Neighbour's Hedge Breaks The Covenant

[atalanta]

My house is in a row of houses, all of which have the same covenant - all front gardens to be open-plan, with no fences, walls or hedges. Next-door has planted two thick hedges, one of which runs along my boundary. He is a nasty piece of work, and I am not going to confront him. What can I do in law to get rid of these hedges ?

[ToraToraTora]

you can enforce the covenant and then reclaim the costs but it could take years. These sorts of neighbour disputes tend to consume both sides with misery.

[Buenchico]

The law is complex but, as long as the covenant 'touches and concerns' your land you can apply for a court order requiring your neighbour to abide by the provisions of the covenant:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/advice/propertyclinic/9257999/Property-clinic-restrictive-covenants.html

Most such covenants seem to get totally ignored though (with nobody ever doing anything about it). Every house around here has a covenant prohibiting external TV aerials but, because this is a 'fringe' area for reception, all the houses have got TV aerials on them. There are also covenants requiring that front gardens be 'laid mainly to lawn' but, due to lack of parking spaces, most of them have been paved over. There's even a covenant on my property requiring me to mow the grass on a piece of communal land has now unofficially been absorbed into another house's garden. (It's not even on the same road as my house!) I'm sure the house owner there would give me a very odd look if I turned up with a lawnmower on 'his' land!

[ToraToraTora]

you can come and do mine chico!