Problem with neighbor and hedge

What do I do. I have lived here for just over six years and always cut the hedge my neighbors son always used to cut there side but he moved out, since then there side has not been cut . The hedge is quite wide and I couldn't reach right over so his side got left and was 2-3 feet taller than mine. earlier in the year I cut my side right back this made it a lot narrower , so a nice sunny day a couple of days back got the hedge trimmer out and leveled right over taking the highest part down about six inches still leaving the hedge around five foot plus today he spoke to me bluntly and just I am not to cut the top of the hedge again, it is his boundary hedge, what can I do it takes the light from my garden Help!!! We have always been on good terms and i don't want to live next to unpleasant neighbor cant see what I've done wrong.

 

A can of petrol, and a match.

Other than that, lots and lots of glyphosate.

 

You haven't done anything wrong. We used to have almost the same situation, just carry on as normal, be nice and friendly, no point in causing any further unpleasantness, but................you won't be able to cut the hedge on his side again!!!
Damned annoying, but theres nowt you can do without making trouble.

Val

 

How high is the hedge? I believe there is a maximum height in the UK now, beyond that the neighbour is legally required to reduce the hedge back to that height. I'm not sure if it's six or seven feet. Perhaps other members can help you with this.

 

I don't think the height is written in law, but I could be wrong. However there is, I believe, a piece of law that rules that a hedge has to be a sensible height, and then guidelines for that law that take the guesswork out of judgements to some extent, and I believe the guidelines max height is 8ft.

As usual with the law of England and Wales, its quite ambiguous.

 

Perhaps this may help.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=408

 

Thanks for the intrest and suggestion so far I believe at the moment all I can do is Val says carry on and be polite I have looked at some legal items on line and if it gets to out of hand and after politely asking if i can cut it and he refuses the council would be the first step, apparently if it blocks lite from my garden as it does they consider it anti social behavior but really don't want to go this far we have to live here

 

I can understand how you feel , but 5 feet for a back garden hedge is low a fencing panel would be higher , I am 6ft 1 so imagine if I lived next door you would see my head all the time , and maybe they feel the same way and they want some privacy, some story's in the press/tv conifers have been 60 feet upwards and raged on for years with only solicitors making anything out of it .

I get annoyed when I hear a pair of secateurs sniping on the other side of my fence/trellis and that's just trimming a piece of honeysuckle that has winded over.

Years ago in my previous house I planted a laurel to block out next door which it did really well and I kept it trimmed at 7 feet and not going over the boundary , I came home from work one day to find him on a step ladder his side of the fence trying to cut it down and at 79 nearly killed himself in the process as my dogs ran up barking at him and he nearly fell from the step ladder.
I had a lecture that he had lived in the house all his life etc... and that the "tree" his words blocked out the sun from his veg patch, not that he took in to account how I felt .

I cut it down to 6 feet I didn't have to as it wasn't a hedge just a lone bush , but just to keep the piece and be neighbourly.

Old saying "a high fence makes good neighbours"


I am sure they will be fine with you, cant see what I've done wrong , Imagine what they might be saying about you to friends family etc just like I did , dont want to sound harsh as that's something I try not to do on here but to have a open discussion may help you understand why they reacted in the way they did.

Spruce

 

I think the key, when dealing with boundary anything (hedging, fencing, space), is to ask first.

 

Not wanting to get on arguments here especially with spruce our friendly bee man. But would just like to point out apart from a 10 foot length which i confess i did lower by about 5". The rest about 80-90 feet in length was at the same height it always has been, the son has always cut to the same height as me or visa versa. All this was apart from the last 10 feet or so (which is the area I lowered) there was about a 6 inch width of last years growth which being privet and given the wet had grown long and straggly. So it was just thin whippy growth between 18" to 3 ' . He hasn't cut either the side or top of the hedge or mown the lawn since his son left not that that worries me . The neighbor the other side cut theirs (which is there boundery and came round and cut his side as well which I would have done as well if he had been more polite.

 

will be keeping a beady eye on this thread, i may run into the same 'hedge wars' this year. I hope it turns out okay for you.