Bought a small holding the owners are chopping down the trees.

If they are felling a significant quantity then they probably need a felling licence. From memory anything more than 5 cubic meters a quarter, and it is considered personal use, so you can't sell all of it (about half i think).

Licences are operated by the Forestry Comission, you could try and see if there is a system for reporting it.

Why is that “daft”

I am confused!

Ah that makes sense.

So the one sibling lives there and has been told he'll have to sell the property for the others to get their inheritence but because he doesn't want to sell he's ruining it for potential buyers.

Yes it makes sense now.

I suspect he's going to make no end of trouble for you. (friends).

Their solicitor told them her clients asked them to cease this activity

They ignored. That is their response ie go jump

An earlier post said they should not do this to the trees if it would be a breach of contract. Just want to point out that if there has been any paperwork to do with the sale, then that means in a sale of land that there is a contract in place. You need a solicitor to do something now, today to stop this. It sounds awful to cut down an orchard or other trees.

Why would you assume that?

they are siblings that you have never met and have absolutely no idea about their relationship!

Do the trees have TPOs (tree preservation orders) on them? If so they are acting illegally if doing this without permission from the council. Find out fast - ring Council right NOW to find out if TPOs - as its Friday and their phone lines likely to shut soon for weekend. They can stop the work if the trees are protected.

Depending on the species, it might take a long time for them to grow back, and mature replacements can cost a lot of money. If the trees were part of the appeal, I don't think they would be unreasonable to drop their offer price.

OP says it's been for sale a few years at this point.

Op your friends solitor should have told then what if anything can be done.

If it's nothing but drop the price and/or walk away then that's what they need to do or accept it and work out if they still want the place as it'd left.

You or your friends could contact council's planning or tree officer directly and see if there are any Tree Preservation Orders in place on the property - but if there are not I think you are all stuck.

I'd get in contact with their solicitor sharpest and say you'll want a big price reduction if the trees arent there. They are obviously motivated by money.

Do you have a solicitor or estate agent?

You either pull out completely or you offer them less.

If I bought a house with a pool and then they removed the pool, I would pay less of pull out.

Mature trees cost a lot and take years to grow and so you’d absolutely be within h your rights to pull out or refuse to pay the full price.

Are there any Tree Preservation Orders on those trees? If there are, chopping them down would be illegal and you could shop them to the council.

But otherwise, prior to exchange, a prospective buyer has no legal rights to stop the legal owner doing what they want on their property. Their only power is to walk away.

Are the trees listed in any way in the sales documentation? Do they form part of the price of the land? Is the value of the land being reduced by the felling?

They need to pull out of the sale.

We bought our farm 10 years ago and it was a nightmare of the kind you describe. I won’t go into details but we lost thousands and we’re still dealing with the damage to the property and debt collectors were looking for the previous owners for years.

We were inexperienced buyers at the time so we live and learn, but I wish we’d been more clued up and not bought the place.

Agree with others. Prior to exchange there is no contract in place and therefore the buyers have no rights. The only options are to pull out of the deal completely, insist on a reduction in price or accept that the trees are gone along with anything else the sellers offspring might decide to get rid of prior to exchange.

Doesn't matter if you pull out of not, a small holding will always sell as there are always lots of folk looking for somewhere they can live and stable their horse.

Am I reading a synopsis of Emmerdale and are your friends Vendors the Dingles?

Sorry you didn’t confirm whether they are also cutting down the orchard?

What type of orchard?

Absolutely this.

Immediately get that message to them via your estate agent or solicitor: you will pull out if the trees are chopped down.

Have they filled out and filed the fixtures and content form? If so, they need to state on that form what they are leaving and taking. There is a section for the garden and it cover trees, plants and shrubs.

if they have ticked ‘included’ then they have now changed those terms and this needs discussing with the solicitor. If they have ticked excluded then I guess they do what they like?

I would hazard that the person filling out the form is different to the person doing the cutting down? In which case, they will need to issue something to ensure nothing further takes place (inside or out) if they decide to proceed.

My friend took a seller to small claims over removal of kitchen items noted as included in the legal paperwork. They had to be reinstated.

They need to pull out. These sellers are thoroughly untrustworthy and will continue to grab things prior to the sale.

Know a few wood turning and other woodworking artists. It's worth a small fortune even if it's not the best quality. It's quite popular at the moment to take a chunk of flawed wood, scrape out the crappy bits and fill with coloured resin before turning to reveal the interesting patternation caused by of a random bit of rot. A random stump is worth several hundred to the right artist.

Christ, I'd be wondering what else they might do at any point between now and completion (and perhaps even afterwards). I wouldn't touch the place with a barge pole. There'll always be another house.

I had a workmate who bought from 'tricky' vendors. When she moved in they vendors had taken al the fireplaces, light switches, light fittings and the entire kitchen. Apparently the kitchen had been hand made by the vendor and he didn't want to leave it behind. She took them to court for the kitchen and the vendor was forced to return it. The whole thing took well over a year and by the time the kitchen was returned they'd already fitted a new one.

There was so much bad feeling between the two parties by then that as the vendor unloaded his hand made kitchen onto their drive, my work mate's husband was throwing it on a bonfire right in front of his face out of spite.

These things can get very nasty.