Boundary Bushes and how to deal with the neighbours

We have to keep our Leylandii very tall as it is the only way we can have any privacy. Our neighbours are constantly adding extension on top of their house. If we cut it down more, we would be constantly overlooked. One of our neighbours trims his side right back so that the light can get through to his garden. We don't mind as it must be a pain when it doesn't allow much light through. When we bought this house we could keep them trimmed down much more. Not anymore unfortunately.

I think the law says you can cut overhanging branches off next door’s trees or hedges but you should put the cuttings back over the fence. I often cut an overhanging tree from my next door neighbour and put the cuttings in my recycle bin. If he ever complains the cuttings will be going back over the fence.

Your neighbour is entitled to cut any branches that overhang his property. And he us also entitled to put any cut off branches into your land as they belong to you. I found this out through the council about a neighbours tree. So that’s what I did. I put all the branches onto his side of the fence

Betty65
If the trees /bushes are 'yours' planted on your side by yourself or your predecessor advise your neighbour when it is your intention to have them cut back and at the same time suggest the tree surgeon cut them back on your neighbours side. removing all cuttings making it clear you will meet the costs. If refused then he is not in the position to charge you when he himself cuts them down. For the present situation, neighbour having already cut the hedge, on their side it is up to your neighbour to remove the cuttings not expecting you to pay.

Maybe one solution is to ask your yearly surgeon to cut your neighbors' side too (with their permission for access)

It would probably have been cheaper to hire a wood chipper, then the chips would be useful to feed the garden.

The leylandii, house height, and much taller eucalyptus tree my neighbours have in their garden have blighted my use of my garden.
I cannot understand why they think it acceptable for us to pay for a tree surgeon to cut their bloody trees as they are so tall. They are both planted too close to the border according to house deeds.
Our lovely south facing garden is no longer sunny for much of the day and the leaves shed by the eucalyptus have killed the fish in my pond.
Last Autumn they agreed to trim the height but not until Spring. Covid seems to have given them an excuse to not do so and now it’s nesting season so another shadey summer for us.
Sorry for the rant but I cannot put into words how much I detest those damn trees. The eucalyptus is taller than my house and we are higher up then their house. Only bout 20 feet is shared boundary but 90% of my garden is in shade in the afternoon.

I hope you sent him away with a flea in his ear!
As others have said, he is actually supposed to cut the overhanging branches and return them to your side of the boundary.
It was his choice to pay for someone to take them away, so he can pay for it!

He could legally just throw it all back into your garden.

I have a neighbour who had let a climbing plant/small tree? (Not even sure what it was,she has all sorts on other side of tall fence) grow & snake its way up my drainpipe and wrapped itself around my sky dish.it had gone off & my equipment insurers sent a cable guy, who had to hack some back& shouted over fence to her to get it trimmed- she pretended not to understand as they're chinese (but some of them have chatted to me&sent xmas cards in english) she let it grow back again this year,so last week my sons reached up on a step ladder& hacked a good bit back,it fell over her side.it had rooted itself in my 'leaf catcher' attached to drains, and wrapped around sky dish again! Theres usually a call-out charge if the guys to come for that so i was lucky he'd put it down as a 'reset' last time.or id have taken her the bill. BUT, as for your neighbour, he shouldn't have arranged its pick up without asking you first if you would pay towards it, if its a high price, and £100 seems a lot- has he even shown you the bill?? If not or he wont, then id tell him no- if he showed me it and its genuine, then id offer him £50, as its only half& half on your properties- & tell him next time you will get tree surgeon to trim his& remove debris.(or could you get tree surgeon back this year to try sort out your side so it 'trains' it to grow away from his side more? Or cut so much down from your side its not an overhanging problem any more, then put some form of fencing high on that bit next to the bush, to push it back towards your side over time?

The clippings from a ‘16ft boundary of tall trees’ would be a considerable amount. By the time they had been loaded onto a vehicle and disposed of (queues for the recycling centre are at least two hours round here), £100 would be a bargain !

Is Caramac and Gagsville neighbours then?

Betty65 (having read your update) having the hedge replaced by fencing is a very good idea.

As for the caravan and restrictions on the deeds, I'd say they carry little weight legally. Unless your house is fairly new, it's probably impossible to enforce the rules.

Here, the deeds say no fences over six feet tall, no buildings (fixed or on wheels) in gardens - and residential use only. The houses were built in 1935, though, and all the rules are ignored.

Maybe vickymeldrew, but he should show them the bill with the charges on clearly marked, and as hes not given them chance to offer to remove them themselves then he should accept half! Tell him next time he must put them back over your side for you to dispose of, its the law. Then let tree surgeon dispose of them with the rest.

You are entitled to cut back to the boundary. If you remove any overhanging branches you should return them to the owner of the tree or obtain their consent to dispose of them. If you fail to do so it will amount to theft. So it would seem he hasn't got a leg to stand asking for £100

@nannan2

Good advice Elegran.
We ask neighbour if she minds us cutting her trees, just to be polite - and she always says yes. We cut just our side and dispose of cuttings ourselves.
I have heard of neighbours (not ours) cutting and dropping the branches back over the fence where the roots originate, but I think that would be a cause of discord.

Our council wants £700 to Consider if my complaint about the row of leylandi At my boundary - neighbours side are too tall at over the height of my two storey house - is justified or not . They won’t cut them because they like them

Out neighbour let’s his plants grow through into our garage which drives ( no pun intended) my husband round the bend . Every year - surprise surprise they grow back and it starts over again. He gets so annoyed when we ask him to cut them back ! Does anyone knows better solution?

Reading this I get the feeling that there is a lot of doubt as to what the law actually says on this point.

So I suggest that OP checks that first.

Then, depending on how willing she is to risk offending her neighbour, she can either refuse to pay for the removal of the cuttings, and risk a feud with him, pay the amount he is demanding, or pay less.

It might be as well to pay this time, if he is legally entitled to demand payment, but to tell him that in future, you would prefer him to tell you in advance when he intends to trim the hedge.

I think, I would ask him whether he would consider suggesting what height he would like it to be, then cut it down to that height.

Liz46, is your neighbour Ed Sheeran by any chance??

I thought a few have said the neighbours have NO LAW that allows them to demand payment?

The legal position on this matter is clear - any foliage that overhangs from your garden into your neighbour’s remains your property but as it is encroaching upon your neighbour’s property s/he has the right to prune it whenever s’he wishes and is not obliged to inform you. However, s’he does not have the right to retain the pruned material so in theory the neighbour should return it to you for your disposal. The neighbour is within his/her rights to simply throw it back into your garden but That’s obviously not very neighbourly unless you agree that and it’s better to communicate and come to an arrangement.

The neighbour is definitely not trying it on by asking for £100 as long as he’s not making a profit out of you so in order to be sure you should ask to see the receipt.

If your trees are almost 5 metres high I can imagine they cast a long shadow into his garden at certain times of the day which would be most unwelcome if his garden is small and if especially in lockdown he has wanted to get out into the sunshine.

You would be surprised how many people plant fast growing Leylandi close to a fence or wall without giving a thought to what this screen will do to the neighbour’s ability to enjoy sunshine.

Perhaps to avoid this situation again you should agree a tree pruning timetable with the neighbour who may feel that you are not doing this often enough.

As a guidance? If you're in housing association houses- who is responsible for any bush overhangs/growths sticking out into the shared path/walkway area for everyone? You, or the housing assoc? They usually trim our 'fronts' down each year, but now its grown out into path, they are still doing agricultural work around here, so who does this bit?

I can relate my experience. Our neighbours have huge conifers which really block our light. We put up with it to remain on good terms. They get them trimmed about every three years and ask permission to come into our garden to lick up any fallen branches. So in effect, the tree owners are taking care of both sides.