Neighbour's (huge) hedge

[rw58]

We live on a steep hill; there is farm below us with assorted agricultural buildings, and a house above us. The owner of the uphill house does not want to be able to see the farm buildings, so he has allowed the hedge between his and our property to grow to a height of around 6 metres. Because it is so high, we can no longer cut our side of the face of the hedge near the top, and it has therefore bushed out and grown very wide - so wide that his hedging contractor can no longer reach far enough to cut it. Our uphill neighbour wants his hedging contractor to cut back from our side (which is OK) but wants us to pay for it (which isn't OK as it was his choice alone to grow the hedge to that height). For the sake of good neighbourliness, we are prepared to pay a small contribution to the cost, but are we legally liable for more than that? If not, how do we make sure that our small contribution on this occasion does not set a legal precedent to do so again in the future?

[des8]

Basically the owner of the hedge is responsible for its maintenance.

If they fail to maintain it and it impinges on your enjoyment of your house or garden you can (after trying to sort it out with the neighbour) report it to your local council.
They can (after examining the situation) , serve a remedial notice on the owner that they must cut the hedge. This uses powers under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.
If the neighbour fails to comply he may face criminal charges.

However for the sake of good relationship you could offer a small contribution to their costs, but inform them (in writing perhaps) it is a one off and you anticipate they will keep their hedge under control in future

[rw58]

Thank you. This has confirmed the lines along which we had been thinking.

[IdefixUK]

The first thing I would do is to be sure that the hedge is entirely on the land of the neighbour, there's no point in complaining to the neighbour or the Council if the hedge actually belongs to you. Check the title deeds of your property and those of your neigbour to see if there is any reference to maintenance of boundary fences/hedges etc. You can obtain the basic title deeds for any registered property from the Land Registry website (be sure it's the .gov site) for £3 for each title and £3 for each title plan.
The Law (at least in England and Wales) allows you to trim any branches of trees overhanging the boundary, but you must offer the branches back to the owner, if they don't want the trimmings then you must dispose of them yourself ( you cannot throw them back onto the owners land).
The legislation regarding high hedges seems to be only applicable to evergreen or semi evergreen trees (or to hedges made up mainly of these). So you will need to know what sort of vegetation you are dealing with. As another poster pointed out, the legislation is dealt with by the Council for your local area, and there are things that you must do before initiating an official complaint. The Council will charge YOU quite a lot of money to persue a complaint (propably several hundred pounds), so in order to preserve good neighbour relationships you should perhaps ask yourself if that kind of money would be better spent in coming to amicable and workable solution with your neighbour.

Regards