passage on the pavement?

I would be careful. He sounds a bit out of control.

I'd fill in the police online form to make sure there is a record. Also keep a record of this and any other events. Plus, let other sympathetic neighbours know, in case you need support / backup if he's nasty or god forbid violent in the future.

I don’t think anyone thinks this is “just a hedge cutting dispute between neighbours “ or are minimising it but the neighbour and the OP are living in close proximity your story sounds very different as your child was threatened and the man actually chased her down the road! From all I gather here the man was verbally aggressive and rude but not outright threatening so I don’t think the police will want to get involved however of course the OP can raise a report with them and see if they might be willing to speak to him.
My point really is that neighbour disputes are best avoided if at all possible as it does escalate and can make your life a misery and this has to be paramount over any “legal rights”

We had just moved into this house when we had an anonymous note pushed through the door saying our boundary hedge was forcing them onto the road. Next thing a man from the council came to inspect it. This was our first week here! We never found out who sent the note and have always kept the hedge trimmed. That neighbour of yours was well out of order.

There are some frightening weird people out there Cava and Luckygirl. No-one has a right to cut and or remove plants from your garden even if they did not like the position of them!! I would definitely put this behaviour on record with the police.

I have had a similar incident where a neighbour cut my side hedge. If the hedge is on your property it is illegal to cut down anything on another persons land. You should contact the council as previous posts have said and request someone to come down and look at the situation before it is cleared up make a formal complaint and they will deal with it for you in terms of warnings. I strongly advise asking your solicitor to also send a letter to this person confirming his illegal actions. The law is there to protect people so use it. This person has been a thoughtless bully who has not conducted himself correctly through the right procedures and for the sake of everyone in your area needs to be told in no uncertain terms. Solicitors advice is free for 39 minutes and a letter should cost no
More than £30. . Free legal advice and help is also available from citizens advice . Best of luck

Neglected bushes and hedges can also be a road safety issue.

I lnocked on someone’s door a couple of years ago to ask them if they would trim their large bush in the front garden.

The house was on the end of a road near me by a t junction and the large neglected bush made it very difficult to turn right as the view of the road was obscured.

I was polite but the woman looked a bit annoyed at me.

I was going to give it a couple of weeks then I would have got on to the council.

However within a week the offending bush had been scalped and it now gets done regularly !

I don't think he went about this in the right way - he could have just knocked on the door and asked if either you could trim the hedge back or would you like him to do it. I wonder if he took advantage of the fact that you were out although he would obviously been seen and recognised by other neighbours. It's best not to have a dispute over it though in case it escalates further.

We have cars parked on the pavement further up our street and a couple of houses have large bushes which make it difficult to walk past especially if it's raining. I quite often end up stepping onto the road to avoid them.

Some years ago we fell out with our (then) new neighbours when we came home one day to find they'd taken the back slats off their side of the dividing fence in preparation to replace the whole thing leaving huge gaps. She said she'd knocked several times but we'd ignored her! They were adamant it was their fence despite the fact we'd put it up and are responsible for that side of the property. Words ensued and things were very frosty for some time as they did a lot of other work causing noise and vibration for weeks on end. However the fence they replaced it with looks much better and over time we have become quite friendly with them - as they're the age of our own sons I think they look on us as the elderly neighbours and offer help when they think we need it

Did this man cut back any of your other neighbours overhang at all ?

I was under the impression that you could only 'trim' hedges from May until September due to wildlife.

A similar thing happened to my friend a few weeks ago . Someone has built a bungalow at the corner of the lane where she lives . She lives almost at the top of the lane but there obviously was enough room to build this bungalow. There is a clause in the planning that the hedge can only be cut to within one foot of the top of her fence. She came back from collecting a prescription to find the hedge way below her fence. He actually, laughed in her face when she went round to ask why he had done it. It was blocking thee sun from their conservatory. He should have thought of that before he built.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/problems-where-you-live/if-you-disagree-with-your-neighbour-about-a-tree-or-hedge/

I would put cctv up at the front of your house, one you can monitor whilst out.

Really sorry this has happened to you. Always shakes you up when someone behaves like this. Speaks volumes that he did this whilst you were out and excused what he had done as a 'favour'. I'm not surprised he walked away. The only real response to your upset would have been an apology, but then that would have destroyed his excuse of helping you out.

Ahhhh the myth of free legal advice rears its incorrect head yet again.
If only I had a £1 for every time I have seen this on Gransnet.
To be clear.......a odd solicitor may offer a free consultation for say 30 mins but there is no obligation for them to do so, and indeed why on earth should they?

I would also ring the Council environmental officer .....who may have come across this situation before. He sounds horrible ! I am not sure what is law and what is not, but you can ask the E O about cost of removing the cuttings to the tip and whether it is your responsibility or if you can legally send him a bill (don't suppose for one minute he will pay it ! but don;t do that if he is going to be more aggressive!) I would watch, standing in the garden when he walks his wide children to school ...and if you can, video it......and also photograph your hedge. If you have a 'before' photo anywhere, all well and good. Citizens Advice might also be able to help...and if you find remains of any bird nests, the RSPB might like to know of the destruction also ....good luck ...ps you can e mail all of the above if visiting or phoning is going to take a lot of time !

As this man sounds aggressive and unreasonable I would not make an enemy of him. However, this does not mean that you have to take this lying down. I'm certain that what he has done is at the very least an infringement, so why not ask the police to confirm the situation, and perhaps put a note through his door to say that you have lived peacefully in the cul de sac for years and do not wish to be on bad terms with any neighbours, that you have cleared away the cuttings he left on the path as they may have caused someone to trip, and would expect him to respect your home and privacy. Sadly he might be the type of person who thinks he has carte blanche to do what he likes - I managed to stop a neighbour hacking down a beautiful cherry tree on the pavement outside our London house because he was 'fed up with stepping on the cherries' . He would have destroyed a beautiful tree for the sake of sweeping up a few cherries once a year!

Not sure if it is legal or not but it's very rude behaviour and for him to become aggressive over it is a bit strange as that is not what most people would do. Maybe he has mental health problems or maybe he is just a bully? If he was aggressive to you I would log a complaint with the Police about the situation and then if anything happens in future they will have a record of his past behaviour. Also, if he rents his property then I would find out who his landlord is and report what he has done and his aggressive behaviour to the landlord as you don't need to put up with neighbours like that. If he owns his house then I suppose there is not much you can do. He did damage your hedge which is part of your property. Take photos of the hedge and the mess he left and look up if this sort of behaviour is damage to your property in legal terms. Good luck and I hope you don't have a my other problems with that neighbour.

Two things - first this is aggressive behaviour whatever his excuse. I would let all my neighbours know. Second - I have found that if I go on to the council website there is a wide variety of complaint procedures and this would come under a form of anti social behavior legislation. Have a look. Make an official complaint on line it will be followed through. At the very least you will be advised. I know it sounds a faff but this will be on record. We also have a community police officers to write emails to when anti social behaviour is experienced. He needs s slap on the wrist, he probably has anger management issues and I feel sorry for his family!

Oh dear, looking at this it is easily seen that hedges can get people all hot and bothered.

By now Cava, I hope you have taken photos and reported this online to the police.

Tomorrow, ring your local council and ask what the by-laws are regarding hedges and whether anyone who likes can cut back someone else's hedge.

I bet they can't. I am fairly certain that the procedure is that this man should have mentioned the matter to you, then reported it to the council if you didn't trim the hedge.

I think I would leave it at that just now, but you might want to claim for damages, or get a solicitor to write to him if what he has done is illegal.

I am a landlord of properties and licenced by local council who have strict rules regarding anti social behaviour. I would certainly log this with them and they will notify landlord with a warning future action will be taken. If he does this again there will be a record and landlord will be asked to terminate tenancy each council differs as to how many complaints are acceptable before termination of !andlord licence. This way you are letting landlord know and avoiding confrontation.

That's the start he'll think that he can do anything he wishes. Rude, ignorant, you get them everywhere