Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12' widthways from the back of the house. It more or less runs the entire length and appears to be designed to obviously give privacy to a nearby bungalow.

The hedge is situated (just) on the neighbour's property and appears to be well trimmed. But it blocks out an awful lot of natural light to the rear of the property in which we are interested.

Question: If we were to buy the house, would the neigbour be forced by law in any way to reduce the height of the hedge to afford more natural light onto our house? Oh, the property is in Northern Ireland.

Thanks for any replies,

"seafuryfan" wrote in message
s.com...
Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only
drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12'
widthways from the back of the house. It more or less runs the entire
length and appears to be designed to obviously give privacy to a nearby
bungalow.

The hedge is situated (just) on the neighbour's property and appears to
be well trimmed. But it blocks out an awful lot of natural light to
the rear of the property in which we are interested.

Question: If we were to buy the house, would the neigbour be forced by
law in any way to reduce the height of the hedge to afford more natural
light onto our house? Oh, the property is in Northern Ireland.

Don.t buy the house. If you do, you are going to have either a garden with
reduced light or a neighbour who hates your guts.

Franz

I agree Franz,there is nothing worse than having battles with
neighbours.They wont be to pleased when you move in and demand the hedge to
be cut .I think in England,uk there is/going to be a law that states hedges
can be no higher than 2.5metres high,& the council if forced in action can
cut the hedges to the required height & charge the owner the costs for doing
so,also they can be fined £1000.About time too!
Nothing against hedges or trees ,if they are planted in the right place,some
people dont have any sense & plant anywere even if it makes someone elses
life miserable.
kenty
"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"seafuryfan" wrote in message
s.com...
Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only
drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12'
widthways from the back of the house. It more or less runs the entire
length and appears to be designed to obviously give privacy to a nearby
bungalow.

The hedge is situated (just) on the neighbour's property and appears to
be well trimmed. But it blocks out an awful lot of natural light to
the rear of the property in which we are interested.

Question: If we were to buy the house, would the neigbour be forced by
law in any way to reduce the height of the hedge to afford more natural
light onto our house? Oh, the property is in Northern Ireland.

Don.t buy the house. If you do, you are going to have either a garden
with
reduced light or a neighbour who hates your guts.

Franz

seafuryfan wrote in message
m...
Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only
drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12'
widthways from the back of the house. It more or less runs the entire
length and appears to be designed to obviously give privacy to a nearby
bungalow.

The hedge is situated (just) on the neighbour's property and appears to
be well trimmed. But it blocks out an awful lot of natural light to
the rear of the property in which we are interested.

Question: If we were to buy the house, would the neigbour be forced by
law in any way to reduce the height of the hedge to afford more natural
light onto our house? Oh, the property is in Northern Ireland.


There is to be a law introduced whereby, in the case of a dispute
between neighbours, a local council can intervene and reduce the height
of the hedge to 2m, however, as this hedge is there already I don't
think that will apply, even if it does in NI, because you bought the
house with the hedge 12' high. You could therefore, be assumed to
accepting it being there at that height.
I'm not a lawyer, but you really need to check this out very carefully.

Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk

I find it somewhat disturbing that, before you even buy the house, you
are considering whether the law will be sympathetic to you regarding a
nuisance hedge owned by a prospective neighbour.

This site gives you an insight into the proposed new law on the subject.
It is likely to be on your side, but what a start it would be to your
new life in a fresh environment when friendly supportive neighbours are
all important.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/news/highhedges.asp

Regards,
mrys Davies.




"seafuryfan" wrote in message
s.com...
Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only
drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12'
widthways from the back of the house. It more or less runs the entire
length and appears to be designed to obviously give privacy to a
nearby
bungalow.

The hedge is situated (just) on the neighbour's property and appears
to
be well trimmed. But it blocks out an awful lot of natural light to
the rear of the property in which we are interested.

Question: If we were to buy the house, would the neigbour be forced
by
law in any way to reduce the height of the hedge to afford more
natural
light onto our house? Oh, the property is in Northern Ireland.

Thanks for any replies,
--
seafuryfan
TF956
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk

seafuryfan wrote:

Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only
drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12'
widthways from the back of the house. It more or less runs the entire
length and appears to be designed to obviously give privacy to a nearby
bungalow.

The hedge is situated (just) on the neighbour's property and appears to
be well trimmed. But it blocks out an awful lot of natural light to
the rear of the property in which we are interested.

Question: If we were to buy the house, would the neigbour be forced by
law in any way to reduce the height of the hedge to afford more natural
light onto our house? Oh, the property is in Northern Ireland.

Do you really want to start life in a new house with a dispute with
neighbours in Northern Ireland of all places?
--
Nick Wagg

Why not approach the neighbours first, i.e. now? If they're sympathetic
and actually do this, you gain two ways (if you end up buying the
house). If they're not, you still gain two ways: (a) you find out in
advance that you'd have had a problem and (b) you avoid some
unsympathetic neighbours.

I can testify myself (being both on the receiving end and on the
delivery end) that it's *very easy* to allow a leylandii hedge to grow
taller than you ever intended: the bigger they get, the faster they
grow.

John

if the leylandi grows bigger than you intended then why did you plant it in
the first place?We all know these grow at pace,you could have planted
something more suitable.There are loads of conifers of all sizes,people just
dont use there brains when concidering what to plant were.If we did it would
save alot of time & stress.
kenty
"John" wrote in message
...
Why not approach the neighbours first, i.e. now? If they're sympathetic
and actually do this, you gain two ways (if you end up buying the
house). If they're not, you still gain two ways: (a) you find out in
advance that you'd have had a problem and (b) you avoid some
unsympathetic neighbours.

I can testify myself (being both on the receiving end and on the
delivery end) that it's *very easy* to allow a leylandii hedge to grow
taller than you ever intended: the bigger they get, the faster they
grow.

John

In article ,
"kenty ;-\)" wrote:

if the leylandi grows bigger than you intended then why did you plant it in
the first place?We all know these grow at pace,you could have planted
something more suitable.There are loads of conifers of all sizes,people just
dont use there brains when concidering what to plant were.If we did it would
save alot of time & stress.
kenty
I can testify myself (being both on the receiving end and on the
delivery end) that it's *very easy* to allow a leylandii hedge to grow
taller than you ever intended: the bigger they get, the faster they
grow.

(a) I didn't plant it - my predecessors did. (Personally, I have
planted beech, privet and Russian Vine!)

(b) I should have made the point more clearly: you get used to seeing
"a hedge" at the bottom of the garden -- you don't assess how high it
is. Then one day you realise, when you go out to cut it, that you're
needing to be one step higher up the stepladder than you were last year
.... and you realise that the _shape_ of the hedge is the same, but its
_height_ has crept up. You have the same effect with ornamental trees.

I was suggesting that the neighbours in Northern Ireland might not
actually realise how high their hedge has become.

John

In article ,
(kenty ;-\)) wrote:

If the leylandi grows bigger than you intended then why did you plant
it in the first place?

I had an Ailsa Craig Tomato plant and a Mooli radish grow larger than
intended this year. Also several fuchsia and some leeks that have grown
*smaller* than I intended.

Do all your plants grow as intended? What's your secret? :-)

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

No i have no secret,just common sense for example-if you have a garden with
neighbours on the other side you dont be a prat & plant a hedge that grows
10ft + or a oak tree in a small garden.A couple of ft in height here & there
is not what i am talking about, i am talking about plants in the wrong
location.
kenty
"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(kenty ;-\)) wrote:

If the leylandi grows bigger than you intended then why did you plant
it in the first place?

I had an Ailsa Craig Tomato plant and a Mooli radish grow larger than
intended this year. Also several fuchsia and some leeks that have grown
*smaller* than I intended.

Do all your plants grow as intended? What's your secret? :-)

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com

"seafuryfan" wrote in message
s.com...
Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only
drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12'
widthways from the back of the house. It more or less runs the entire
length and appears to be designed to obviously give privacy to a nearby
bungalow.

That would be a good enough reason for me not to buy the house.

It is a dispute just waiting to happen, and may already be such, so why the
vendor is selling (or trying to sell) the property.

--
Brian
"Stuck down a hole, in the fog, in the middle of the night, with an owl."

In article , kenty ;-)
writes
No i have no secret,just common sense for example-if you have a garden with
neighbours on the other side you dont be a prat & plant a hedge that grows
10ft + or a oak tree in a small garden.A couple of ft in height here & there
is not what i am talking about, i am talking about plants in the wrong
location.

Most hedges will happily grow 10ft plus in height if allowed to. The
only difference is the speed with which they do it.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

The message
from "Brian Watson" contains these words:


"seafuryfan" wrote in message
s.com...
Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only
drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12'
widthways from the back of the house. It more or less runs the entire
length and appears to be designed to obviously give privacy to a nearby
bungalow.

That would be a good enough reason for me not to buy the house.

It is a dispute just waiting to happen, and may already be such, so why the
vendor is selling (or trying to sell) the property.

If that's the case, the vendor is obliged to reveal an existing
neighbour-dispute. IMHO taking on an existing dispute simply isn't worth
the trouble and open-ended expense. The OP could find his own mortgage
lenders and insurers also take a very dim view.

If the vendor is not directly involved in any disputes, you should
also consider whether the hedge owner may be screening out nuisance from
someone or something else (dazzling security lights or flying balls from
property on the other side of the vendor's property, for example). The
vendor is not obliged to tell you about other peoples' problems and
disputes.

Janet.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
Situation: We want to buy a house which we really like. The only
drawback is that there is a 12' high leylandi hedge, located about 12'

It is a dispute just waiting to happen, and may already be such, so why
the
vendor is selling (or trying to sell) the property.

If that's the case, the vendor is obliged to reveal an existing
neighbour-dispute.

AFAIK, you're only obliged to reveal a dispute if you're asked directly. I
don't think you're under any obligation to reveal that information if not
asked the question directly.