Our neighbour has a 12ft leylandii hedge qrowing adjacent to our dividing fence. We can no longer grow healthy plants -digging down yesterday I found lots of thick roots which can only belong to the 'hedge' - they are feeding off our nourished border because on there side it is flagged. They are only having it cut once every 2 years - they say that is sufficient and they like the green on their side for privacy - on our side it is dead because we insisted it was cut back so we could get the dividing fence panels out to maintain them. They don't seem to see the problem. we have already had to take down the summerhouse which we loved to use in the sumer because the hedge over hung the back making it constantly wet and rotted it.
Any suggestions - a) how we persuade them to take it down before it affects our property and b) how can we make our side look more attractive?
We loved our garden - now we do nothing but worry about the damage it is doing.
8 Oct, 2011
Answers
Hi leylandi the curse of gardens if not controled, as MG suggested go to your local council, they will say 6ft is the legal height,if you want to make a official complaint so the council can investigate it will cost you about £400 for the coucil to inspect the complaint ? you could also put some tree stump killer in the roots? cheers
8 Oct, 2011
How utterly inconsiderate some neighbors are as Oldcrock said.... put stump killer in the roots & save your £400 Ooooo! It's time they band the sale of these tree's Grrr!
My neighbour has one and is at last going to chop it down, that will bring light back into my garden.
Good Luck
Jackie :o))
8 Oct, 2011
You can't kill someone else's possession. You can cut any roots invading your garden though.
Is there a reason your neighbours want a large hedge next to them? Perhaps constant BBQs, loud music, ugly garden, tat, bins or something of the like offends them and they would prefer to look at a hedge rather than that (not saying that you do!). I think it is inconsiderate to jump to assumptions just as it is inconsiderate to grow a massive hedge.
8 Oct, 2011
I would never advocate injecting stump killer into the roots of someone else's trees but see no reason not to chop them off as near the boundary as possible.
8 Oct, 2011
Proceed with caution! any damage to their trees may make £400 look cheap. The high hedge complaint form covers this, but as already said most councils charge a fee which can vary. You can trim back to the boundary any over hang so long as you return the bits to them, perhaps as they grow 3-5 ft per year you could make a point of doing this every 3 months?
9 Oct, 2011
Personally I'd ban leylandii unless the person lives on a large estate! The first step, as they refuse to do anything, would be to approach your local authority and ask them if they have a legal height for hedges, often this is 6 foot. You could then point out to your neighbour that they are breaking the law. This can get very unpleasant so proceed with caution.
If it were me I would also chop as many of the roots that are on your side of the boundary as possible. To be polite you could tell your neighbour but there is no requirement for you to do so.
As to how you can screen your side which you have had cut back hard my thought would be a trellis in front of the hedge with climbers going up through it. You'll probably need to grow them in containers or be prepared to work a lot of compost and soil improver into the area.
I wish you all success MG
8 Oct, 2011