Does one take on duties from the previous owner or previous resident?

Watch out that they don’t just shave it off, then your free privacy screen is gone....

I find it rather generous of the city that they apparently are willing to let the habits continue and allow the hedge to stay

In which statute would one have to find something about that?

Haydee, no, we don’t need them. At the moment elderberry and blackberry are already spreading there, especially the blackberry is already trying to jump into our garden. Our property is about 1m lower there than the sidewalk. There is our wall and on it our fence. I don’t like privet. Of course, it is a practical screen in summer, just like the other 10-15 m shrubs of the city.

We will therefore, as said, not make a fuss, I am simply interested. Between the sidewalk and the hedge there is still a strip of grass that is extremely sh*** up by dogs. No fun having to step there if you don’t have to.

The hedge was tolerated by the municipality, yet it was the property of the „previous owner“. You have now bought it along, quite simply. This transfers the obligations to you.

Privet blooms so beautifully when it’s not constantly cut down... then it also serves as a habitat for many animal species. If everything is full of dog poop, I wouldn’t like to walk through there either, of course. I would probably try to negotiate with the city so that the hedge doesn’t have to be trimmed into shape so often, but only, say, whatever overhangs onto the path. And if it then needs to be cut once a year, you could have a gardener do it. It’s not so expensive and you don’t have to do the work yourself (and deal with the disposal problem).

Only what has been agreed upon is purchased. It always consists only of offer and acceptance. I would not be sure whether the hedge was bought along. The question is, what does the OP want to achieve? He does not want to argue.