At a loss what to do..

Just got home from work and one of the neighbours has decided to take a massive chunk out my hedge so he can get his car into his drive easier..

This is not a party hedge.. it’s a hedge bordering my property and a sort of no-mans-land access lane. I dont own the lane and he/they dont own the lane (I checked with land registry a few years ago). My property borders one side and about 10 properties back onto the other side. So one of them has hacked into my hedge so he can more comfortably swing in and out of his property. He could have asked, and I would most probably obliged, although not to the extent he’s done it.

So.. my question is.. whilst I’m still frothing at the mouth and cant think straight.. what do you think I should do?

I have pics..

By property is the red one..

and this is what I just found..

1. Dig up hedge
2. Build wall in its place

Edit: make the wall about 2′ high, so it can’t be seen properly when manoeuvring a car, but is still high enough to scrape doors/wings/etc.

Build a wall.

Maybe they’ve just trimmed hedge back to where the actual boundary is – it’s fairly thick?

If it were me I’d put a fence/wall along there to mark the boundary more permanently.

Am I right in thinking this is the side that you can’t see?

In which case I would just leave it, It’ll grow back in the spring and re-green.

Build a fence along the bit he removed.

In relation to your property’s border where does the outside of the hedge finish ?

what do you think I should do?

Thank him for cutting back the overgrown hedge that was intruding on a shared access road?

Dig a deep ditch …. That’ll keep him on his toes as he comes out ….

Thunk. Sump deep. Then you’ll know who it was 🙂

What a mess. Ask when he’s doing the rest of it.

Am I right in thinking this is the side that you can’t see?

I have to agree here. This is on the side of the fence that you can’t see on a lane you hardly go down (your own words). Really I don’t see why you are bothered??

The hedge was overhanging my border onto the lane by about 6inches. So I accept there’s nothing stopping him coming along and stipping it back (although the lane isnt his property. but he’s left me with a hedge about 4inch thick and cut about a foot into my property the bugger. :/

meh, move on with your life.

~18″ spiked top, metal fence at ~45 degrees, pointing into the lane should do it. 😆

The hedge was overhanging my border onto the lane by about 6inches.

Put up a 4ft fence on the boundary line, keep the hedge and keep it trimmed level with the fence.

That looks like it was pretty well kept before it was butchered. That takes quite a bit of effort over 12mths as we have bushes bordering where we live which the council are responsible for and its a 3 man job all day to sort. I take it you do it yourself or pay someone.

If it were me I wouldn’t worry too much. That will regrow quite quickly and I would just choose not to maintain that section of the hedge. In 12mths time whoever it is will be having to do it again. Looks like they have cleaned up after themselves which again is a bit of a pita for someone without a van etc. Let them wind themselves up about it over the long term. As long as they don’t kill the hedge and it doesn’t effect your view, I would let it slide

low concrete posts are tricky to spot. 😈

Oh gawd, you realise the STW Perfect Neighbours Society will be along to tell you not to be so uptight? And something about shoes in the hallway..

[edit]crikey, they’ve been already! 😆

Put a fence up a 4ft fence on the boundary line, keep the hedge and keep it trimmed level with the fence.

I think thats the best option.. Any green fingered experts here know what the chances of the privet regrowing at the bottom are?

That not a neighbour war, it’s not worth the bother

Build a great big beautiful wall and make him pay for it

Good neighbours are worth their weight in gold and bad relations with neighbours is a massive drain on your mental resources. He actually does have a right to trim any of your foliage that overhangs his land although this is public land. As long as he hasn’t killed your hedge I would forget it and worry about something really serious like Trump the Impaler.

Hide something hard and immovable in the hedge once it grows back ?

Am I right in thinking this is the side that you can’t see?

In which case I would just leave it, It’ll grow back in the spring and re-green.
Is where I am at…

Also, by cutting that side of the hedge they have gone some way in accepting they are responsible for it so the next time it is getting overgrown go and ask them to trim it again.

I would go and have a word though – simply ask them to make a tidier job of it as it is a bit of a mess at the moment.

Privet will regrow fine, it’s very tough. It’ll likely be better for the regenerative prune.

Options

a. it’ll grow back, lifes short.
b. a fence, cheap.. vulnerable to damage.
c. a wall, pricey, if damaged it tends to mark the culprit.
d. border markers, say concrete bollards every few meters.

b&c are likely to stimulate more blood boiling if they get hi.
c&d will leave damage on the culprits vehicle.

All comes down to how much you can be bothered.

I think i’d be inclined to go with D, its pretty easy….but in reality A is the easiest 😉

I’ve calmed now.. I was just annoyed he’d not even asked and worried he’d killed the hedge that’s been there the life of the property probably. Concrete posts will be going in the hedge though now on the border.

If it was me, I’d (sympathetically) trim the rest of the hedge back to blend in what they’ve done, and then go and nicely talk to them about it, along the lines of mutually discussing and finding agreement on anything done to things in shared spaces.

The guy probably just didn’t think about it very much beyond his own car…

globalti – Member
”Good neighbours are worth their weight in gold and bad relations with neighbours is a massive drain on your mental resources. He actually does have a right to trim any of your foliage that overhangs his land although this is public land. As long as he hasn’t killed your hedge I would forget it and worry about something really serious like Trump the Impaler.”

I second the above. It’s quite important to peace of mind to have good relations with neighbours. Putting the concrete posts in might mean they’re less agreeable about something else in the future which pops up, something potentially more important?

‘bad relations with neighbours is a massive drain on your mental resources’

This is so true, I’m in court with mine next week!

The guy obviously values his car, if you put the concrete posts in, it’ll be something which will make his life that little bit more difficult during the times he’s driving past the hedge with the front of his car close to it.

If he was to damage his car, too, that would be a big thing he’d feel annoyed at you for.

Having good Neighbourly relations sometimes strike me as being a bit like global politics, with homes being akin to countries with a mixture of mutual and conflicting interests. It’s important to maintain harmony so agreement can be more easily found when it’s needed. 🙂

( If the hedge didn’t grow back, which is unlikely, you could always ask him to pay for some replacement stock to plant, and within time one wouldn’t know anything had happened. )

As above, In the spirit of neighbourly relations, I’d try to just leave it. It’ll grow back and green up, and stuff like this is not worth falling out with neighbours over. Neighbourly battles make life miserable for everyone and doubtless escalate.

Failing that, this is the perfect excuse for a moat.

I’d keep my eye on him from now on though…

A way of keeping peace as well as protecting your hedge could be to put wooden posts in with reflectors on, and tell them that you noticed they’d cut back the hedge, presumably through struggling to see it at night (wink wink), and say you’d put them in to be helpful?

They’d be less likely to damage his car, and would do the same kind of thing as the concrete posts.

I would probably just leave it if it was me though…and bill him for replacement stock in the slim chance it doesn’t grow back.

Surely he’ll just be cutting it again as soon as it grows back?

If it was me, I’d (sympathetically) trim the rest of the hedge back to blend in what they’ve done, and then go and nicely talk to them about it, along the lines of mutually discussing and finding agreement on anything done to things in shared spaces.

I’d agree with this. You’ve got to say something or do nothing. An unspoken war of actions isn’t going to go well even though everything you’re doing is on your land (he might not realise).

There is a real possibility he turns out to be a complete @rse about it though. He has made a complete mess of a well trimmed hedge that he doesn’t own.

A lot of these old passageways are way too narrow for modern cars, but he could have (wrongly) entirely blamed your inconsiderate hedge for his inability to drive down there easily and big quite narked off at you.

Concrete posts seems like sending a big ‘up-yours’…
Why bother? 🙄
Go and talk to the bloke, explain the situation and explain that you are concerned about damaging the hedge long term.
Don’t just go and put up posts. Unless you want a neighbour war that is…

Yeah, don’t put posts in, that’s passive aggressive wind-up territory.

The other alternative is a cockerel. Then they’ll want the thickest, highest hedge imaginable. A bantam with a high pitched crow would be best, as the hedge will have most effect, the lower frequencies of a larger man-bird wouldn’t be attenuated as much so the perceived benefit wouldn’t be there.

Or in a similar vein, start sunbathing naked. All hours. All year.

It’s a right pig’s ear but it’ll grow back. It wouldn’t if it had been some sort of conifer. If you are feeling vindictive then a bit of underplanting of holly/blackthorn would be more in keeping than concrete bollards. I’d also cut it back to the boundary all along, to blend in, but that looks like a long way. Lucky man. I wish I had a garden that big.

I’d be wary about being too fussy, a friend had a similar hedge in a similar position.
A neighbour reported it to the council and it had to be cut down in height to allow visibility splays for vehicles leaving the lane to ensure they don’t know down pedestrians

Concrete posts? Please. Land mines – that’ll learn ’em.