My hedge is destroyed

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?

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.

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

my last message was meant for Lullydully

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.

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."

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

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.

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

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 ]

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.

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.

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!

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.

*send not sent

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!

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

Llamedos 'biba70, we never see him to ask as he is rarely here otherwise we would.' - why not drop a note in the letterbox to ask him to pop in?

Notspaghetti I agree with both the points you made.
Since we’ve been walking in the local area instead of being able to go further afield we’ve noticed a lot of overflowing hedges or border bushes especially prickly ones like Chaenomeles, Berberus and Aquifolium and I’ve been collecting photos of those which really make it hard to stay on the pavement (although I think taking up pavement space is wrong however big or small the issue).
It seems people with these hedges often just don’t notice or think it doesn’t matter.
I still think the cutting without asking was wrong but my main concern for the OP would be if they make too big an issue of it, they would have to mention this if they ever want to sell.

I think Grandmafrench‘s advice is spot on. ???? Well done Grandmafrench.

You are right Mollygo. I did let mine get a little bushy because I really thought there was loads of space, which of course there was... but clearly not enough for the person who complained. I don't know their situation and won't let it happen again - and did feel dreadful about it.

We lived on a main rd.and at one stage the hedge was a bit straggly and hanging over the pavement by a few inches.The council sent a recorded delivery letter and asked us to cut it back a little.If we hadn't done it they would have sent a workman out to do it and they would have sent the bill to us.Thats the done way in Cheshire and I assume it's the same everywhere else.You definitely cannot cut someone's hedge without permission.

Wow, I would have liked to have overheard the conversation you had Lucky girl! To move your plants, incredible!

He was definitely in the wrong.

Unfortunately, we are surrounded by moronic idiots with no manners whatsoever.

And just dumping them on your driveway. It’s a No No.