Next door's bloody tree

[Notmycircusnotmyotter]

What can I do about the tree next door that blocks the sun in my garden for most of the day? I wouldn't expect it to be chopped down but it needs properly paring back. I spoke with my neighbour and she says it's expensive so if I want it done I have to pay.

what's reasonable? Are there precedents?

thanks

I think it inconsiderate and unreasonable that anyone should have any tree or structure that affects next door's light without trying to do something, within reason, to help. It may not be unlawful, but it might be pig-headed. Why should you have something you enjoy without caring that it affects someone else?

How big is it? We had a very large wild cherry partially cut back and thoroughly checked last year to ensure it is safe, and it was about £600 or so. That was the middle of several quotes as well. I can see why she doesn't want to pay if it is not dangerous, it is a lot to fork out for someone elses preference.

I can't believe how many people are saying you should pay. Myself and surrounding neighbours all pay to maintain our own trees. It's really selfish of them not to get a pruned if it's blocking the sun in your garden.

So if your opposite neighbour painted their house a colour you didn’t like would you expect them to repaint it at their cost?

Also, you can still make a shady garden look lovely. Lean into it and plant ferns, lily of the valley, solomon's seal, wood anemones, hydrangeas etc - lean into it and enjoy a woodland style garden.

Unfortunately no, I have the highways ( not council as it’s too close to the road) chestnut tree that is causing mould on one side of my house plus blocks out the light to the point even in summer we have to have the lights on and they won’t touch it as there is no legal right to light.

We have a large eucalyptus tree at the bottom of our garden. It’s slender and tall, doesn’t block light, but does shed leaves and bark. The vast majority of this falls in our garden but an elderly neighbour has complained several times about what falls into her garden. Tree surgeons say tree is in perfect condition and doesn’t need reducing, but if we want it reduced by 1/3 it will cost into 4 figures.

The reason I say this is that you keep saying you don’t want her to chop it down as though anything less than this would be financially insignificant. It isn’t!

We have now saved enough to get our beautiful tree reduced in order to keep our neighbour happy but I am pissed off we are paying for unnecessary work just to appease her!

No - nothing to stop work on trees providing a full survey has been carried out and the nests are not actively in use.

Urgh, I do feel your pain a little here op, our neighbours have a tree that causes us to lose a huge chunk of sunlight whereas they get all the sun in their garden. They did agree for us to pay to have it slightly thinned out a couple of years ago, it’s a leylandi/conifer type, was about 8ft tall when we moved here almost 20 years ago and not a bother at all but I’m not exaggerating when I saw its grown at least 30 feet since then. It’s a monster, an eyesore and home to a bunch of annoying magpies which ‘bark’ in the early daylight hours.
wish the bloody thing would topple in the high winds tbh, we hate it. Not to mention that it drops so much crap on to our side of the garden and does its best to kill off our green lawn with all its moisture sapping!
Having it thinned out did help give us a little more dappled light. Think it cost us about £500.

We have now saved enough to get our beautiful tree reduced in order to keep our neighbour happy but I am pissed off we are paying for unnecessary work just to appease her!

Why are you?

To keep the peace 🤷‍♀️

If she's agreed to the tree being pruned (at your expense), you might as well go the whole hog and ask if the whole tree can be removed and replaced with a much smaller tree. Otherwise, it will be a recurring cost to you.

Every 3 or 4 years I get a quote for the neighbours (7 storey high)self seeded sycamore to be trimmed and I’m incredibly happy they agree to do it and I only have to pay half! This year I could have fed a horse on the amount of bloody seedlings I’ve pulled up…

tldr: be grateful your neighbour has agreed it can be trimmed!

How much are you forking out for that?

I get it. I love trees and birds and flowers. But the tree next door blocks the light for the whole of our back garden, once the leaves come in. Cutting down the overhanging bits won't affect us, because it's the sheer height of the thing (ash tree, higher than our house) that's the problem. But i wonder if the houses were built around it about 50 or so years ago, so I guess it's got more right to be here.

Equally, I wouldn't want it gone. Just a bit shorter.

I think you can get council involved if the tree blocks the light to your house, but not garden.
As annoying as it is, hopefully have the money to get it done. Can you ask neighbour to go halves? It is their bloomin tree.

I cut down a tree when a neighbor complained it was blocking light. It cost me £750!

but he was so bloody rude about it I waited two years. He didn’t offer to contribute to the cost or say thank you when it eventually went.

it was beautiful and I miss it

I have 2 huge ash trees in my garden( twice the height of the house). My neighbour of 30 years sometimes mentions how large it is and occasionally gets a branch or 2 cut back on their side, as is their right. They pay for it because they're the ones annoyed by it. If they ever asked me to reduce the height or size I'd tell them where to go.

I would never cut down a tree for a neighbour. I would be more likely to cut down the neighbour. A good neighbour is a dead neighbour

Every year a neighbour comes whinging at my gardener about my hedges and bushes. The hedges border a car park and she claims that the bottoms of them block the pavement and interfere with her getting out of her car and using her buggy. Each year I make her wait until October for the sheer hell of it citing the nesting birds law. I tell the gardener to just put her off saying he will have to bring his ladders and warning signs for a special session and he will do it "next time". She has never yet had the courage to approach me directly. I take a great deal of pleasure in making her wait.

You are the only one who wants it pruned so you pay for the work. It is considerate of her to allow it

Bad choice of phrase. Sycamore seedlings can kill horses

You'll just have to suck it up and pay OP. Your neighbour can't stop you having anything overhanging onto your side cut. Just make sure you offer her the trimmings.

I had to do this recently with our grumpy neighbour. I wanted to get it done before nesting season. She knew she couldn't stop it but she didn't like it.

And if they don't want them you need to dispose of them and not just throw them into the neighbour’s garden

How tall is the tree? If it’s huge and blocking your light I think it would be reasonable to go halves on it.

Because you are the one who wants the tree pruned.

You do not have a right to sunshine or a view. She can refuse to do anything if she likes. If she's prepared to allow you to get a tree surgeon in, that's her bring very accommodating.

Sorry, OP, this is down to you to pay.