Hedge/tree problem with neighbour

I have a similar problem.
My parents planted a hedge because their very strange neighbour spied on them and also has let his house and garden go to rack and ruin .
After managing to talk to him I booked in a tree surgeon to cut the hedge right back and he refused access.
Now he claims that he sold his house last Christmas (despite still living there ) and it's no longer his problem.
His fence is broken .
Weeds grow over and under it .
My parents used to trim the brambles back now I do it and I'm fed up with doing so.
It means climbing up a slight slope and I nearly fall over .
You can't help who you live next to .
I deeply regret not being able to persuade my father to move .

Is a bay tree some type of laurel?

I once viewed a house that had overgrown conifers at the back which hadn't been mentioned by the EA. They were massive!

When I mentioned them the owners just said they were wonderful for wildlife... I said I would have to factor in the cost of having them removed if I put in an offer, which I didn't.

They were not only ruining their on garden but impinging on the neighbours light too... selfish and silly.

I would talk to your local council, I have a neighbour over the back of me who always starts a junk yard shortly after the last council forced clearance. The council keep an eye on him now.

Earthmother9

Some people and I am one of them love overgrown gardens and if there was wildlife in there I would never want to touch it. But I can see from her side of things that not everyone feels that way. It's his garden he can do with it as he pleases.

OK for you. You are not living in a house where next doors overgrown trees are pushing down your fence, brushing the tiles on your roof causing some to slip and let water into the house, and blocking your gutters while the ivy invades the inside of your roof, damaging it further and adding to the blocked gutters. Then the ivy starts to creep over your windows. Not to mention killing off your productive fruit trees and overshadowing your vegetable patch so that nothing grows well in their shade.

It is always the people with the overgrown gardens that wax lyrical about them. I have a friend who suffered all of the above. I saw the worry and distress it caused, the damage it did to her house.

But, hey, what does that matter. Those with overgrown gradens jump on the environmental bandwagon and chunter on about wild life.

They do not give a toss how much their overgrown gardens are making the lives of those living round them a misery, particularly when those neighbours are old and disabled and cannot physically cut back the encroaching greenery themselves, nor afford to pay anyone to do it for them.

We have a similar but dissimilar problem in that the overgrown Leylandii are all ours. When we planted them we were young rookies and though I trimmed them regularly for the first x years they did become thicker, and taller, and unreachable for either of us. DH doesn't "do" gardening, and in fact he likes them thick and tall. I have insisted several times (and paid over £500 a time) to have them cut down but they just keep going. It is similar with brambles, mares tail and ivy which we have all over the place. I do my best but it's now too much and short of a fire I don't know what to do. We are awaiting a price again to just to trim the hedge but it will be over a thousand. I can't keep doing this, but what choice do I have? The chap at the back used to trim his side but he is also getting older and can't do it.

Some people and I am one of them love overgrown gardens and if there was wildlife in there I would never want to touch it. But I can see from her side of things that not everyone feels that way. It's his garden he can do with it as he pleases.

Think of all the wildlife they have to have somewhere to nest etc why does it bother you so much

" Over 11 years I have attempted to cut his side, climbing a ladder, barricading myself in with bins for safety." I'm not sure why you are cutting his side of the trees/hedge - or am I reading that wrong? I have vision of you struggling to cut it in his garden as well as your own!
He obviously isn't going to get it sorted after all this time.

I would get all the side branches of the conifers etc that come across the boundary line into my garden cut back. A local tree surgeon would probably advise. It won't look pretty but that cannot be helped. Fir trees won't grow back (someone did this near us and they stayed one sided) but if you take the tops out they will get wider.
Then once sure there is no regrowth have some high fence panels put on my side of the boundary. That would cover two thirds of the hedge from view.

Some contexts on Gransnet need expanded POVs

Monica, The suburban environment really matters .

Letthefunbegin

Dontcallmelove

I wonder if perhaps your SiL could have a word with him? Some men will ignore a simple request from a woman but will listen to a man!

Mmm, I would be a bit worried about seeming to bully or harass him, but I get your point.

I see the point on this - but some of us (errr....that would be me then....) would lose our temper bigtime at not being listened to because of being a woman - but then they listened to a man.

That would be cue for outrage on my part - so I guess the temperament that would be prepared to be treated as a "lesser being" would be necessary in order to take that route. Though I'm fully aware there are a noticeable number of men that discriminate against a woman like that - ie by not taking them seriously and treating them as a "person" and not a "woman" iyswim.

Dontcallmelove

I wonder if perhaps your SiL could have a word with him? Some men will ignore a simple request from a woman but will listen to a man!

Mmm, I would be a bit worried about seeming to bully or harass him, but I get your point.

Caleo

Too much tidying of gardens is a nightmare for fertilising insects, swarming bees, foxes, hedgehogs. mice, worms, birds, and frogs.
I despair when i read a lot of posts at gransnet how unaware of what really matters.

I think your comments are quite inappropriate in the context of the situation the OP has described.

I wonder if perhaps your SiL could have a word with him? Some men will ignore a simple request from a woman but will listen to a man!

Gin

I suggest you read the advice given on www.gov.uk/neighbourhood disputes/ hedges. If there are more than two trees over 2 metres high then it counts as a hedge and should be lowered, the neighbour must deal with it. If he will not then contact the council. I have never heard of them charging for this intervention. That is very surprising.

Hi, yes I have read that, and it does say on there that you may have to pay a fee to your council. I have just checked my council website again, and the updated fee is actually £788!

winterwhite

We have a bamboo problem 😩😡. Neighbour, or rather his wife, planted it to screen their patio and she thinks it 'very pretty', which it is. Her husband admits a big mistake and that they should have looked into it more thoroughly. Any shoots appearing on our side of the fence (there aren't many) are instantly poisoned by our gardener and that seems simple enough.
I worry that this could be a problem when we want to sell our house. My DH doesn't want to have a quarrel about it and he's back-up by the gardener who says is OK because we're keeping on top to it. Of course it may be under our patio but that's thick stone and there's a space of a good yard between the fence handout patio.

Oh no! Strangely enough there was a piece on this morning’s ’Rip off Britain’ BBC1 about bamboo, maybe you should watch it on catch up. I wasn’t paying attention much but it might have some useful information. That must be very worrying for you. Hope it gets sorted. X

Too much tidying of gardens is a nightmare for fertilising insects, swarming bees, foxes, hedgehogs. mice, worms, birds, and frogs.
I despair when i read a lot of posts at gransnet how unaware of what really matters.

Astitchintime

If the neighbour does agree to go halves for any work do make sure you get that money in advance, before the work starts! He sounds a bit of a freeloading lazybones and you might end up footing the whole bill.

Yes definitely lazyitis, manages to play golf though!

We have a bamboo problem 😩😡. Neighbour, or rather his wife, planted it to screen their patio and she thinks it 'very pretty', which it is. Her husband admits a big mistake and that they should have looked into it more thoroughly. Any shoots appearing on our side of the fence (there aren't many) are instantly poisoned by our gardener and that seems simple enough.
I worry that this could be a problem when we want to sell our house. My DH doesn't want to have a quarrel about it and he's back-up by the gardener who says is OK because we're keeping on top to it. Of course it may be under our patio but that's thick stone and there's a space of a good yard between the fence handout patio.

Georgesgran

This sort of thing is a nightmare. Two of my neighbours have a problem with a couple behind them, who has allowed her laurels to grow - currently 14ft and has called the Police a couple of times, when they've tried to trim what is hanging over their fences. As we back South, their gardens are in complete shade for a lot of the day and permanently dark in Winter. She flatly refuses to do anything as she sunbathes naked!! My neighbours don’t want to get into a dispute as that would have to be declared should they sell up. She had a foul mouthed rant at my gardener when he cut the lower branches from a fir tree - in my garden!!

Oh lord, what a nightmare. Yes, I have to be thankful that he is polite. I think I will have to bite the bullet and spend more of my savings maintaining his garden!

henetha

I don't have a dispute with my neighbours, but I do have lots of trees and big shrubs which can get out of hand, so I pay a gardener these days to trim it all twice a year. (I used to do it myself). He only charges under a hundred pounds each time so it's brilliant.
Could you find a gardener, or some young chap, to do this for you?

I have tried since moving in to get someone. They are just not interested in the hedge ‘if it’s above head height I don’t do it’ and similar. You have to get some ‘professional’ company in who around here charge a fortune, and as it’s his side that’s the problem, it’s access to his property, what about the rubbish etc. it is nigh on impossible to get into his garden with 6 foot weeds, and they are worried about getting into neighbour disputes.

This sort of thing is a nightmare. Two of my neighbours have a problem with a couple behind them, who has allowed her laurels to grow - currently 14ft and has called the Police a couple of times, when they've tried to trim what is hanging over their fences. As we back South, their gardens are in complete shade for a lot of the day and permanently dark in Winter. She flatly refuses to do anything as she sunbathes naked!! My neighbours don’t want to get into a dispute as that would have to be declared should they sell up. She had a foul mouthed rant at my gardener when he cut the lower branches from a fir tree - in my garden!!

Personally I welcome neighbours who keep "overgrown" gardens as those are havens for wildlife.

If your house is actually at risk from a tall tree I think you will have to resign yourself to paying and asking the council to have it removed.

Elowen33

My neighbour has a hedge that is high and a tree which blocks any sun from my patio, he says he likes it that way, there is nothing I can do about it.

At least you can pay to have his cut, the only other option for me is to move which I dont want to do as I like where I live and who knows what other neighbours would be like.

Yes this is true, maybe I have to be thankful for small mercies!