Neighbour Spraying Fence Paint

From your side using a spray gun boot will be on the other foot that way

 

Hi Lori saying that over here is classed as threatening behaviour and you soon have the old Bill knocking your door mate ….comes to something when you have to watch your actions

 

That wasn't very nice!

Maybe because we have these bylaws that you can't smoke out, stink out, point spotlights at your neighbours, etc., most people are civil.

I never felt that I met any people capable of such behaviour when I was there for a brief visit and now I'm glad I didn't!

Sounds like home ownership over there is a game for bullies.

 

You'd be surprised mate some people have ASBO's on them

Anti-social behaviour order
An anti-social behaviour order was a civil order made in the United Kingdom against a person who had been shown, on the balance of evidence, to have engaged in anti-social behaviour. The orders were introduced by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998 and continued in use until 2015. They were designed to address behavior like intimidation.

Anti-social behaviour order - Wikipedia

 

I think there are laws in the UK too about the right to peacefully enjoy your property and against interfering with such right by producing emissions (sound, fumes, chemicals..), even if as a consequence of otherwise legal activities.
But of course this is tempered by a number of criteria, such how unreasonable to behaviour is, how frequent, whether the damage is permanent and/or can be qualified as a monetary loss and so forth.

So, I suspect that the police will decide whether to caution the offending party based on that criteria. In this case, I understand why they would nto want to get involved. The financial damage is hard to document and qualify, the nature and frequency of the behaviour are not unreasonable, and the issue is also a consequence of the type of fence. So the police will not get involved, given nobody could reasonably push charges.

There would be ways around that. For instance, if the shrubs did host protected species, one might document that and contact environmental protection services, but honestly, I have seen that attempted and most of times there are not the conditions for departments to intervene.

When some cowboys hired by my neighbour to prune a tree managed to land an 8 feet branch in our garden, damaging a fence, and went on cheerfully cutting more like nothing happened, I actually gave the police a call. Mainly to have them put the incident on record, given I rent and did not want to be blamed for the damage or for lacking due diligence.
The first thing they asked was whether the would-be tree surgeons trespassed, entering the garden without my permission. Because that is easy for them to classify as something which requires their intervention, along with perhaps actual damage to people or massive damage to the property ("I am having tea in my living room with a tree top" kind of damage).

All other type of issues are probably better dealt with through an home insurance. For instance: neighbour spray painted his fence and our house too !!! - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums
But of course the damage must be documented. Unfortunately, with all the effort and costs it takes to grow plants from seeds, an insurance might not offer much (but I might be wrong).

It is certainly possible that in Canada people are more collaborative in a sense. Also, I guess that properties are on average larger, making emissions less intrusive.
But, as a foreigner in the UK, I generally found neighbours to be on average fine. But I do tend to communicate with people, if there are issues.
For instance, in the family we practise lots of musical instruments all day long, which can be a massive annoyance for everybody around.
So I talked with all my neighbours, apologizing and offering solutions, such as playing less or at specific times of their choice.
It turns out that, while a few did find our playing annoying on the occasion, the simple fact that I recognized it could be an issue for them did make it tolerable.
So we keep playing as we always did, but of course I invited my neighbours to let me know should it ever become an issue for them.

It seems to me that in this case the fact the two neighbours quite clearly seems not to like each other rules out any simple solution, such as spraying at a less inconvenient time of the year.

If it was me, aside of perhaps looking into the insurance option, I would simply talk to my neighbour and explain calmly that:
1) I recognize that it is her right to paint the fence once per year
2) I also recognize that it is my right to grow safe to eat vegetables and perennials in my garden, and this costs me money, effort, time.
3) It would be great to arrange for a spraying time which will not interfere with anybody's rights
4) Alternatively, she might consider changing the fence to a solid, tall one, and I might consider contributing to the cost, dependently in the price
5) Or alternatively, I will erect my own fence, or support system for tall temporary protection, on my side. But of course, given I do have my shrubs already covering any resultig eye sore, my priority will be to make it functional, durable and cheap, not pretty. She can paint over it on her side, if she wishes so, but if we get to that, she will basically get what she gets.

 

@Aldo I should have made it clear that out police do not enforce bylaws. We have bylaw officers, working for the town, whose sole duties are to enforce them. They respond quite quickly when contacted and they do not reveal the name of the complaining party.

Although in this case, it would be obvious...

And no, we pay dearly for a small yard... you'd think in a land this size, property would be more reasonably priced.

 

@CanadianLori It's good that you have specific officers in charge of that kind of issue, I guess it makes it easier to get some official help. If there is anything like that somewhere in the UK, I have never heard about it.

Sorry to hear that house prices are so high in Canada too. I guess that, despite of the size of the country, people will still want to live in cities, which makes small properties expensive as they are here. Surely, we though many times about moving out of London and get a bigger house for half the price, and nicer surroundings, but it is not easy and estate agents know it