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?

You also cannot cut back at this time of year because it is contrary to the Countryside Act which protects nesting wildlife. I hope you have not just gone ahead.

We did it about this time last year but we informed the tenants we were planninh on doing it, who thrn informed the landlord who gave us his permission.

This is an ongoing problem due to the nature of the tree. It isn’t something that happens for a few weeks and then stops, it goes on from spring through to autumn. I don’t know exactly what kind of tree it is but it isn’t just a leafy one, the flowers and blossoms are constantly there so whenever there is a light breeze or a wind loads of it gets blown off and covers our garden again. It happens most days for many months.

It’s definitely worse over the spring and summer becsuse at least in the winter once all the leaves have fallen off the problem is sorted. Well, until the spring arrives and it starts all over again.

I wish it didn’t annoy me as much as it does

My NDN cut down all their trees because birds sit in them, and birds might shit on the plastic grass. You have to wonder if people like that have a soul.

BTW - I don’t hoover the grass I just meant we use one of those leaf blower things.

I promise you that I don’t get my Dyson out to use on the blossom

Your child will grow up and stop eating leaves

^ this - and within a few months probably.

How long would it take for another tree to grow to that size - decades? A century or more? No contest. YABextremelyU

OP I completely get you. Our NDNs have a protected walnut tree that is literally just onto their side of the boundary. We had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for when we bought the house. It now covers around 40% of our garden. In the spring, it drops superfine yellow dust over the patio, garage, garden and our cars. So you can't hang washing out. Then the catkin like things drop. And I mean drop. So no washing for a bit longer. Then in summer it offers perfect shade and is magnificent until the walnuts start to appear. Washing goes back into the dryer. Then the outer casings drop, which are natures equivalent to thick black tar. We have had to replace multiple mats, the hall carpet and the lounge carpet as people have walked them into the house and it literally can't be cleaned. Then in autumn the walnuts themselves drop.... we spend hours collecting them, then all the leaves come off and this process takes around a month whereby we are literally buried in them. Last year we filled our garden waste bin from October to January with them, and composted the rest.

I love nature, love living in the country, and bizarrely love trees. But I fucking hate that tree with every fibre of me. It's not even in our bloody garden. It can't be trimmed in any way as it has a TPO on it, and it has gone from covering our garage to now covering nearly half of our garden.

I don’t think a Landlord can overrule statute. The rule is there for a reason, to protect wildlife and it is an objective timeline.
I feel very sorry for your garden I don’t think you deserve to have it.

Maybe if you didn’t have the decking it would be easier - the leaves would disintegrate over the winter, nourish the soil as nature intended, and there would only be one big tidy up required at the end of winter

This^

I had to cut down my crabapple tree recently after my neighbour, who has fence to fence Astro turf, complained about the blossom/leaves that she has to hoover up. I cut back the branches that overhung their garden, but the result was that the tree was horribly lop sided, so I cut it down so I could plant something more upright. Neighbour then got upset that I had cut down the beautiful tree they liked to look at because there is nothing alive in their garden

I can see your point our communal garden used to be totally shaded in the summer by a tree from the big houses at the back. I believe a neighbour put a copper nail in the bottom to kill it. Don’t know if it worked as I moved. At least I suppose it would have died slowly meaning wildlife can move on.

I feel your pain OP - the neighbours behind me have a row of conifers along the boundary, the previous owners kept them cut to a reasonable height and the tree surgeon who did it for them used to come and knock and go into our garden to do this side.

I think the current owners have cut them twice in the 11yrs they've been there and both occasions prompted by us.

They are currently the same height as the peak of my roof, there are several birds nesting in them that wake us up in the early hours and shit on my washing, and the rooms to the back of my house are permanent dark caverns.

There is feck all I can do about it (legally)

My lawn at the moment - the dog comes in covered with petals so the carpet is also festooned. It'll only be for a week or so so I guess we'll live.

Nature is messy but without it humanity is doomed.

Actually I'm with the OP. Far too many people allow their trees to grow into huge monstrosities far too close to other peoples' properties because they're too tight to have them properly trimmed every few years. We are blighted by four huge pine trees literally inches away from our garden fence. They were small when we bought the house 30 years ago. Pine trees drop profuse amounts of pine needles which don't just rot away - they have to be raked/hoovered up. We have to have our gutters vacuumed every year as they always get blocked with the bloody things. When the trees were much smaller, we used to use long loppers to remove the over-hanging branches, but now they're so huge, they're out of reach and are too thick anyway. The trees are now higher than our house. Their roots are coming up through our lawn. The neighbours don't give a toss - we've approached them several times, but they just shrug and say it doesn't bother them - well it won't because their house is further away than ours and up-wind. I've nothing against trees, but there should be better protection when they get out of control and too huge when close to properties.

YABU

And a bit lazy I’m afraid. We have a magnolia tree, a cherry, a bay tree, a pear tree. I say to the baby “don’t put that in your mouth” and I rake up the blossom/leaves maybe 10 times a year. It’s really not a lot of effort to educate your children about nature /safety and get some exercise!

Next time you view a house pay attention to adjoining gardens. If you can't hack their choices choose somewhere else to live.

WHAT Species of tree OP? stick a photo on if you don't know.

I must admit I wasn’t sorry when my neighbours had their enormous beech tree brutally pollarded, and it would be quite nice if the other side did something about their sycamore (liberated by the removal of our leylandii, it now massively overhangs our drive and is currently dropping tree crap on my car). But it is what it is, and without the trees I’d just be listening to an A road now, not birdsong.

Learn to love the leaf vacuum, it’s quite satisfying - and I say that as someone who only owns one because of the neighbours’ trees, I have ONE deciduous plant in my garden but spend autumn hoovering leaves and scooping them out of the pond!

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.....

It can't be trimmed in any way as it has a TPO on it

Yes it can. Property owners love to use this as an excuse to be tight and anti-social and not bother trimming or looking after them. In reality, you can apply to the local council to have branches lopped off where one is getting too large/bulky, etc. As long as you don't intend to take off too much, local councils are usually quite realistic.

You are within your rights to remove any overhanging branches if the tree is not a TPO tree - do check. However, this can unbalance a tree. Trees do make nice focal points as well as being a vertical habitat. Otherwise gardens are dull and featureless with zilch for nature.

You are irrationally annoyed . You'll look back in a couple of years and realise how PFB you were.

Your small person will soon stop eating the blossom. The leaves and dirt will do them good.

Have you thought about supervising your toddler whilst they're playing in the garden? Crazy idea, I know, but it'd probably stop any leaf/blossom eating issues.

YABU- we used to have neighbours like you- they were an absolute PITA.

One of the reasons we bought our (previous) house was the lovely garden with a big mature beech tree at the bottom of it. As soon as we moved in they started complaining about the leaves on their lawn, and how we should have it felled.

I assume they had tried unsuccessfully with the people we bought the house from and were hoping we would be a soft touch. The tree must have been at least 40-50 years old.

I suggest you sell to someone who appreciates having a garden and move somewhere more soulless with acres of patios and decking and nothing over 3 ft high

Just get rid of the baby.

I don’t know what particular type of tree it is but from Googling it does look very similar to the cherry blossom tree that various posters have suggested.

The tree is far higher than the height of the house and at its widest point it’s probably the width of their house too. Their garden is quite small and kind of triangle shaped and this tree is planted in the corner that is the furthest away from their house.

The tree overhangs larger areas of land in mine and 3 other adjoining gardensfar more than it hangs over the garden its actually planted in.

"Just get rid of the baby."

I’m wondering what sort of tree this is now. I’ve never seen one that is in flower from spring to autumn.