Shared Hedge

[Khriss]

7 hours ago, Jon Heuch said:

You need to go back to whatever documents you have that describe the arrangements for joint ownership. If your drive had a pot hole in it, what procedures are laid down for fixing the pot hole, for example? These documents should clearly set out your rights - right of entry and use of the land for example and may restrict those rights i.e. you probably shouldn't park your caravan or your veteran car collection on the drive restricting  your neighbour's access......but precisely what is and is not allowed will depend on that agreement. There may even be a bit about conflict resolution....seeking mediation or similar.

 

Clearly, if unilateral action takes place the whole idea of joint ownership (& management) becomes a bit of a mess.

 

To stop it you would probably need to seek an injunction from a court; expensive, but then anything done contrary to the injunction would be a matter for the court not just for you to seek damages.

 

And of course you have to live next to them and deal with the next joint ownership problem, so best take this slowly. Suggest a compromise on the pruning as others have suggested.

...... Have you seen the state of some 'private drives'  🙄 K

[parkgate]

2 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

12 feet sounds pretty high - what’s the other side/what privacy does the top 4-5 feet give you?

The drive is an upward slope and I am at the top therefore the extra 6 feet makes a significant difference to me.

[parkgate]

7 hours ago, Jon Heuch said:

You need to go back to whatever documents you have that describe the arrangements for joint ownership. If your drive had a pot hole in it, what procedures are laid down for fixing the pot hole, for example? These documents should clearly set out your rights - right of entry and use of the land for example and may restrict those rights i.e. you probably shouldn't park your caravan or your veteran car collection on the drive restricting  your neighbour's access......but precisely what is and is not allowed will depend on that agreement. There may even be a bit about conflict resolution....seeking mediation or similar.

 

Clearly, if unilateral action takes place the whole idea of joint ownership (& management) becomes a bit of a mess.

 

To stop it you would probably need to seek an injunction from a court; expensive, but then anything done contrary to the injunction would be a matter for the court not just for you to seek damages.

 

And of course you have to live next to them and deal with the next joint ownership problem, so best take this slowly. Suggest a compromise on the pruning as others have suggested.

Yes you are right of course a compromise would be the best solution - the documents are very sketchy - when we bought the house the strip of land with the hedge and the drive is not shown on the title plan for either property - the solicitor did say there is and element of risk with but had gone as far as he can.You do make logical legal points though and I may have an exploratory meeting with a solicitor by which time it may be too late for this cut.

[Jack.P]

If these are just the common Laurel then once trimmed they will only grow back quicker anyway .but if they are more mature /woody and cut back to bare wood then the new regrowth shoots would form the hedge so would probably end up a few ft higher .i cut one back hard about 2 months ago and been back again to trim it today 

so they can grow like weeds and usually hard to keep them the same height without constant maintenance 

[parkgate]

Thank you.

 

it is good to know that they will grow back rapidly and as doobin said they can grow 3 ft in one year.

They are mature laurel trees though I wonder if cutting them back hard will affect their health? -  and I suppose they have a finite life, but hopefully they go on for many years even centuries like other trees?
 

The base of the trees are about 40cm in diameter but I have no idea of the actual age.

Edited July 15, 2021 by parkgate

[daveatdave]

15 hours ago, parkgate said:

Thank you.

 

it is good to know that they will grow back rapidly and as doobin said they can grow 3 ft in one year.

They are mature laurel trees though I wonder if cutting them back hard will affect their health? -  and I suppose they have a finite life, but hopefully they go on for many years even centuries like other trees?
 

The base of the trees are about 40cm in diameter but I have no idea of the actual age.

you could cut them back to ground level and they will come back again saw one once that had been cut with a flail on a tractor 3ft off the sides and  6ft off the top 2 years later it looked a good hedge 

[Derek Eames]

I think that you will find that anything above 2m constitutes a "nuisance" under law however others can confirm. Sorry if that is not what you want to hear.

[harvey b davison]

Any chance of some photos, showing how things are ?