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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To just ring my neighbours tree and take the consequences

47 replies

Shadedandangry · 08/09/2015 15:44

Anti social person below me has a row of eucalyptus I think tree that grows super quick and it shading out my lounge.

Its sunny today and if the tree wasn't there my house would be nice and warm. Instead I'm cold and have to have the heating on.

They have refused to prune it down to the hight I asked for (4-5m) - "its my garden inn it I can do what I like". It makes it difficult to grow much as my greenhouse gets hardly any sun.

Council aren't interested. I chop off all the branches on my side but this seensto make it grow vertically quicker.

Aibu to take my corkscrew at night and start one by one ringing them making it loom like an an animal has nibbled it?

I'm fully prepared to take the consequences, but they are not listed trees and are not that old so don't think the police or courts would care that much. Don't care about causing friction as they live ages away by foot on another road so don't see them.

OP posts:

laureywilliams · 09/09/2015 10:01

If you're lucky your new neighbour might not notice. Possibly they will, and replace the deciduous birch with evergreen leylandii.

This would be much better, you could use the high hedges legislation against a row of leylandii. Nothing you can do (legally) about a silver birch no matter how big or how close it is to your house.

shoofly · 09/09/2015 10:08

I feel your pain! Our neighbours have a row of ash trees slowly being choked to death by ivy. They are hanging entirely over our garden. They are blocking the light and every now and again huge branches fall off into our garden. They won't do anything about it because its not bothering them. The trees are so high and the last quote from tree surgeons was ??900 - they will let us cut them back ( with caveats about not butchering them) but will not contribute to the cost and we can't afford it. I'm trying to work out what happens if they come down and cause damage to our house or garden whether we'll be further out of pocket because we could've had them cut but didn't!

echt · 09/09/2015 10:10

If you're lucky your new neighbour might not notice. Possibly they will, and replace the deciduous birch with evergreen leylandii.

This would be much better, you could use the high hedges legislation against a row of leylandii. Nothing you can do (legally) about a silver birch no matter how big or how close it is to your house.

I was being sarcastic. Birch trees are deciduous, so afford winter light. Leylandii, even at the heights restricted by high hedges rules, cut out light 365 days a year, and have roots at least as invasive as the dreaded birch.

MusterMark · 09/09/2015 10:25

This site is good for this kind of problem: www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/

echt · 09/09/2015 10:30

shoofly possibly you could appeal to the ivy-infested neighbours by pointing out that the ivy will increase the sail of the trees in winter and pull them down prematurely.

laureywilliams · 09/09/2015 10:54

I realise you were being sarcastic echt .

But at least there is some recourse with leylandii. And the permitted height depends on the distance from the window so at least there is a chance the council will act.

Why do you suggest someone goes to the council about a tree close to their house? What will the council do?

whatsthatcomingoverthehill · 09/09/2015 11:08

If someone plants a tree close to your house and you think it might cause damage then the first thing to do would be to talk to them and explain that they would be liable for any damage caused by the tree. (The most common damage is subsidence in clay soils due to the tree extracting water and causing the clay to shrink). Hopefully that would scare the shit out of them enough to deal with it. If not then you should contact your insurers who would investigate. Might be a bit of a Catch 22 if it is a new tree which isn't causing damage at present but might do in the future. Could always get an arboriculturalist involved off you own back (expensive) but again they wouldn't be able to force your neighbour to do anything other than advising what might happen as the tree grows.

echt · 09/09/2015 11:46

This is helpful:

www.inbrief.co.uk/neighbour-disputes/damage-caused-by-roots.html

MakeItACider · 09/09/2015 11:53

I know someone who was renting a house. One day she came home to find someone pruning a tree in her garden - a tree that the neighbours to the rear loathed and wanted rid of. They refused to give her their name, and scarpered.

The police investigated, but as there was no proof it was the neighbours nothing was ever done about it.

Eucalyptuses are also shallow rooting trees, and do LOTS of damage. Check for roots on your side and any potential damage to greenhouse, fence etc and warn your neighbours that you WILL seek compensation if there is any damage. The best way to restrict root damage is to coppice them, ie cut them down at the base and let them sprout up again.

HeyDuggee · 09/09/2015 11:55

So you want to damage someone's property because you don't like the tree?

If I'm bothered by kids jumping on a trampoline right next to my house, by your logic I can break their trampoline because they're being anti social bastards who won't allow me to enjoy my garden in peace.

bgottalent · 09/09/2015 12:02

SqinkiesRule - what is this weed killer thing of which you write? We have soe leylandii growing right up against our fence and would like to find a way of getting rid

Maryz · 09/09/2015 12:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GudrunBrangwen · 09/09/2015 12:08

Your neighbour sounds a bit thick if the trees are planted next to the property. The roots are liable to damage foundations and/or drains.

You need to take legal action in this case. There should be a leaseholders committee or if HA report it to them.

Shade wise I don't think you have a leg to stand on but I could be wrong.

laureywilliams · 09/09/2015 12:12

Heyduggee - its not quite the same - the trees are there constantly and are affecting the OP's enjoyment of her garden and inside her house all the time.

Although I'm sympathetic to you if the kids are peering over, or the trampoline is pushed against your fence (and away from their house).

Thought about growing some leylandii?

GudrunBrangwen · 09/09/2015 12:12

People who inject their neighbours' trees are wrong to do so.

Our neighbours have bamboo, the non clumping sort, right by our boundary. It is shooting up on our side and there's nothing I can do. I have mentioned it and asked them if they will consider removing it; I'm planning to offer to pay for this next time it comes up.

They are lovely people. There's no way I would do anything to it unilaterally. It's their plant. However I will probably use something on it this side of the fence and hope it travels through and kills the rest - though it probably won't - because it will take over our garden otherwise.

Some things are worth more than not having an inconvenient tree near your garden/house, good relations being among them.

Margiemar · 09/09/2015 12:42

The hole doesn't have to be too big or deep. But you might have to re apply every few weeks. Best time is the fall to winter.

Stupid that you can grow whatever you like in your garden but I wasn't allowed a 1.5 floor shed.

Pantone363 · 09/09/2015 12:48

DP is a tree surgeon and probably gets 2 calls a week about neighbour tree disputes.

Just be aware that if you kill their trees you'll just have dead (dangerous) trees at the bottom of your garden. Just because they're dead doesn't mean they'll pay to have them removed and taken away. Especially if they think you've killed them!

CalypsoLilt · 09/09/2015 12:54

Can you offer to pay for the trees to be lopped/heavily pruned?

Dowser · 09/09/2015 12:55

I have no trees but we end up mopping up the leaves of neighbours sycamore and lime trees.

2 summers ago one neighbour had her sycamore pruned. It was a sapling when I moved here 40 years ago and now it is huge. I used to get sunlight inmy rear Lounge of an evening but not any more.

The summer it was pruned was fantastic. Now it's back not quite as big as before but as dense.
What little sunshine weve had this summer is blocked by 3pm

Then at the side of my house is a lime tree. It stayed quite a decent not too high a tree for years. Now that too has shot away and is higher than neighbours house.

I paid for it Tobe pruned last year with my neighbours agreement. While I was out she stopped the person doing the job. So onlymy half got done. Pruning justmakes them grow faster unless you completely cut them down and are prepared to keep on top of them every couple of years.

It makes her own house gloomy. I wish there was a aw on wat trees canbe planted where. These trees are not meant for small suburban gardens but parks, woodlands farms. Somewhere with a lot of space.

I would love to live in a house with a big open garden and just wall ornamental trees at the perimeter.

MackerelOfFact · 09/09/2015 12:56

Get a koala!

Margiemar · 09/09/2015 13:10

Pan - do lots of people poison others trees? Do they have legal action taken?

OhWotIsItThisTime · 09/09/2015 22:26

echt the tree was planted right against the fence. Two foot from the row of terraced houses. The neighbours said no after various talks, and the council wouldn't do anything.

The neighbours' garden was a right old state - they didn't give a shit. DF did what he had to do to protect his property.

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