Neighbour dug up a 20 year hedge

Pardon the pun, but the old cherry 'hedging being dug up by neighbours' is back again.

Sisters neighbours are extending their house. Mentioned it to my sister, she said cool. Work away. Next thing 20 year hedge ripped up. Builder 'He told me to dig it up!'

Sister says whats the story. Yer man. I need to build a wall. Turns out now with the hedge dug up that the wall is encroaching into her lad, only inches. But still.

Next thing yer man offers some cash. Sister says no. Just get an engineer to re-zone or replan a map to say that you are in 'my land' (not sure about this) - she wasnt concerned about inches. But please dont build until that is done.

The fecker keeps bulding. Sister sends a sol letter to yer man. No word since.

Hedges and neigbours - you GOTTA love em!



BM

brian.mobile said:

Pardon the pun, but the old cherry 'hedging being dug up by neighbours' is back again.

Sisters neighbours are extending their house. Mentioned it to my sister, she said cool. Work away. Next thing 20 year hedge ripped up. Builder 'He told me to dig it up!'

Sister says whats the story. Yer man. I need to build a wall. Turns out now with the hedge dug up that the wall is encroaching into her lad, only inches. But still.

Next thing yer man offers some cash. Sister says no. Just get an engineer to re-zone or replan a map to say that you are in 'my land' (not sure about this) - she wasnt concerned about inches. But please dont build until that is done.

The fecker keeps bulding. Sister sends a sol letter to yer man. No word since.

Hedges and neigbours - you GOTTA love em!



BM

Click to expand...

Same thing happened to us many years ago in UK, neighbour at the back of us, we went out shopping one morning, leaving a nice thick 7 ft high hedge, which was on our boundary, came home to find a butchered hedge, been taken down to about 4 ft off the ground, anyway to cut along story short, we had our solicitor send them a letter, luck would have it, in the end, as it was our hedge, he paid for a new close board fence to be put up, well, materials, hubby did the job, but all the same, YOU GOTTA LOVE EM NOT

Whatever happened to 'good fences make good neighbours'...?

BM — if, despite everything, they've gone ahead and thrown up a wall — and ignored the solicitor's letter — your sister probably has the upper hand in any future negotiations. Hang tough on the boundary thing and make sure they cover the cost of making the build quality and the appearance of the wall on her side suit her (reasonable!) requirements... legally, she may now 'own' the bloody thing!

Document everything.

Actually what is the legal position on owership of dividing walols/hedges etc.....or is that to stupid a question to ask!

ninsaga

I don't know about Ireland but here in the UK there are several Parties Wall Acts from the 1970's which define things clearly. A fence or hedge erected on your boundary (defined by the deeds) constitutes part of your property. Any attack on that - breaking, defacing, hanging objects or baskets or planting in such a manner that the roots damage the wall/fence/hedge is considered an attack on one's property!

However that said, I believe taking these instances to court can be an expensive and time-consuming process, especially if the other party starts with, and maintains, innocence of the consequences of their actions........or, as in this case, "asked permission". Boundary fence issues can ruin your enjoyment of your home, in my experience so any negotiation you can achieve as quickly as possible is to the good. There seems to be a lot of this in Ireland nowadays.

In the UK they have the Party Wall Act 1996 - it relates to the boundary wall that separates properties (for example, a semi D party wall or a frence / hedge). I think the jist of the Party Wall Act is that you are both responsible for maintaining your own side (in terms of painting, making good defects, etc) but must act jointly in ensuring the party wall is supported - one party can't act unilaterally in amending the party wall in any way. In the UK independent surveyors get involved and if they can't agree I think a third party is brought in, either another surveyor or solicitor, to arbitrate. Sounds complicated and expensive. I don't think we have anything like it here, but is sounds like a handy piece of legislation for these situations anyway - at least thesers legal basis and precendent there.

In your case, the boundary between the properties will be set by the Land Registry and will appear in the property folio. In the case of an external wall, you own the outside of a wall that bounds and open space. In the case of joint walls / fences, I would tthink the principles of the Party Wall Act apply here, in that you are responsible for your own side but can't act unilaterally when amending the boundary - this would also apply to your neighbour and their builder. Even if the boundary is amended, if you or your neighbour sell on the property, issues may arise when the conveyancing solicitor does the due diligence. I would say document everything - people have selective memories, particularly where our learned colleagues (and expense) are involved.

could I suggest that your sister could request that her side of the wall is plastered and parhaps increased in height, capped etc soas she effectively gets what suits her as best as possible