Re: Query - cutting neighbor's hedge

Charles,

You will have to check with your local by-laws, but in general, based on English Common Law, you can cut back to your property line, but any fruit overhanging your yard belongs to the neighbour.

What kind of hedge is it that you have that will grow so quickly?

I keep a very tall Leylandii hedge cut to the property line. The first time we did it, when it had 4 metre long branches over into my yard, the neighbour phoned me, very angry, sure that I had killed her trees. Needless to say, they didn't die, and since then I have made sure to keep it cut, so the neighbours don't forget that it is a hedge, not a forest. The very top gets done only every other year, as my husband needs to climb our longest ladder and use a pole pruner. We need to wait for birds to stop nesting before pruning. We are in the process of doing it now, and it will put out a bit of new growth so that there will be feathery new growth all over the surface - it looks quite nice.

Do take care around power lines. We can phone to have the power shut off. I've never done that, but once when there was a planned shut-down, I rushed out and did a lot of pruning that I otherwise would have been afraid to do.

--
Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8
cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
sandy soil

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