Hedge Boundary To Neighbour

[beverleymot]

Hi all, in my back garden my property is split off from my neighbour by a hedge that’s about 8ft tall, 100ft long and 2ft wide.
In the three years of living here they’ve never once tended to the hedge on their side- it was massively overgrown and I ended up speaking to their housing association about it who wrote to them (I would’ve spoke to them directly but they are beyond unreasonable with other issues myself and other neighbours have had with them). They’ve since cleared it up (well, it looks better anyway than it did!).
Today I’ve come home and they’ve stuck a 6ft tall fence on their side directly next to the hedge- omitting all responsibility for the hedge leaving me to cut and maintain the entire thing!
Where do I stand on this? Surely they should still have to maintain their side?? And, if neither of us cut it and it overgrew to the point of knocking the fence down who is then responsible?
Honestly fed up of this couple and would rather not have to approach them again about it. But not really sure what I can do?

Thanks

[Ellipsis]

Do you own your property? And who is responsible for that boundary?

[calmck]

You need to see in the Deeds who is responsible for maintaining the hedge

[beverleymot]

The boundary is split down the middle of the hedge.

[Peter Pedant]

It is a shared hedge
their action ( as you will realise) do NOT affect who owns what

you maintain your half, and let their half rip

I had this. it ended up looking like a cliff - my half was 5' and an abrupt cliff face and their half was 8'

you have no rights to make them do diddly squat
stop trying

[Peter Pedant]

oh, can you cut the whole lot down and say
oh my share is the whole hedge and your property now begins at your fence ?

not surprisingly, no you cant

[THECORBYLOON]

If the hedge is eight-foot tall and their fence is two foot shorter, surely there is two foot of hedge on their side yo cut still?

Would it be easier to maintain if it were reduced to six-foot? Do you think they would object if you were to trim it?

[Cloverjo]

I have a shared hedge with my neighbour. My gardener trims my half. I leave the other side to my neighbour. Who doesn’t trim it.
It might be annoying but it could be worse. Loud music would annoy me more than an untrimmed hedge, eg.
Count your blessings!

[Ellipsis]

Which property owns (planted) the hedge?

[beverleymot]

Peter pendant thanks for your answer. I appreciate I can’t make them do anything, it’s all well and good me carrying on maintaining my bit, but now their half will technically overgrown in my garden, and they def won’t come into my garden to maintain their side of it.

Corbyloon yes there would still be 1-2ft overhang that they’d need to maintain. They def wouldn’t object to us cutting it but it’s a big job that’s hard enough for us to keep on top of without having to do theirs too.

Cloverjo yes that would definitely be worse!

Ellipsis the hedge has been there since the property was built in the 1960s. The houses were originally council when erected but sold to housing association in the late 90s and the option to buy was given to tenants soon after. My neighbour is still H.A

[Ellipsis]

Somebody has to own the ground that the hedge is planted in. If it's yours you can do as you wish. If it's theirs you can only cut your half, and appeal to the owner (the housing association) to take care of the other half. If they don't want to know then (if you want) just claim it all and do as you wish ... it's your hedge. Cut the whole thing, chop it down and plant a border 1 ft from their fence, whatever ...

You need to accept the fact that your current neighbour is not going to cut the hedge.

[Hopkirk]

Why are you worried about it knocking their fence over?

Rejoice that they have put up a fence.

Do what you like with the hedge. Brutal cut? Take it out? Gently trim your side?

[beverleymot]

Maybe I’m not putting myself across properly! I don’t want the hedge either!! It’s way too much maintenance! But, we do take care of our side to be courteous to our neighbours all around us as nobody wants to see an eyesore. Therefore, if I don’t want my side why should I have to take on maintenance to their side too?!
I also asked would I be responsible if the hedge knocked their fence down?

[beverleymot]

Hopkirk why would I rejoice?? They’ve fenced themselves off from the hedge leaving all responsibility to me!

[Hopkirk]

They would be responsible for that.

[murraymints]

cut the whole thing down..now there is a fence !

[beverleymot]

Murraymints I can’t unfortunately as it’s not all mine, it’s half housing association, who name the tenants as responsible for their half, ie: my neighbours

[Hopkirk]

Who would complain? Not the neighbours.

[Old_Geezer]

Just take care of your half. Perhaps they value privacy more than you do. If there are no laws/bylaws/rules stating responsibility and limits then don't let it get to you.