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Council worker hacked back my hedge by MISTAKE – they said it ‘looked like a derelict building' but they were wrong
Council worker hacked back my hedge by MISTAKE – they said it ‘looked like a derelict building' but they were wrong

The Sun

time6 days ago

  • General
  • The Sun

Council worker hacked back my hedge by MISTAKE – they said it ‘looked like a derelict building' but they were wrong

A COUNCIL has apologised after hacking back a man's hedge after mistaking it for a "derelict building." Andrew Wheatley, 60, was surprised when he received a message from his neighbour asking why he was getting rid of his ivy. 5 5 5 Andrew, of Brighton, went to check outside and found a council employee had finished hacking away and was sweeping it up. He was told the council had received complaints about the hedge making the house look run-down. The worker told him the authority had received complaints from neighbours about the foliage and it made his "house look derelict". Brighton and Hove City Council admits it was "wrongly" cut by the a council worker - after they received a request for "weed management in the area". Mr Wheatley said the council "cut the main stem" of the ivy and it has died everywhere now. He said: 'My neighbour sent me a text saying 'why are you getting rid of your ivy?' and I said I wasn't getting rid of it. 'I saw this council guy and he said 'we have received complaints from neighbours about it and it is making the place look derelict'. 'At this point he had chopped it all down and it was just sweeping up and clearing it into his bin." Andrew said the man doing the work was just following orders, but he was still baffled at why he hadn't been consulted. ''There was no point going at him because he was just being told what to do,"he added. ''I was really annoyed. There was no consultation. The council should have got in touch with me before they did anything. 'It just annoys me that they can go and do whatever they want - it is effectively criminal damage." As well as the aesthetic that the ivy adds to the garden, Andrew was frustrated about the impact on wildlife. He said: 'We used to get bees nesting in there and snails so they killed a lot of insects when they did it as well.' A Brighton and Hove Council spokesperson said: 'Unfortunately it seems a well-meaning member of our street cleaning team did indeed remove this ivy. 'We had received a request for regular weed management in this area and on this occasion one of our team visited the street to carry out necessary work and finding only the ivy, wrongly took it to be something which needed cutting back. 'This was an error done with the best intentions, but we appreciate the upset it has caused the owner and apologise for this mistake.' Mr Wheatley said that the ivy had been there since they moved over 10 years ago. He said: 'It grew down the side of my neighbours driveway. "He is really annoyed because now it has died off so he has had to clear it all up.' The Sun has reached out to Brighton and Hove City Council for a comment. What are your rights over a fence row? IT'S very important to know your rights if you are embroiled in a fence row with a neighbour. How do I know which side I own? A boundary feature can be a fence, wall, hedge, ditch, piece of wire, or sometimes even just the edge of a driveway. The only way to know for certain who owns what side and to avoid any neighbour disputes, is to refer to the title plan or Land Registry. In this, the T mark is used to indicate who the boundary belongs to and therefore who is responsible for its upkeep, say pros at Jacksons Fencing. Larger developments tend to have some indication provided by the builder, but there are no hard and fast rules People often think they are responsible for the left (or right) hand boundary wherever they live, but there isn't any legal basis for this. You can check with HM Land Registry to see which boundary feature you are responsible for. Often households can't get hold of the paperwork but experts say they shouldn't panic. Homeowners can guess who owns the fence by checking where the rails are. Pros say: "The fence is typically facing away from their property so that their neighbour gets the 'good' side. 'This is the most secure way of facing fencing so there are no rails for anyone to use to climb into your garden. 'This is then repeated with the neighbour on the other side to ensure that each home has both a 'good' and 'bad' fence side.' Walls and fences are often built on the land of the boundary's owner with the edge of the wall marking the limit. While professionals agree a glimpse at the fence can give you a hint, it's not foolproof - so you can't be certain. Fines and punishment It is recommended to always check legal documents before making changes to avoid hefty fines. There is no law that the neighbour has to get the good side of the fence, so it's completely up to whoever owns the fence. Fencing pros have suggested: 'It may be worth selecting a double-sided panel with no 'bad' side as both sides look the same and rails are concealed within the fence panel.' If one boundary backs onto a road or footpath you can install the panels with the rails on the inside But if it's installed on the outside, it can provide an 'easy ladder for burglars to enter your garden'. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Property Litigation Association have created a mediation service to help neighbours resolve disputes over their property boundaries without resorting to court action. RICS also provides a list of surveyors who could assist in boundary disputes. If a dispute continues, it is ultimately a court that makes decisions, but they do not like such disputes being put before them. Changing a boundary If you want to change an existing boundary, such as replacing an old fence with a new one, we always recommend discussing with your neighbour first and making sure it is all agreed. The registered titles can help you to reach an agreement, but only if this information has been added. In terms of decorations on a fence legal advisers recommended asking around over who actually first installed it. But they also urged caution before getting to work on amending the fence without getting more certainty yourself - since there is a danger of actually being prosecuted for criminal damage. How high can a garden fence be? The height of the fence is measured from your ground level, this can have an impact when, due to slopes in the ground, your garden may be at a higher level than your neighbours '. A garden fence can be as high as 100m but you need to get planning permission if it's over than 2m. However, there are some complications to this. If you are thinking about front garden fences, restrictions state that fences alongside a driveway can be a maximum of 1m or 3ft. You would need to get planning permission for putting a trellis on a fence of 2m. But, if any plant that you grow on that trellis exceeds 2m, you do not need to obtain a permit for the growing plant. 5 5

My customer's neighbours REFUSED to cut down their hedge... so here's what I did next
My customer's neighbours REFUSED to cut down their hedge... so here's what I did next

Daily Mail​

time05-07-2025

  • Daily Mail​

My customer's neighbours REFUSED to cut down their hedge... so here's what I did next

A man who was fed up with his neighbour refusing to cut down their large hedge took drastic action. In a video shared on TikTok, the irritated homeowner, posting under the username @gardenyardzmowing1982, showed how something as mundane as a garden border can cause conflict. In the clip the frustrated gardener showed off the huge shrub separating his and his neighbour's homes. Panning across the garden TikTok users could see the metres-long shrub standing almost twice as tall as the neighbour. The TikToker claimed that the house next door had 'refused' to cut it back and he had been forced to take matters in to his own hands. His video then showed a time lapse of the content creator, dressed in navy trousers and a T-shirt, using a hedge trimmer to cut down at least a foot of growth. By the end of the video, the guerrilla gardener had taken off a considerable chunk from the top of the shrub and seemed satisfied with the transformation. And while the TikTok user was pleased with his handiwork, others were less than impressed and took tot he comments under his video to express their concerns. One user suggested the neighbour might sue and wrote: 'By Law in the UK you are allowed to cut anything overhanging your garden but not the entire hedge. If I was your neighbour I'd sue'. Another TikTok user echoed this, commenting: 'If it the hedge belongs to a neighbour you can cut anything over hanging on your side of the boundary but you are not allowed to reduce the height without permission. Criminal damage'. One voiced concern over local wildlife and asked whether the TikToker had considered nesting birds before shopping off the overhanging branches. They commented: 'I hope you avoided the nesting season?' and another joined in the sentiment, adding, 'Hedges are for wildlife as much as anything else. you could have simply trimmed the top not hacked it off. But then I suppose most people don't consider others, least of all the natural world.' While the TikTok user was pleased with his handiwork, others were less than impressed and took tot he comments under his video to express their concerns. While another suggested that the neighbour might have been growing the hedge tall for privacy reasons, writing, 'Maybe the neighbour wanted it tall for a reason. Probably to block out annoying neighbours'. Others criticised the keen gardener and asked why he had cut the hedge down and limited his own privacy with users writing: 'The hedge is great for privacy and wind protection', 'You should have left it, was more private' and 'why did you do his side you can't do it some people like privacy!'. According to the website you can only trim a hedge up to the property boundary. If you do more than this your neighbour could take you to court for damaging their property.

Foreign investors increase dollar hedges on US stock portfolios
Foreign investors increase dollar hedges on US stock portfolios

Zawya

time02-07-2025

  • Business
  • Zawya

Foreign investors increase dollar hedges on US stock portfolios

NEW YORK - Overseas asset managers and pensions are adding protection against a weakening dollar, concerned about the U.S. currency's diminishing ability to diversify their U.S. equity portfolios. Because such stock funds carry built-in dollar exposure, investors with other home currencies that had not neutralized the foreign exchange risk were cushioned when the dollar was strong if Wall Street performed badly. But the dollar's correlation with other U.S. assets, and the impact of its fall on portfolio performance, came into sharper focus when the Trump administration announced far-reaching global tariffs on April 2, sending U.S. stock indexes and the greenback sharply lower. The dollar hit a three-year low against a basket of currencies, raising risks for investors whose portfolios once benefited from the natural hedge. Now, managers are reducing dollar exposures and increasing the hedge ratios for U.S. stock portfolios where clients' investment policies allow them to do so. About 10% of Russell Investments pension fund clients in Europe and the UK have already increased hedge ratios on their international stock portfolios, said Van Luu, global head of solutions strategy for fixed income and foreign exchange for Russell in London. One client raised it to 75% from 50%, highlighting the desire to have a greater portion of U.S. stocks protected against the weakening dollar. "If what we're seeing persists... then you will have more clients taking action in that direction," said Luu. 'MORE HOSTILE' The dollar is down 10% for the year, and 6.5% since U.S. President Donald Trump's so-called Liberation Day in April. Meanwhile, the S&P 500, the benchmark U.S. stock index, has recovered 24% since an April slump and is up 5.3% this year, flirting with record highs. The MSCI gauge of global stocks, minus the U.S., has risen 16% for the year. "It's not enough to look at the stock market and say it is more or less back to where it was, so nothing happened," said Peter Vassallo, FX portfolio manager at BNP Paribas Asset Management, who manages currency exposures across its asset classes. BNP has been reducing dollar exposures for its clients that include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and central banks. It has sold U.S. dollars across stock and fixed income portfolios, and built up what Vassallo described as a sizable position in options for funds that allow these strategies. He said the euro, yen and the Australian dollar are among the primary currencies it bought against the dollar, a big contrast to how the asset manager ended the previous year with a small "overweight" in the U.S. dollar. "This switch towards a more uncertain policy regime created an environment where we as market participants see the U.S. as more hostile to international capital flows, international trading," Vassallo said. After a June review, Justin Onuekwusi, chief investment officer at St. James's Place, said it is maintaining a strategic hedge that allows it to reduce overseas currency exposure in favor of the pound by up to 20%. The strategy "has been beneficial for our clients' returns year to date," he said. Onuekwusi said he now sees the dollar as closer to its longer-term fair value and has marginally reduced dollar hedging across managed portfolios. Foreign investors hold more than $30 trillion in U.S. securities, about $17 trillion of which is in equities and more than $12 trillion in long-term debt, according to data published in April by the U.S. Treasury Department. Marcus Fernandes, global head of currency management at Northern Trust, said the divergence in the correlation of risk is more than in the past. "That's why people are thinking faster than before, 'I need to increase my hedge ratio'," he said. "Once those conversations start, they usually end with increased hedge ratios," he said. COST INCENTIVE Data from Russell showed that a euro-hedged version of the MSCI USA index was flat for the year through May, while the euro-unhedged version was down 8.3%, showing the benefit of hedging for euro-based investors. The dollar is down 13% against the euro on concerns about flip-flopping U.S. trade policies and growth. "FX is back on the boardroom agenda," said Joe McKenna, head of fund solutions at MillTech, a London-based FX and cash management company. "What was once handled quietly in the back office is now drawing the attention of CIOs and CFOs, driven by renewed dollar volatility." Managers hedge currency exposure by selling the dollar against their respective base currency like the euro or the pound in the FX forwards market, and also use derivatives like options. When the dollar weakens, the hedge position gains in value while the dollar exposure on the underlying stock portfolio loses. Forward selling of the dollar is the largest in four years, according to John Velis, Americas macro strategist at BNY Markets, suggesting investors are unwilling to carry long dollar exposures, even with the potential for it to rally if U.S. tariff policy changes or the Israel-Iran conflict resumes. Investors reallocating to U.S. assets to meet benchmark weights after April's selloff are now hedging those exposures, he told Reuters. "It communicates that dollar volatility is a concern," said Velis. "It can be policy volatility as well as macroeconomic volatility that's causing people to... not keep that dollar exposure because of the fears of the dollar decline."

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