To think we should be allowed to pull up our NDN’s stupid tree!!

[QueenofmyPrinces]

I live in a crescent and there are about 5 of us who have gardens that all kind of back on to one another.

In one of these gardens is a huge tree that is a total PITA! It’s at the end of their garden and some of it hangs over in to ours.

All winter our entire decking area and the lawn of our garden are COVERED in dead leaves that fall from the stupid tree that we have to go and rake up every day, and then every summer our entire garden is covered in bloody annoying soggy blossom petals and stuff which makes it looks awful and so messy.

We’ve had to buy one of those leaf blower/hoover type things because it’s the only way we can keep on top of it and we can’t actually play out in our garden with the toddler/baby until we’ve hoovered up all the crap that falls from their tree.

Last summer we looked in to our rights and as a result we hacked off all the branches that overhang our garden but it doesn’t solve anything because the other 90% of the tree still exists and its leaves and soggy blossom bits are still blown all over our decking/lawn every bloody day.

I can’t even explain how pissed off I am by it and every year the problem just gets worse as the tree gets bigger and bigger.

A few of the other surrounding neighbours have voiced their anger too because their gardens suffer that same way ours does and two of the neighbours gardens are practically in the shade all day because the big tree blocks the sunlight out.

AIBU to think that surely there’s something more we can do? Can a house owner be forced to have a massive tree removed if it impacts on everyone else?

@Elphame I think that garden view looks so pretty! I love it when local blossoms decorate my garden :)

Wasn’t the tree there when you bought the house?

Trees grow. Some trees grow at a very fast rate. We have photos of the Scots Pines that blight our home from when we bought the house. Comparing those pictures to today, they've at least trebled in size.

@YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan this is exactly the same problem I have - whilst I appreciate the tree, it is just too big for a london back garden - I've never asked our neighbour to remove it but I feel he has a moral responsibility to prune it regularly. It blocks light from our garden for most of the day whilst the positioning of the sun means that there is no impact on his garden which is double the length of mine. I guess it is what it is - I've lived here 23 years and couldn't anticipate someone being so un-neighbourly when I moved in. It's really annoying

I'm with you on the tree. In theory is have a sunny garden but neighbours house kind of corners onto mine and the position of tree means neighbour gets a sunny garden most of the day but no sun in mine once the leaves come out. Because of the shade no grass grows and minimal plants.

Neighbour rents from a landlord but landlord lives in Spain and says no to trimming the tree

We have a small garden now complete over shadowed by those leilandi things. We took out three and have paid for them to be cut down three times! But they still dominate and irritate the hell out of me!! Their branches lean two metres into our 5 mtr wide garden! New NDN won’t listen and I’m fed up of paying for them to be cut. (Also their overgrown garden has nest of rats...errgh!)
I’m determined this year if the year to get the to do something!!

I'm thinking it could be an acacia tree OP - one of NDNs have one, its trebled in size in the last 20 years, and it sheds all year round, either blossoms, spiky needles or leaves.

I think if someone has a massive tree throwing neighbour's gardens into complete shade it should be cut back. I used to live in a street where the sun came in from one side only. It was really noticeable that there were neighbours who had only little flowers and plants on the side that the sun came in (hence not putting their garden in shade) and then massive great bushes and trees on the other side (thereby putting the whole of next door's garden in shade). That's clearly bloody selfish.

And that was Scotland so you really didn't need shade to protect you from heat.

...Tree Drops Leaves & Blossom 😳

Seriously? It’s a tree. It’s outside...nature happens. Thankfully.

Babies put stuff in their mouths, if it’s not blossom it’ll be grass or mud or worse...

It’s a garden they have trees - you knoŵ for birds and insects. It might have a tree preservation order on it - what about a flat?

If a tree has a tpo you can’t cut back branches etc without permission.

We live in a very tree-y road. Yet bloke moves in opposite and he is obsessed by the leaves. Several times a day he’s out with his blower, and i’ve even seen him come home at lunchtimes to have a quick run round and hoover up any leaf or bit of blossom that dares to sully his tarmac.

Frankly I would put anyone who tarmacs over their garden, has decking or (gathers strength to type it) AstroTurf in the stocks and we could all throw rotten vegetables - or, even better, handfuls of leaves at them.

There are shade plants. Shade doesn't preclude a garden. As far as tree debris goes, well, you're being a bit silly.

I had a tree that refused to drop leaves until my dear neighbor finished raking his. I apologized every year and he kindly told me not to worry.

Trees are not usually enemies unless they are rooting about in foundations, etc.

I don’t want it cut down, it’s a beautiful tree, I was just ranting in my thread title, but I do think the landlord should do more in terms of maintaining the tree due to how much it impacts on others.

As a previous poster has said, the tree has little bearing on the garden it’s actually planted in but it causes issues for 3 of the surrounding houses.

The landlord has told the tenants she doesn’t care that the neighbours are annoyed by the tree - and although she’s fully entitled to think that I still think it’s quite a harsh attitude.

I don’t understand why she won’t have it shaped, cut back etc etc as a compromise. It’s just huge.

There are shade plants. Shade doesn't preclude a garden

That's not really the point is it? People enjoy being able to sit in the sun.
They enjoy sun coming into their home. And if you live in a cold country the opportunity to enjoy a bit of sun is actually quite important. We all now how nice it is to sit in the sun and that it makes you feel good. Stopping neighbours from being able to enjoy that because you won't cut your tree back is selfish.

Maybe you offer to pay for the tree to come out and the garden be patched up then the landlord would give permission. Can cost a lot. But I doubt they would want to involved at all.

@Cocoagin ....def not acacia, looks like a white laburnum. Pods v poisonous ...careful around toddlers.

Most unlikely a cherry would have a TPO on it. They are classified by councils as having a lower civic / biodiverse value.

I'm also with OP. My BDN have a huge sycamore in their garden, it was not huge when I moved here 25 years ago but it is now. It drops flowers, seeds and leaves over my garden throughout the growing season. I pull out thousands of sycamore seedlings every spring. Nothing nests in it. It keeps my small but south facing garden in shade when we used to have full sun all year round.
Every four or so years me and my next door neighbours approach the owner, her garden is four times the size of ours and the tree faces onto our gardens. We plead with her to have some surgery on it and she refuses, then says yes if we pay for it but we can't say how the pruning is to be done and along comes a tree surgeon who lips off some of the top which makes it bushier and leafier, we want it thinned and reduced in height but she likes it the way it is.
I hate the fecking thing, it's ugly, no wildlife likes it, it makes my garden paths slippery and dangerous with its slimy leaf mess in spring.
I am minded to find a way to kill it secretly.

Must be the biggest tree ever, if it blocks out the sun of several gardens! There is nothing you can do, it is not damaging your property

Hoovering decking for leaves ffs

FaFoutis "NDN have plastic grass which they wash & dry before their children are allowed out."

Friends neighbour did this too. What is going on?!

The “get rid of the baby” comment wins. Hands down.

I am #TeamTree

I love trees. I love the creatures that live in them.

I love that they annoy controlling feckers most of all

Both my kids have been brought up with allotments and gardens from birth. They have shoved many of natures leftovers in their mouths (no access to anything poisonous) and you know what - nothing happened! Just like all the other humans for thousands of years before us.

Petals disappear so quickly and leaves are so much fun!! Did you never rake them into a big pile and jump in them? Do leaf painting? Leaf angels... My kids love playing in leaves.

You know what is a PITA... decking! Rats always move in under it, it's slippy in winter, you have to paint it every year and it doesn't really last that long for the expense and effort.

Although I am a nature lover, I do understand how frustrating it can be. We only have a small garden with what I think is a lime tree in the garden behind. Although I love how it looks and seeing it change over the seasons, it does seem to drop bits constantly throughout the year. My garden seems to be ankle deep in leaves from September onwards. Constantly sweeping up leaves when you don't even have a tree in your garden is annoying.

You must be bloody strong to be able to pull up a tree that is clearly so huge it obliterates your garden to the point of danger with horrid old springy blossom and nasty autumny leaves (are they so deep you get honey badgers building their setts? Yikes!)

Is your garden one with fake grass and fence to orange fence 'landscaping' (frigid stone/gravel/slate). Your toddler will love the leaves to play in and blossom is gorgeous!