Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Smallhold Farming and Rural Living => Property, Buildings, Equipment and Alternative Energy => Topic started by: compostqueen on August 04, 2011, 11:35
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My neighbour has sold the bottom of her garden and the new owner now wants to rip out 22 m of my hedgerow, filled with English native trees such as hawthorn, hazel, beech, etc and install a 6 ' high solid wooden fence :ohmy:
Can she do this? The hedge is on the boundary. I thought she could trim it on her side but not take it out completely. If she installs a fence surely it has to be all on her own side of the boundary so she can get behind it to maintain it
Can she rip out the hedge?
Does she need planning consent to install the fence?
:(
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You will need to look on your deeds to see which boundaries you are responsible for.
Traditionally the boundary on the right (as you look form the road) is yours. It varies with the far end of the plot (bottom of the garden).
If the hedge is on "your boundary" they cannot take it out but they can put a fence up on their side of that hedge (whilst leaving your hedge in).
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It is on the right! It is the very bottom of the garden we are talking about.
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You need to check your deeds.
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Who owns which fence ? (http://www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/fences.html#Is it true that every house owns the fence on its left side, as you look at it from the street?)
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If you do have problems and the hedge is their boundary and not your's you should talk to your local council incase there are other issues that could be handy in you're attempt to keep the hedge there.
is the area a conservation area,if so planning is needed for such work.
Would ripping out the hedge infringe in any way on your'e privacy?
Is there a listed building involved in any of the parties as the whole boundary and all within is listed not just the house(I know I live in one and you can't even fart without the sound and smell conforming to strict guidlines)
But as aunty said it's the deeds that are you're best defence ,check that the boundary is in the same place on the deeds that you're neighbour had as on the deeds that the new owner has as a mistake can easily occur when drawing out the site map
You could find a rare plant/animal in the hedge if all else fail's ;).there might be a constraint on when you can take out a hedge too as it would disturb nesting birds etc
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Who owns which fence ? (http://www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/fences.html#Is it true that every house owns the fence on its left side, as you look at it from the street?)
Really good link and some usefull information. Thanks. :)
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Is it young (younger than 30 years) garden hedge or could it at any time have been considered ancient hedgerow. If it was then there may be an enclosures map held at your parish council or public records office which may prevent its removal.
These websites explain more.
http://www.hedgelink.org.uk/hedgelink/UK-hedgerow-legislation.htm
http://www.naturenet.net/articles/congreve/index.html
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/hedge_tree_tcm9-161321.pdf
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The hedge is 88 years old. I had no reply from the solicitor >:(
The hedge is on my boundary and my deeds say that it was the responsibility of the purchaser that the "quick set" hedge be planted within six months from the date on the deed and maintained therefrom. So, it's mine so I hope possession is 9/10's of the law
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Why has the new owner bought the garden? Does he/she intend to get planning permission to build a property? If so they are probably trying to clear any trees etc that they want rid of before applying. Once they have applied they have to detail what is growing on the plot and they are usually told that they cannot remove mature trees etc. You could apply for a tree preservation order on the trees and ask the council if the hedge can also be protected by the order. Good luck.
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If the trees are on your land there's no way they can take them out.
Just tell them that!
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My neighbour has sold the bottom of her garden and the new owner now wants to rip out 22 m of my hedgerow,
How do you know this? Have you just 'heard' of what the new owners are going to do, or have they submitted plans?
You could get help from Citizen's Advice, they also have solicitors available to help.
It's probably also a good idea to talk to the local planning department to tell them you're worried about the situation - nobody can build a house without getting planning consent.
Browsing this site (http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=d9d52f5dd59f0f3a9662035b86c27e91) might give you more information and ideas.
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Thanks folks for all these suggestions and advice. I'm so grateful for it as in these situations knowledge is power. I'd not even considered that she could be clearing the sight to make a housing plot. One of the reasons for my neighbour selling the land is to protect it from development. It would be ironic if that was the case. She doesn't live there now having moved up the road
The lady buying the land has not shown us any legal documents as she doesn't have any yet as the transaction has not gone ahead. My neighbour phoned me last night and offered it to us instead as she finds the buyer "bombastic" We simply can't afford the £6,400 plus the legal fees whatever they are. The garden is 22 x 7 m. I would love to buy it but we are renovating the house so that has to take priority. I can envisage though regretting it in years to come.
My solicitor has come through and I had a long chat with her yesterday and she emailed me a letter through. She suggested that we try and negotiate to rent the land but I think my neighbour wants some money fast :(
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It would increase the value of your property so you could consider a further advance of mortgage which should keep any payments to a minimum.
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I would love to do that but we have maxed out our mortgage to do renovations which we are still in the middle of. It's now causing a rift in the camp as I want to buy it and OH doesn't :(
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Hopefully the hedge will stay and it won't be built on.
Have you enquired with the local planning authority about the likelyhood of them granting planning on the land. They will usually give you a verbal indication. If they are saying no way you could pass this information on to the new buyer and it might put them off buying. Discuss your hedge at the same time. Wishing you loads of luck with this. :)
Just had a thought, if the seller is selling to protect it from development she can add a covenant to it which forbids development. Your solicitor should have pointed this out to you. Don't know why I did not think of it before. :nowink:
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Hopefully she only wants a garden and she's not planning on building a garage or worse. The hedge should be ok as it's mine but apparently she can build up to the hedge line even though that would mean it couldn't be accessed for maintenance. It would be daft to do that but folks do it all the time apparently
Plans to develop the gardens in the past have all failed so we're hoping that nothing has changed
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Fingers crossed for you that things turn out well. :)
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Thanks :)
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Hi Compost Queen. Sorry to hear of your problems. I am a solicitor but I don't practice in land law. However, if it is the express intention of your neighbour that the land should not be built on, she should consider including in the contract of sale a covenant that expressly forbids the construction of permanent structures. That will "flush out" the true intentions of the purchaser. Also, would the neighbour consider selling you the land by instalment payments? Just a thought...good luck.
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Hope you find the means to buy - I brought a small parcel of land adjoining my property about 4/5 years ago and paid the exhorbatant price of 40GBP per square m which is what yous is working out at. There were restrictive covenants on that too
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My husband won't buy it >:( he says we already have more than we need :( True but still I think I might live to regret it but there we are. I am miffed though as he gave me optimism that he would. He is being practical though and we do have a whole house to finish renovating
The lady selling the land needs the money or she wouldn't be selling it as she loves the garden very much. It's a wildlife garden, with lots of trees, shrubs, wild areas, meadow bit, high hedgerows filled with birds. We have foxes and a sparrowhawk. Just magical really and to see it cleared to make way for flat lawn will do us both in. I know it's not mine so none of my business but it's hard not to be upset for the loss of habitat. I heard this morning that the state of the nation's stock of cuckoo and hedgehogs is parlous, which didn't make me feel any better :(
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That's a shame, its sometimes good when the heart can prevail over common sense. :(
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I'm sure you can "persuade" OH that the wild life garden must be saved !!!
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I doubt it, sadly. He's more practical than I am and doesn't let his heart rule his head. He sees that we have more than enough garden than we need so don't need this extra bit. It won't bother him greatly that it might be cleared and just turned to lawn. He is with me on the hedgerow though thank goodness
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If they don't rip your hedgerow out while you're not looking, I'd still be very concerned that a wall might appear butted right up against it - even of a temporary structure. :(
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nothing you can do about that! as long as it's on their side of the boundary, they can build one.
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No, that's right there isn't. :(
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I heard yesterday that their idea of taking out the hedge is no longer on the cards, nor is their planned fence. It seems that the husband wants to retain our hedge and does not want a fence. I expect he found out about all the levelling that would have to be done first before buying 22 m of fencing
Phew
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Glad it has turned out alright in the end. You didn't need the worry and stress but I suppose thats life. ::)
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I know :( I just hope it's over. OH and I now have to plant some new hedging to plug a gap where it's been breached. It's a proper hedge with some really good varieties in it but I think the privet does nothing for it so won't be using that. The hawthorn, hazel and damson look good in it so I might get some more of those. Decisions, decisions :)
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I have always fancied a cobnut hedge but do not have any space so will have to wait until we move and hopefully will then. Here is a link about cobnut planting which might interest you if you are considering a variety for your hedge. www.kentishcobnutsassociation.org.uk/technical-information.aspx
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Thanks for that link, which I shall read up about as I'd not thought of cobnuts. Fruit, nuts and berries in the hedge is what I'm after. We have hips too from dog roses, haws and damsons. I think we have hazel but I've not seen any nuts unfortunately. I am going to contact our local Groundworks team and a local tree nursery to see what their hedging packs contain.
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If you like Sloe Gin you might want to plant Blackthorn, rather prickly though!
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I don't need blackthorn as luckily there is plenty of it on my dog walk :)
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A happy follow-up to this is that today I've been out to a local tree place and come back with some bare root native hedging plants
Got blackthorns (as someone suggested), 3 limes (for the bees) which cost about 69 p each :D Guelder roses, and a hazel avellana. They came in packs of 10 so I might have some left overs :)
Not got them in though as it was absolutely pouring when I got home
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Thats a great price and a good mix for a hedge row. Happy planting. :)
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3 limes (for the bees) which cost about 69 p each
Some limes are toxic to bees.
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7804
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Don't forget to put bunny guards around them CQ :ohmy:
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Yes, I've got the guards and fitted to the plants which I managed to get in today
I got the hazel, the limes, a few of the guelder roses and two blackthorns in :) I think I'll end up potting some of them up :D
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I love guelder roses :)
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:) I've got some left so I think I might put a couple in the allotment hedge, and perhaps a sloe. Some newbies have been taking hedges out so I think the balance needs to be redressed 8)
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:) I've got some left so I think I might put a couple in the allotment hedge, and perhaps a sloe. Some newbies have been taking hedges out so I think the balance needs to be redressed 8)
I agree with needing to keep the balance, well done. :D