Ivy on Boundary Wall

[ljn]

I have a listed detatched house. Many years ago, the garden to the side was sold off and now belongs to my neighbor. On that side, I have no doors or windows, just a brick wall. On that wall there is an ivy plant that covers the whole wall - about 70 square meters. this autumn, it grew substantially and started getting into the roof and creeping under the tiles. The first signs of water ingress are starting to appear. I mentioned the problem to the neighbor, who said he'd sort it out - months ago.

Does anyoone know my legal position on this? The roof is high and accessible only with as specialist ladder (very high and skarry). its about 9 meters high, so I'd rather not dangle off the roof with a pair of clippers.


To cut the ivey lower down, I'd have to go into his garden.

Ideally. If he can't be bothered to maintain it, I'd preffer to just get rid.

 

[Pford75]

I would not be tempted to pull the ivy from the wall....you may well cause damage to the mortar.

Ideally, with permission from your neigbour...paint the leaves with 'Ivy Killer gel' (it's a painstaking process, but works better than anything else I've found). If all of the ivy can be traced back to a few groundroots, sever these and paint the exposed stems with the gel as well.

Wait until the ivy has gone brown and crispy before removing...this may take several gel treatments and may take several months. But it will also reduce the risk of damage to bricks/mortar when removing the ivy

 

[Flyfisher]

Firstly, I'd try very hard not to fall out with your neighbours. Hopefully they are reasonable people and you can have a sensible discussion about the problem.

I would tactfully explain that their ivy is beginning to cause damage to your property. The fact that it's listed might help the discussion because you can sort of distance yourself from being a nuisance by explaining that you have a legal duty to maintain your property so you have no choice but to deal with the matter. Perhaps a word with your conservation office might be helpful?

I don't believe you can, without permission, harm the ivy, which is their property, not yours. With trees, I believe you can trim branches overhanging your boundary but you must return the cutting as they belong to the neighbour. So, without permission, you can probably trim the ivy yourself, but not actually kill the whole plant.

In such circumstances, it's normal to have access rights to their garden for the purposes of maintaining your property, but check the conveyancing documents carefully regarding this.

Having said all that, I think that a friendly chat is the best way forward. If things 'go legal' then it will probably all end in tears whatever the outcome.

 

[Penners]

Perhaps a word with your conservation office might be helpful

I think that's a very good idea. You could tactfully ask your CO to write you a letter, pointing out that the ivy has been seen climbing under the roof of a listed building, and advising you to remove it under your duty of care for the building.

You then have something to show your neighbour that makes the complaint someone else's fault. That should help to preserve cordial relations.

Of course, you may have to settle for the neighbour's giving you permission to erect a tower or ladder in his garden, in order to cut back the ivy yourself. But that's better than your current situation.

If you do end up doing the cutting back yourself, take it from me* that you want to cut it well back. You'll be amazed how much regrowth ivy can make in one season.

* Our previous stone house had ivy growing up one wall. I had to do radical surgery on it every year. However, I must say that I never found it doing any damage to the masonry or lime mortar.

 

[ljn]

Thanks for the replies. No worries, I wasn't thinking making a legal challenge to my neighbor ;-) just wanted to know where I stood before asking. I

 

[Pford75]

In terms of damage to brickwork by ivy....

"Vegetation although often attractive, is generally harmful to older brick walls of traditional construction. Many types of ivy can cause serious damage to brickwork particularly if it is in poor repair, or constructed of soft, possibly spalling, bricks bedded in soft lime mortar where the pointing is defective.

If not carefully removed, ivy should at the least, be heavily controlled and never allowed to reach eaves level where it might block gutters and downpipes. In a strong wind, vegetation can also transfer additional wind-load, pulling out guttering, parapets, and even a chimney-stack."


http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/brick/brickwork.html

 

[Pford75]

Advice from the RHS on killing ivy.

Not that, as they say, Ammonium Sulphamate is being withdrawn and may be tricky to get hold of.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0702/ivy.asp

 

[middi]

Your neighbours ivy damaging your property is no different than a great big tree ( also growing in his garden) falls against your house causing damage.

Suggest to him/her ( again,diplomatically), there should be no need to get insurance companies involved wasting time and money when all that is required is a drastic hair cut on HIS ivy.

 

[Nemesis]

We had to rebuild a gable wall on an outbuilding, because ivy had grown right through the admittedly soft and in places missing lime mortar. The stems, over the decades, had grown and pushed the stones out of place. Only the ivy was holding it together!

I'm sorry about Root Out - it had its uses when killing ivy stumps.

 

[MdB]

I've got ivy underneath an external render, fortunately it is very dead. A previous owner couldn't be bothered to get it all removed so just slapped cement over the top. Makes it easy for me to get the cement off I guess.

 

[skier-hughes]

I was told that lime was poisonous to ivy, and when I came to remove our ivy it just came off in one big sheet, about 30' long by 10' tall.

I was advised to remove it due to the moisture it would trap between it and the wall rather than the damage it may do to the pointing/brickwork.

Graham

 

[Moo]

We had ivy rampaging up the side of our last house but were reluctant to do more than trim it away from gutters, etc., because it seemed to house a huge and noisy community of house-sparrows. Just hope the new owners haven't got rid of it.

 

[ljn]

Thanks for the advice. I spoke to the neighbor on Sunday. Even though I woke him up and he evidently had a hangover,, he said, " No problem, I'll get the tree surgeons down next week"

Yippee

 

[Flyfisher]

With a friendly neighbour I'm sure you're more than halfway to a solution. Good luck.

 

[Penners]

Yippee

Sounds like good news, but I should reserve your cheer for when the job is actually done!

 

[andrew gayton]

you have a legal right to access the land to undertake work on your property; there is a 1996 act that relates to it........ you basically have to serve notice etc.