I have a question about who's responsibility it is to take car eof a hedge that is firmly on one side of a property line but grows 2-4 feet over said line. The roots of the plants are about 36 inches inside their property, none of the trunk is on our side of the line..just the branches that go over.

My neighbor claims they have no responsibility to cut both sides of the hedge but no agreement was ever made saying we would take care of it. The previous 2 owners always took care of both sides.

In Vermont I know we can cut it back to the property line but doing that would kill most of the greenery and only leave the inner section and would probably lead to the cedar plants either dying or just unable to recover on our side.

Is there anyway to make them take care of the side over the property line? It is almost brushing against out house (was built when the hedge was smaller/with an easement) and is growing out of control.

We have no ability to really trim it ourselves even if we wanted to and can't afford anything like a legal battle over it. Our town already has said they no longer get involved in disputes over property lines and plants growing on them since eitbis a civil matter.