boundary fence and hedge

[purplefish]

our neighbours have told us that they are cutting our hedge and having the small fence between our houses possibly taken down, we had a word with the neighbours saying that we only want a few inches taken off the hedge (it is ours afterall) and we don't want the fence removed as its the boundary fence, we're going to have a word with the people doing the work to make sure they don't take it out, but if the neighbours are paying them as opposed to us, they're obviously going to listen to what our neighbours want. if they do remove the fence is there anything we could do? we know if the fence is removed they'll claim the land and the hedge is theirs and it could very well lead to disputes over the land.

any advice would be great :o)

[andy hughes]

As a first step, ask to have sight of your house deeds - your mortgae lender should hold them - so you can establish exactly where your bondary line runs. From there, if the law is on your side, you could have another informal chat with your neighbours, and politely but firmly advise them that the hedge is yours, and you want to maintain your boundary as it is. Ideally you should approach this from a let's sort this out between us' angle. If that fials, you can always move on to the legal side, which may affect your relationship, so try and keep it all amiable if possible. As a last resort, you can get your solicitor to write to them, but you need to be sure that you are only enforcing your own legal rights. Good luck.

[Hammer]

If it is your hedge on your land then they have no right to touch it at all. As for the fence, it depends whether it is yours, theirs or jointly owned. Your deeds may indicate which of the three it is. Remember that there is no legal necessity to having a fence or anything else to mark the boundary, so if it is theirs, they are perfectly within their rights to take it away.

Take a look in the forums at www.gardenlaw.co.uk for more info on this sort of problem.

[purplefish]

Thanks for your answer, very helpful indeed :o)

[Hammer]

One more thought, as a last resort you could put up your own fence right up to within a fraction of an inch of the boundary, entirely on your own land. They would have no right to interfere with this.

[purplefish]

they would still interfere with it Hammer, when they get the hedge done they're also having half of our tree cut down as they don't like having blossom on their grass (it does hang over so we can't really stop them), but thats the kind of people they are, very inconsiderate.

Thanks for everybodys help :o)

[Donna G]

As a general rule, if you stand facing your back fence, you own the back and left fences.  If you are on the right-hand side end plot (still facing the back), you own all 3 fences.

Does the hedge overhang the fence on their side?  As far as I am aware they can trim what's on their side (you probably won't notice, but it is your property), but can't touch your side.

I advise taking photos and, as others have said, obtaining your deeds to find out where you stand for sure. 

All I can say is we've had a dispute with a neighbour over the fence and it's not a nice situation to get into.

Good luck!

[zmudge]

Do not let this drift into a full-scale boundary dispute. If it does, it will make your life very unhappy, can absorb tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees and will blight your property so that you cannot sell it whilst the dispute exists. Are you sure that in fact it is not you who is at fault? Is it not your hedge and tree which are creating a nuisance to your neighbours property? Is it really for them to spend their own money rectifying your nuisance? And, if you make them do so, what is so unreasonable about them wanting something tangible in return, say a couple of feet of your territory? Would it not be better (and very, very much cheaper) to place yourself in control of the situation and tidy up hedge, tree and fence at your expense?

The first posting above contains misinformation. The only thing that counts these days is how property is Registered at the Land Registry. You can obtain a copy of both yours and your neighbour's Register and Plan by clicking this link and following the instructions

http://www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/servlet/TitleSearchServlet

I suggest you get both and compare them carefully so that you clearly understand how the property's fit together, any wording regarding fencing and where the "T"s (if any) are. Remember that the Land Registry  will not give an opinion over inches, so that if the existing fence looks about right you can with confidence say "I bought up to the fence, and you bought up to the fence, and that is the end of it".

[Hgrove]

They are entitled to cut the portion of a branch of a tree of yours only to the extent that it hangs over their garden but they are not supposed to enter your property to do so unless the nuisance caused by the branch is extreme and in this case it does not look as if it is.  It is not reasonable to "steal" two feet of your garden because of a few blossoms on their grass.  Thousands of houses are in the same situations and people don't start appropriating other people's gardens for that!  No, I think you need to be assertive by which I mean polite but firm.

[Britannia]

I suggest you take lots of photographs at different angles showing the hedge and fence as they exist now, maybe from upstairs? You need to show the relationship of the hedge/fence to existing features which are not likely to get altered.

Hopefully you will be able to resolve your differences amicably, but a bit of photographic proof in reserve might be useful.

BTW, in a dispute both the house deeds and the Land Registry documents are taken into account.

[Wisebird]

Zmudge/Maud/Sludge etc. - When will you ever learn not to criticise other people's postings and realise what damage you do to this site?  Forget your limited knowledge of land registry and find another site to haunt.

[landie]

Dear purplefish. You have not identified, as far as I can see, the type of hedge plant. Firstly your neighbour has no right in law to remove or damage your fence. As far as the hedge is concerned they may trim only to the amount overhanging their own garden. Under a new statute, they may apply, in the case of a conifer hedge where no compromise is reached between neighbours, to the local council, if the hedge is more than two metres high and a nuicance to them, then the council may make a decision to cut it and bill you. This however only refers to conifers causing nuicance as I have said. In all other cases the hedge cannot be interfered with by your neighbour.