Ivy damaging extension wall

JuliusCaesar

Ivy has been growing up our extension back wall from the garden that backs onto ours - our extension goes down to the end of our garden. Can I chop it away from our wall? It's inside our limits, as in the back garden wall remains in place. I don't know whether the concrete of the extension is below par or whether the ivy caused the damage, but when I pull some of the suckers away, pebble-sized lumps of concrete come away too. The extension is about 5 years old.

It'll leave them with a blank wall to look at unfortunately. Should I talk to them about maybe planting something less damaging? And might they be liable for damage done?

dats_right

In my experience with these types of neighbourly issues they quite often have the capacity to escalate pretty quickly into acrimonious disputes, often lasting years, especially where one neighbour considers the other to have acted unreasonably. So whilst the law may be wholly on one or other neighbour's side, that sometimes gets lost on the situation and petty disputes and squables can become par for the course. The last thing you want is to have your neighbour turn into your arch enemy. That said it is not acceptable for you to have to endure damage to your property, but, at least in the first instance, you might consider having a friendly chat with your neighbour informing them of the problem and perhpas suggest that they remedy it themselves. If this does not work, well then you may have to remove the ivy from your property yourself, but I'd say thread carefully and it may do no harm to talk to a solicitor first just to confirm all the legalities, etc.

stoblerone

Yes, dats right is on the ball.

Sounds like something that could potentially turn into tricky situation.

Call your local citizen advice centre and make an appointment to see a solr/barrister (for free) and run it by him/her but you certainly don't want to call in the "air strikes" by threatening to sue for trespass, nuisance and damage etc.

However, you are entitled to have your property free from anything that could damage it and you should be entitled to take whatever 'reasonable' steps it takes to prevent it from getting worse.

Ivy is a nasty rogue and if it is not controlled it can cause terrible damage to structures.

Sometimes a friendly chat over a cup of coffee can work wonders.

Good luck with it.

nuac

Talk to you neighbour.

Are your sure that the back wall to your extension it not a party wall?