Rhiannon Macfie Miller wrote:
At the bottom of my garden (the south end) is a Leylandii-type hedge.
When we moved in two years ago it was already a little higher than I'd
have liked, and we've not had time to do anything about it up till now;
the neighbours to the side of us also told us that the people on the
other side of the hedge had argued with the previous owner about the
hedge, which made us chary of approaching them about it. Recently we've
had more time, but the hedge is now too high for us to feel comfortable
cutting ourselves, and so I'd be looking to get a professional in to cut
it.

Finally, today, I went round to the house to ask permission to reduce
the height of the hedge. There was nobody there, and no furniture
visible through the windows either. Further investigation on the net
revealed that the house has recently been listed for sale, and has
therefore presumably just been sold. So, my question is: do I quickly
get the hedge cut before someone moves in, or should I wait an
unspecified amount of time in the hope that the new neighbour will be
amenable to a lower chop or complete removal of the hedge?

Rhiannon
Have a look he
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1127869
It gives some information but like most things leaves out the bits you
really want. I doubt you can legally enter your neighbours property and
chop down his trees, but once they are down, who is going to argue?