Last fucking straw

[sarahC40]

Handhold please and advice (on how not to utterly lose my shit or get arrested for this). It’s not been a great lockdown.

Saving Grace: my garden. Lovely tree, probably in the wrong place but predates the houses, was cut down without warning, so that my view, which was of said lovely tree, is now of the back of someone’s house. They have now closed all of their blinds because, yes, we are now overlooking each other.

The tree is in no man’s land between the gardens - it doesn’t belong to them. They’ve got down everything that overhung my garden (my son woke up to find men climbing over my fence and most of tree gone) and they’ve left a twenty foot high stump. My other neighbours were open mouthed in shock, so this isn’t just me sounding off; it’s horrendous.

I know there’s nothing that I can do, but I would like some vengeful suggestions that I won’t act on but will help me as I try to stop crying at the fucking awful sight of their fugly house.

[quote Pbbananabagel]@SplendidSuns1000 We seriously need to know what happened after this?![/quote]
We were in the process of moving when they did the windows (and had also attempted to knock through an internal wall). It was a grade 2 listed tudor cottage and the work they did was done without listed building consent and there is no way they'd get consent to replace the windows with UPVC crap.

We and other neighbours reported what they were doing and by the time we heard back from the council DH and I had moved 200 miles away so only heard news through our old neighbours.

All they knew was the couple had to go to court, had a huge fine and the house was put up for sale before they even fixed the damage. They did the work themselves but allegedly said a builder had done it (he definitely didn't, it was someone we'd recommended to them but he'd not been working at the time) Now a family have moved in and are fixing everything properly.

While we were still living there they offered us a small, dying bay tree they'd had by their door as compensation for our cherry tree and railings. I dumped it in their green bin out of spite!

Just wanted to say I'd be gutted too @sarahC40. Please don't resort to arson, I find psychological torture far more effective, look them in the eye and give them hell.

Extend your fence height with large sheet of wood. Paint on back of it something crude of your choice: penis, a hand sticking middle finger up, 'I used to be a beautiful tree' - whatever- so that's all they see whenever they look out and guests at their house will not be able to conceal their curiosity when visiting... Then plant something lovely at the end of your garden to eventually cover the extended fence panel.

I'd be raging too OP, I hate tree killers. Plant a few flowering cherrys, they are beautiful and have the added advantage of dropping shit all over her lawn twice a year!

Would definitely contact the council to see if there was any order on the tree and report.

I love trees, and sometimes.....times like this......prefer them to people.
I'm going to make a small (small because impoverished) donation to The Woodland Trust right now, to honour your tree.
Could you put a hundred leaflets about climate change/environmental issues through her letterbox highlighted on air quality/CO2/respect for wildlife?

Mr Mucker Only if done properly. And do we know that this was?

Ash trees are very important - they are host to many other species. And, in spite of what others have said, if you have a healthy ash tree, try to cherish it - do not cut it down. treecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Tree-Council-Ash-dieback-tree-owners-guide-FINAL.pdf and www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/7277/7894_New_FC_Chalara_leaflet_dft9.pdf

Do show us a photo, OP. Honestly, if it has been pollarded, it will sprout and put on massive amounts of new growth by the end of the season.

* The tree is in no man’s land between the gardens - it doesn’t belong to them*

But it will belong to someone. It will. In law

There is no such thing as “no man’s land” in this country

@MrMucker

a 20 foot stump is not cutting down a tree, it is pollarding.

This. Don’t despair @sarahC40, it will come back bigger and better. Get a preservation order on it before they can do a proper job.

OP, Swedish Whitebeam is a nice tree and grows fairly quickly.

Put a couple of big flood lights with motion sensors, high up on the back of your house.

I would have sympathy if the tree was blocking light or causing damage, trees can and do cause big problems for people but from what you said her garden was in full sun, so expect the tree to have been far enough away to not cause any other issues.

The lack of privacy would drive me mad and it’s sad for local wildlife too.

Hateful, thoughtless idiots. Poor birds! I agree with whoever said that we are custodians

Put a 6ft fence up and hang flowers from it

I understand OP. This has happened to me twice. Sometimes I don't realise how much joy a tree brings to my life until someone cuts it down. Then I realise it was one of the things that kept me going, that brought me happiness and peace. Some people don't get emotionally attached to trees/bushes but for those of us who do, we grieve at their loss. Let yourself cry about it, and then plant lots more so in a few years your garden will look more beautiful than ever.

Oh dear check who has right to take it down and also grow some in your garden instead to hide the back of the house.

I have a house that is sideways on to my garden so not overlooked but the owners parents too kit upon themselves to trim my jasmine plant growing across my trellis.

When I confronted them they said it was hindering access...thise neighbours never use the alley access that my fence backs on to and the jasmine has two long stems haning over, hardly blocking access. Funt enough I qas that day going to thread it through my trellis.

Anyone I asked them why they didn't ask for my permission to be told they were doing me a favour, they didn't get it, now those neighbours don't talk me cos as their parents said I was being rude. Er rude because I'm asking them who gave them perks to touch my plants.

Fecking cheek!

I would be really upset too OP. I love trees. The same thing happened to my friend, she decided to move very soon after.

@Boatingforthestars

Sneak into their garden after nightfall with a bag of frozen sausages and a hammer. Hammer said sausages upright into their lawn evenly spaced.

Watch on as all the local cats and foxes completely destroy their lawn over the next week digging them out!

I'd love to claim this idea as mine but I have borrowed it from another forum.

This is genius. I have neighbours I’d love to do this to.

I'd be absolutely raging! We had a massive eucalyptus in the garden of a house we rented and I was so so sad the day it had to be cut down (it was close to and undermining the neighbours house). We've now bought and have a huge oak tree on the boundary. New neighbours asked if we wanted to cut it down - it overshadows us but they can't really see it - I was very very clear that there would be no cutting of The Tree.

I live in Woodland, last year, during nesting season, my neighbours cut down over an acre of very mature trees. It is a SINC, bordering SSSI, with protected species and Ecology at the council couldn't give a shit, saying it's their land. Lots of the trees previously had TPO's on them, which were removed and replaced by putting a SINC on the whole site.

Hope OP is ok. I have visions of her knocking frozen sausages onto the neighbouring lawn 🙈

Your council website will have a map to look up if there was a TPO on it. Ours also has a planning permission map that has pretty accurate property boundaries on it - might show if the tree actually belongs to a garden but has just been fenced off for convenience at some point.

Check with the council. If it has a TPO (like a ‘listed’ tree) -i s s £20,000 fine that the council will be only too please to slap on them.

@LadyPoison I think you are very clever.....