Q. For a couple of years now I have been having problems with my neighbours’ hedge, which is now at a height of approximately 20 feet and is encroaching on my property. It is so high that my sitting room is in shadow for most of the day. For reasons unknown to me, my neighbour and I never really hit it off. I approached my neighbour on three separate occasions and requested that the hedge be cut but he has done absolutely nothing. I even offered to pay for hedge cutting myself, but I am getting radio silence. The hedge is really interfering with my enjoyment of my property. Is there anything I can do?
Dear Reader,
Sometimes neighbours become so entrenched in their positions they lose sight of the common-sense approach. Indeed, boundary disputes have even led to murders, such as in 2003 in Lincolnshire, England, when a 52-year-old man shot dead his 66-year-old neighbour and then took his own life. The pair had an ongoing dispute about the height of the hedge. Hopefully, you will not act quite so rashly.
One in four of us will experience problems with a neighbour over the course of our lives, according to statistics from the Good Housekeeping Institute, so you are not alone.
The UK has legislation dealing with hedge heights and even the type of hedging permitted, however we do not have such legislation here. Notwithstanding that, there are steps you can take to minimise this nuisance.
A hedge or tree belongs to the person whose land it grows on, but you are entitled to trim anything that overhangs from your neighbour’s garden into yours.
People regularly cut the top and side of hedges on their side of a boundary, but it would be illegal to cut your neighbour’s side of the hedge without permission.
If the dispute is over light being blocked, while there is no legal right to light per se, you may be able to get a court order to have the hedge cut back – if you can convince a judge that your previous level of light is seriously reduced and the hedge is causing a nuisance.
I don’t think there is much point in approaching your neighbour again given that he has done nothing to date. What you might want to do is write your neighbour explaining the impact the hedge is having on you and your property. Given that you have offered to pay for a hedge cutter, he may agree at this juncture. In the letter, you might point out to your neighbour that a generally accepted, reasonable height for a hedge in urban areas is two metres.
If reasonableness does not prevail and if you can prove that your neighbours has substantially interfered with your enjoyment of your property, you will have an action against your neighbour for nuisance.
