Getting a neighbour to look after their garden?

We have a neighbour who has not touched their garden in at least 10 years

 

It is severely overgrown and our shared hedge is dead in places - we have had to pay to reinstate some of the hedge but they refuse to do anything and the new hedge is just dying too

 

It is an utter mess but the council don't seem to be interested - what could we do?

Offer to look after it for them, ignore it or move, not much else you can do.

Had a chat with Environmental Services and its possible the Council can help this fella out - dont want to be a bad neighbour but there are limits - I think the help is based on whether you get certain benefits or not and not just for council property. We shall see

I wroke an email to the council about overgrown grass/trees in the gardens. Mostly has been sorted, I dont know who or how, I did suggest help from charities, it too a while.

There is a house close to me, not much of a garden at the front, mostly block paved, (thats a mess too!)very over grown, looks an eye sore when everyone elase has tidy frontage, but two very expensive cars, surely if they can afford motors like that, they could pay someone to tidy up the front?

It's so annoying for people who take care of their homes and gardens to have to live next door to an eyesore. Unfortunately some folk just can't be bothered. The first house we ever bought (nearly forty years ago) was a semi, next door had the biggest corner garden on the estate. Most families made an effort with their gardens, it was our first one, and we really tried, but the next door family did nothing to theirs for years. it was always a mystery why people who didn't want a nice garden would want the biggest one!

If I was in that situation now, I think a strong, high fence would be my solution. ?

It's so annoying for people who take care of their homes and gardens to have to live next door to an eyesore. Unfortunately some folk just can't be bothered. The first house we ever bought (nearly forty years ago) was a semi, next door had the biggest corner garden on the estate. Most families made an effort with their gardens, it was our first one, and we really tried, but the next door family did nothing to theirs for years. it was always a mystery why people who didn't want a nice garden would want the biggest one! ?

I can understand some people want to do other things, and their overgrown garden is better for nature; but my next door neighbours have a 2 year old girl, and a swing and slide in the garden. But it is unusable because of long grass.

I have overgrown back garden and like it this way.

Our cats love it. But it is perfectly usable and I find it nice to look at.

Sort of controlled chaos.

My neighbour hates my garden. We mow the lawns and trim the trees and hedges but we keep the hedges high and thick for privacy and leave a lot of the edges of the garden uncultivated for wild life to flourish. Our neighbor has gardeners in several times a week. They mow the lawns to within an inch of their life and water them constantly, they also make a tremendous racket with their gardening equipment. The only other life in the garden is bedding plants. My neighbour constantly bad mouths us for the way we keep our garden. She hates the fact that she can't see in and asks us what have we got to hide? People have very different ideas as to what constitutes a nice garden. I like mine private.

We've got quite a large garden and when we moved it was incredibly overgrown, in fact half of it was fenced off and the back half was piled high with rubbish and weeds!

We made a good start and cleared it all, but then life got in the way! To be honest it needs landscaping and it's a bit beyond our capabilities, but each year we make a start clearing the forest of weeds...then the weather turns, or life gets in the way and it's back to square one. Our neighbours have a lovely garden and the old guy next door is always politely asking what our plans are, so I end up feeling ashamed every time I see him!

So it's not always a case of people not caring about their gardens, some of us just don't have the time!

Its their garden, no landlord

Make sure to be nice to get the best results

Good luck!!

I have to cut my neighbours hedges as she's bone idle and trim her trees every year. I don't like doing it as I don't particularly like gardening full stop however if I didn't her hedges would be close to 20-25 feet tall and she just doesn't seem bothered even though I have a right of way through the back.

I've even toyed with having an 'accident' with the chainsaw on more than one occasion however I doubt she would even notice

There are some people like me who just hate gardening,

Then I dont think they should have done and let it get looking terrible so its an eye soar,do you mate??