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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

417 replies

QueenofmyPrinces · 08/05/2018 17:41

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
14
MereDintofPandiculation · 10/05/2018 22:22

I've lived next door to a mature beech tree - 80-100ft high. So no, I don't class 25ft as massive.

Vicky1990 · 10/05/2018 22:47

Trees like this are a complete pain.
Get in touch with your local council to find out what your options are.
I had this problem and suggested to the owner that if I paid to have it cut down would they allow me to do so, they agreed.
Best money I ever spent.
You are not been unreasonable.

kooshbin · 10/05/2018 23:33

Some trees don’t belong in a suburban area. Unless one has a garden the size of Buck House. There are lots of smaller trees that are quintessential English garden trees. Suburban wildlife don’t need big trees.

Our local gang of feisty sparrows flit between our 6-foot hedge (which looks like a block of flats when they’re nesting) and the ivy growing vigorously up our neighbour’s house (a bit more bijou), via our couple of apple trees (which get pruned regularly).

The biggest problem for wildlife in suburbia is the solid fencing which means that ground-based animals such as hedgehogs can’t roam far enough to get food.

Big trees that loom over neighbouring gardens, cut out light, and pose a risk in high winds, just don’t work in suburbia. It’s not just Leylandia that are the problem.

Thecountryhasgonecrazy · 11/05/2018 02:18

Haven't RTT but there's not a lot you can do and I think that is a good thing! Our neighbours moved in to their house and promptly cut down everything in their garden including 2 mature oak trees-which of course is well within their rights but an absolute shame. So we planted three large trees on the boundary on our side-which of course is well within our rights! of course if they would stop leaning into our land and trimming our hedges and putting weed killer down we might have been a bit more sympathetic Grin

Original poster
QueenofmyPrinces · 11/05/2018 08:11

Well the neighbour caught my husband on the way to work this morning and handed over the LL’s phone number. He’s going to give her a call in his lunch hour.

He’d asked the neighbour what the LL had said on the phone but apparently the neighbour had just text her this morning and said one of the neighbours wanted a word with her and could he pass on her number. She’d replied and asked what about, he’d said the tree, and then she’d just replied and said we could call this afternoon.

OP posts:
Claire90ftm · 11/05/2018 11:23

Seriously, just get over it. It's a tree and you're being a bit ridiculous. And that's what toddlers do. If it wasn't the blossom, I'm sure s/he would find something else to put in their mouth. You have to be on them all the time. Stop being so precious. Trees are wonderful things.

HadronCollider · 11/05/2018 11:23

GrinGrinGrin Simon! Well out of order thoughGrin

Fooferella · 11/05/2018 11:47

I've read most of the thread and haven't seen anyone suggest that you and your neighbours simply club together, hire a tree surgeon and get it trimmed. It is the LL's responsibility but they obviously don't give a shit.

Our neighbours had an elder tree that had outgrown it's planting area but they couldnt be arsed doing anything about it. We asked if they would be happy for us to trim it back as it really only shaded our garden. DH got up on a ladder and chopped it back, we got more sunshine, result! Thankfully my new neighbour recognised it had outgrown it's spot and took it out a few years ago. There is now a lovely small cherry Tree in it's place that will one day get too big but that's what happens. Now our garden has shrubs and climbers that wouldn't grow before so birds and insects still have a home.

You could also just youtube how to trim a tree, rent a ladder and some loppers and go for it.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 11/05/2018 11:47

Come on OP, feel the love, embrace the blossom.

Trees are wonderful and necessary.

SteamTrainsRealAleandOpenFires · 11/05/2018 12:02

Oh well carry on, at least the LL will be saving money.

Mercurial123 · 11/05/2018 12:03

Some people should live in a sterile concrete block. I have a neighbour like OP she can't cope with ants, leaves, cats visiting garden she's awful. We live amongst nature it's a beautiful thing.

IrmaFayLear · 11/05/2018 12:20

If that tree is removed the you lose your privacy. Don’t you care about that?

If the tree has a TPO on it and it is felled or even tampered with, the tree surgeon will be liable to prosecution and so will you. Tree surgeons round here have print-outs from the council so they know what they cannot touch. If you hire any old uninsured bloke and he injures himself, then I hope you have a lot of money to pay damages.

Tutlefru · 11/05/2018 12:28

I can totally see your point OP. OUR neighbour has a massive tree, a part of it actually fell on our conservatory during Storm Dorris.

I've read up and apparently you can cut it back but only to your boundary line? Would that help? Saves getting rid all together.

Redpony1 · 11/05/2018 12:31

You are being absolutely rediculous as others have pointed out many times on here. Trees are beautiful and nobody died from a bit of blossom and shade.

The house i moved in to in Dec has a concrete garden, which i am ripping up in laying lawn, and plenty of trees! Gardens should have big beautiful trees [heart]

Original poster
QueenofmyPrinces · 11/05/2018 12:38

We cut back on our boundary last year but to be honest it made little difference as there was only so high we could get, even with a ladder.

Regarding privacy, it only offers us privacy from the house where the tree actually belongs - there are another 4 houses that overlook and can see into our garden whether the tree is there or not.

I have no idea how to find out if there’s a TPO on the tree - who/what determines it?

Still waiting to hear from my husband regarding what the LL has said.

OP posts:
MereDintofPandiculation · 11/05/2018 13:03

There are lots of smaller trees that are quintessential English garden trees. Of which flowering cherries are a prime example.

TPOs are placed by the local Council - look on their website and it should tell you how to find out whether a particular tree has a TPO.

PrimalLass · 12/05/2018 12:52

You are being absolutely rediculous as others have pointed out many times on here. Trees are beautiful and nobody died from a bit of blossom and shade.

Maybe no one did. But in our case our neighbours' flowering cherry has zero impact on their lives because of the shallow of the gardens, but makes the back of our house v dark, drops leaves and blossom all over our very small garden, and blocks the drains.

It was below fence level when we bought and is now taller than our house.

Unless we get them to do something about it, it will seriously devalue our house.

So it isn't as simple as 'trees are beautiful'.

PrimalLass · 12/05/2018 12:52

Shallow = shape

Bloody stupid autocorrect

squeaver · 13/05/2018 14:12

Just to answer your question about a TPO. You need to contact your council about this. Given the age of the houses, I think it's highly unlikely.

KingTot · 13/05/2018 14:38

No it's not as simple as "trees are beautiful" @PrimalLass. It's about a living thing that part of an ecosystem, an ecosystem that we depend on for little things like oxygen and food. Trees produce oxygen and places for all manner of birds and insects to live. And those pesky flowers are food for fast disappearing bees. And we need those bees if we want to continue to have 80% of the current crops we rely on. So no it's not as simple as trees are beautiful. The ignorance is absolutely staggering.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 13/05/2018 14:41

Why would a tree devalue your house?

I'm much more likely to buy house with mature trees than one with an overlooked over concreted so called garden.

PrimalLass · 13/05/2018 16:16

It devalues it for all the reasons I've already given Confused Right up against the boundary and my house, shades the garden and house, and blocks the drains.

BTW @KingTot. Thanks for your totally non-patronising response. I work at a botanic garden so know one or two things about gardens... Your response is ludicrous as you have no idea about what else is in my garden or the neighbours'. FTR I have five trees in my small front and back gardens but we keep them under control.

Planting what becomes a massive tree on a boundary line, two metres away from someone else's house but nowhere near your own, is still selfish.

I would do a diagram but it would be very outing.

Trees are great but that does not mean we should plant them in unsuitable places.

PrimalLass · 13/05/2018 16:18

I can't get over your twatty patronising response.

JoffreyBaratheon · 13/05/2018 17:01

I think this new species of cherry that is massive and flowers for months needs to be documented, preserved and used to breed others. It sounds fantastic. My cherry trees are pathetic in terms of size and blossom for two weeks, tops. I'm jealous.

PrimalLass · 13/05/2018 17:06

Some grow to 12 metres.