Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard

Start here

www.hedgeline.org

http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/
--

that should be growing not 'frowing' - sorry

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block
out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard

you have my immense sympathy
as others have suggested see www.hedgeline.org and watch for the government
to take up the Stephen Pound Bill and push it through ........they have
promised they will do so
Please write to your MP and ask them to write to John Prescott to insist
that the government does as its promised and brings in legislation to contol
the menace of Leylandi and High hedges
Be sure to also explain the effect the trees have on your garden along with
the height and spread details
"Richard" wrote in message
...
that should be growing not 'frowing' - sorry

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block
out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard

bnd777 wrote in message
...
you have my immense sympathy
as others have suggested see www.hedgeline.org and watch for the
government
to take up the Stephen Pound Bill and push it through ........they have
promised they will do so
Please write to your MP and ask them to write to John Prescott to insist
that the government does as its promised and brings in legislation to
contol
the menace of Leylandi and High hedges
Be sure to also explain the effect the trees have on your garden along
with
the height and spread details


I inherited a leylandi hedge when i moved to present house, and am glad i
didnt chop it down. 8 ft high and 2 think I trim it twice a year. Spoke to
the neighbour and negotiated the removal of some to give him more light and
all has been fine since. Good bird nesting places and escape for birds from
cats and i can run about the garden with my trousers off if i had the urge!

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block
out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard


Have you tried just asking them? Quite often a neighbour will be unaware of
the upset that is going on around them because people don't say anything.
Explain that the trees have now gotten so tall that they are 'blocking out
your light', 'killing your plants', 'stopping you using the garden' - just
plain facts. Don't go at it with the belief that they have 'done this to
you' as this could just start conflict.

In ,
tim50stroud typed:
bnd777 wrote in message
...
you have my immense sympathy
as others have suggested see www.hedgeline.org and watch for the
government to take up the Stephen Pound Bill and push it through
........they have promised they will do so
Please write to your MP and ask them to write to John Prescott to
insist that the government does as its promised and brings in
legislation to contol the menace of Leylandi and High hedges
Be sure to also explain the effect the trees have on your garden
along with the height and spread details


I inherited a leylandi hedge when i moved to present house, and am
glad i didnt chop it down. 8 ft high and 2 think I trim it twice a
year. Spoke to the neighbour and negotiated the removal of some to
give him more light and all has been fine since. Good bird nesting
places and escape for birds from cats and i can run about the garden
with my trousers off if i had the urge!

You clearly are at the very sensible and reasonable end of the Leylandii
Hegege owner spectrum.

Please have sympathy for those householders whose less enlightened
neighbours allow their hedges to blight the lives of others.

there are other less thug like evergreens that do a similar job but less
oppressively.

pk

Thoroughly agree this approach should be the first second and even third
attempt ,,,,,,,and it would be wonderful to hear that it worked but if you
get the kind of response most folk get then clearly other avenues have to be
considered
"Kase" wrote in message
...

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block
out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard


Have you tried just asking them? Quite often a neighbour will be unaware
of
the upset that is going on around them because people don't say anything.
Explain that the trees have now gotten so tall that they are 'blocking out
your light', 'killing your plants', 'stopping you using the garden' - just
plain facts. Don't go at it with the belief that they have 'done this to
you' as this could just start conflict.

Excellent advice kase.
I recently was asked by a client to inspect his hedge as it looked droopy.
It turned out that the neighbour had sprayed it with agricultural gramoxone
(paraquat based) I had two days with my skin prickly and my eyes swollen
shut.( i was unaware of the fresh chemical on the plants and walked among
them unprotected)

My client almost started ww3 over it but I got him to chat with the
neighbour. My client hadn't realised that the hedge blocked the flight path
to a pigeon loft and the neighbour didn't think my client would reduce the
hedge. Now they know what each other wants they have reached a compromise
and the hedge will be kept to a suitable height.

It pays to communicate.

www.arghamvillage.co.uk

Kase wrote in message
...

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block
out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard


Have you tried just asking them? Quite often a neighbour will be unaware
of
the upset that is going on around them because people don't say anything.
Explain that the trees have now gotten so tall that they are 'blocking out
your light', 'killing your plants', 'stopping you using the garden' - just
plain facts. Don't go at it with the belief that they have 'done this to
you' as this could just start conflict.

Richard wrote:

Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard

Our battle against neighbouring leylandii has gone on for several years.
The neighbour, an elderly lady, just refused to trim her trees. They
finally reached over thirty feet. Once the sun reached midday some 50%
of the garden was in total shade. Not only was the height a problem but
also their closeness to the fence some two to three feet away, one was
within arm's length of my rear wall! Great thick roots are coming under
the fence above the ground and the life was being sucked out of that
part of the garden. Branches were protruding into our garden with no
attempt to keep them in trim. We have tried every thing apart from
legal proceedings. Letters from solicitors and insurance companies
holding her liable for any possible damage cause by one particular tree
went unanswered. We could not have a sensible discussion through a
letter box ! All invites for tea and cake were refused. All our
concerns were rubbish, no sunlight in your rear room, go sit in another
one, you've a big garden go sit some somewhere else.
Suddenly, out of the blue, work men appeared and the trees were cut down
to about ten feet ! Well ! Well !
We offered to pay for a sensible hedge but no way. These trees extend
laterally in her narrow garden some 5 to 8 feet so she is loosing an
awful lot of her own garden ! It's not as if we live in two story
houses, but trees twice the height of your your bungalow, ridiculous.
Now what to do about our fence........ There is a limit to what you can
do from one side. I can't reach the bottom panels to re nail nor can I
replace new bottom arras rails. My neighbour's response is any work
that needs doing has to be done from your side. We have reached an
impasse. Unless I can do maintenance on both sides of the fence
ultimately the fence will have to rot and fall down.
What a tale of woe and I've not started on the b###dy pyracantha....
Dam neighbours ! We have four neighbours whose gardens surround us, the
other three wonderful.
We've been contemplating employing a hit man ! I've had so many raids
on these trees but they defy all attempts at ruination. I've tried
very long copper nails to no effect they just laugh them off, they are
an incredibly tough species. At ten feet we have our sun light back
but they are still incredibly close and I have all the work of trying to
maintain a reasonble hedge my side.
You are not alone. Bring on the Bill!

Go out at night when they're away and cut the lot down , deny any knowledge
and there you go ;-)
"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block
out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard

On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 23:06:01 +0100, Derek Banks wrote:

...Great thick roots are coming under the fence above the
ground and the life was being sucked out of that part of the
garden.

I've been told that if you put one drop of battery acid on the
cut end of a tree root, the entire tree soon turns bright yellow
and then dies. I've never actually tried this, but any port in a
storm.


Now what to do about our fence........ There is a limit to what you can
do from one side. I can't reach the bottom panels to re nail nor can I
replace new bottom arras rails. My neighbour's response is any work
that needs doing has to be done from your side. We have reached an
impasse. Unless I can do maintenance on both sides of the fence
ultimately the fence will have to rot and fall down.

You may have a legal right to go onto her land in order to repair
your fence. Again, I won't pretend that I know this for sure and
the law in the UK may very well differ from that in British
Columbia, but it makes sense for the law to allow such access to
neighboring properties.

chorus of "since when has the law ever made sense?"

Ask your lawyer to look into this question.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

You may have a legal right to go onto her land in order to repair
your fence. Again, I won't pretend that I know this for sure and
the law in the UK may very well differ from that in British
Columbia, but it makes sense for the law to allow such access to
neighboring properties.

This is the case in the UK as well. It covers repair and maintenance only
not construction. A court order is required.

On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 21:12:45 +0000 (UTC), "bnd777"
wrote:

the upset that is going on around them because people don't say anything.
Explain that the trees have now gotten so tall that they are 'blocking out
your light', 'killing your plants', 'stopping you using the garden' - just
plain facts. Don't go at it with the belief that they have 'done this to
you' as this could just start conflict.

Thoroughly agree this approach should be the first second and even third
attempt ,,,,,,,and it would be wonderful to hear that it worked but if you
get the kind of response most folk get then clearly other avenues have to be
considered


It worked for me; two of my neighbours have them. When we moved in
the one on the side saw me digging the totally uncultivated ground and
said 'Ah, you're a gardener - I'd better do something about the
Leylandii' - and cut them to six foot. The one at the rear said 'Do
what you like with them as long as you can't see in my windows.' He
then came out the next day and lopped the tops to ten feet and I keep
then trimmed for him. I did send my girlfriend to ask him as she's
/much/ more diplomatic then me. It may also help if you offer to do
all the work because as far as your neighbours are concerned you'll be
seeing all the benefit.

Andy

This does highlight perfectly the problem, it not the leylandii themselves,
but the neighbours, any law which is passed should be passed to control the
behaviour of neighbours, setup some form of neighbourhood arbitation, so
that disputes can be settled, set this up right, something like the small
claims court, and costs can be kept minimal, and decisions can be made
binding.
This would allow you to control much more than just one tree species.

As one other poster here pointed out, sensibly controlled, leylandii are an
excellent hedge, they grow fast sure, but that's why they are so common, I
mean it's all very well saying everyone should use native species, but these
take 10-20 years to form a useful barrier, or at least much longer than
leylandii would do. They also generally take up more room at ground level.

We have about 160 foot of leylandii hedging, both side of the garden, it's
all kept to about 8 foot, and there's even a gap to allow more light to the
neighbours greenhouse. This is because we are considerate neighbours,
despite the parking problems!!!, totally off topic, but is a law is passed
to enforce all leylandii to be trimmed to a maximum of 6 feet, then we will
lose most of our privacy, we will lose numerous, well used, nesting sites,
plenty of sparrows, and even a blackbird or two.

It is for these reasons, that I would ask that people try to object to the
right things, its' not the trees fault they are growing out of control, they
grow, it's what they do, if PEOPLE are unwilling to be reasonable then it is
PEOPLE who need to be controlled not the plants they grow.

Sorry rant mode off.
Duncan

"Derek Banks" wrote in message
...
Richard wrote:

Hi,

My neighbour to the rear of my garden has leylandii frowing. These block
out
the sunlight in my garden from just after midday.

Has anyone got any legal tips or persuading them to trim them down a few
metres?

Many thanks,

Richard

Our battle against neighbouring leylandii has gone on for several years.
The neighbour, an elderly lady, just refused to trim her trees. They
finally reached over thirty feet. Once the sun reached midday some 50%
of the garden was in total shade. Not only was the height a problem but
also their closeness to the fence some two to three feet away, one was
within arm's length of my rear wall! Great thick roots are coming under
the fence above the ground and the life was being sucked out of that
part of the garden. Branches were protruding into our garden with no
attempt to keep them in trim. We have tried every thing apart from
legal proceedings. Letters from solicitors and insurance companies
holding her liable for any possible damage cause by one particular tree
went unanswered. We could not have a sensible discussion through a
letter box ! All invites for tea and cake were refused. All our
concerns were rubbish, no sunlight in your rear room, go sit in another
one, you've a big garden go sit some somewhere else.
Suddenly, out of the blue, work men appeared and the trees were cut down
to about ten feet ! Well ! Well !
We offered to pay for a sensible hedge but no way. These trees extend
laterally in her narrow garden some 5 to 8 feet so she is loosing an
awful lot of her own garden ! It's not as if we live in two story
houses, but trees twice the height of your your bungalow, ridiculous.
Now what to do about our fence........ There is a limit to what you can
do from one side. I can't reach the bottom panels to re nail nor can I
replace new bottom arras rails. My neighbour's response is any work
that needs doing has to be done from your side. We have reached an
impasse. Unless I can do maintenance on both sides of the fence
ultimately the fence will have to rot and fall down.
What a tale of woe and I've not started on the b###dy pyracantha....
Dam neighbours ! We have four neighbours whose gardens surround us, the
other three wonderful.
We've been contemplating employing a hit man ! I've had so many raids
on these trees but they defy all attempts at ruination. I've tried
very long copper nails to no effect they just laugh them off, they are
an incredibly tough species. At ten feet we have our sun light back
but they are still incredibly close and I have all the work of trying to
maintain a reasonble hedge my side.
You are not alone. Bring on the Bill!