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?

Well I love trees but it sounds like all the neighbours and tennents are pissed off with it? In that case could you get a quote, split it between you all then ask the landlord for permission to chop it down at no cost to him/her? If your neighbours would be willing to chip in that is? You’d have to wait till birds have stopped nesting though.

I doubt it very much. Unless it's roots are undermining your foundations in some way,there's probably very little that you can do.

My neighbour has a huge tree in his garden. It has grown to a colossal size since we have lived here - taller than the house and I can no longer even cut back any overhanging branches with my telescopic tree trimmer it's so tall. I've asked and put notes through the door and just get ignored (because he is a complete tosser). It doesn't affect him at all. My garden however - complete darkness from around 10am now - was really depressing in this lovely weather, we couldn't see the sun at all. I can't leave the door open as the leaves and seed things all blow in, it's a proper pita! I've even offered to pay for a tree surgeon (hell I only want a few feet shaved off it I'm not asking for it to be cut down!!).... grumble grumble

Are you my neighbour OP? I'm the only one for about ten gardens that has trees in my garden. Everyone else has hacked theirs down! I've got a lovely evergreen and another one I'm not quite sure what it is, but it's full of blossom at the moment and it's gorgeous! I caught my neighbour trying to cut some of the evergreen down the other week, he got a bollocking from me and a hefty fine from the council. There's a squirrels nest in there and a few birds as well. All you can do is cut the branches hanging in your garden, you have to deal with the tree I'm afraid!

Maybe I’m just irrationally annoyed..

Just a touch possibly.

So its a long flowering and fast growing tree since its huge but mostly grown within ten years? Do you have a picture (just of a leaf and blossom, not the whole garden)? What colours are the blossom and leaves?

Landlord consent for pruning is irrelevant if the Countryside Act is being breached - its up to all parties to ensure that the tree is not in scope.

If its genuinely huge as opposed to a larger than average flowering cherry type then chopping it down could cause heave and damage to the houses.

Our kids grew up with trees in and around the gardens. We certainly didn't hoover up the garden every time they went out there. They all survived happily and in fact had many happy hours playing with the twigs and leaves.
I second the cautioning over decking, especially if its not directly attached to the house. Rats and foxes are both common decking problems around our way.

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.

That sounds too big to be any kind of cherry - take a picture of a leaf and flower, someone will likely recognise it.

If the roots are under the house that is a good reason not to move it. Even if its damaging foundations any underpinning is likely to prune the roots enough for the work and put up root barriers and leave the tree in place.

I’m just sorting out bedtimes then I will go out and pick one of the leaves/blossoms to photograph.

Thankfully the tenants hate the tree to so are sympathetic to everyone’s moaning but I feel very sorry for them as they get all the vitriol whilst the Landlord has no interest. It must be difficult for them.

Bloody trees hanging about turning carbon dioxide into oxygen and providing places for wildlife to live. Bastards.

The tree will still be there long after your baby has babies of their own.

You’d hate my garden op. I have 10 trees and back onto a woodland.

I'm really dead curious as to what this tree could be. The cherries have just about finished now, so once the dead blossom has fallen off there should be nothing falling until the autumn. But the op says it is massive. Could it be a horse chestnut with red 'candles'? Do you get conkers op? Can you take a pic for us?
We are surrounded by trees - alders, sycamore, birch and plane. I love them. I collect the leaves in the autumn to make leaf mould. None of this is at all helpful to you op!

@SimonBridges That looks wonderful. I hope you don’t mind but I might screenshot those so I can put together some ideas for my garden, I want it to look like mini fairytale woodland!

OP I get why it might be annoying (I giggled at the Dyson comment!) but I think you need to try and find a way to appreciate it instead.

We recently moved here and there are trees in most of the neighbouring gardens. My NDN complains about 2 massive conifer trees in the garden next to hers but I think
it looks so pretty. It feels like we live rurally watching/listening to the birds (we don’t its all ex council terraced).

I have a new appreciation for nature since moving here.

I think blossom petals look amazing when they fall too. There’s a road I drive down daily that gets covered around this time of year and I always wish my street looked like it.

You’d hate my garden op. I have 10 trees and back onto a woodland.

I don’t hate trees.....I just hate this one tree.

Cul de sac yes
Leaves yes
Blossom yes
Annoyed neighbors yes
—hacked— cut it last year yes

You are one of my neighbors aren’t you 😀Leave my tree alone I luffs it.
Yes it is shedding a lot of blossom at the moment but it’s once a year.
I go and clear up for the one nice neighbor who doesn’t complain.

I’ve been really enjoying the blossom all over my garden.

To counteract how “ irrationally annoyed “ you are you could contemplate how trees provide you ( and your baby ) with oxygen.

You are one of my neighbors aren’t you 😀Leave my tree alone I luffs it.
Yes it is shedding a lot of blossom at the moment but it’s once a year.
I go and clear up for the one nice neighbor who doesn’t complain.

Definitely not your neighbour then as the tenant hates the tree as much as we do and there isn’t one of us who doesn’t complain

The blossom and a leaf

We if your neighbours all hate it then why don't you all cut back the bits that overhang onto your gardens so that there is far less stuff flying about. You could also asking the tenant neighbours their c permission to climb up on a ladder and cut all of the blossoms off with a pair of manicure scissors one by one.

We had an identical problem, op.

Renters next door, landlords not bothered, huge sycamore of 50 feet that dropped leaves all over our stone paths that turned it into an ice rink come autumn and winter. The crunch came when my mother slipped and cracked her head... because even though we swept up the leaves everyday, they left a film on the stone that was a bugger to get off without scrubbing with Jeyes fluid (environmental nightmare).

We realised that next door's landlords would never do anything about it until the damn thing got so huge, it became unstable. So we spoke to the landlords and got their consent and paid ourselves that have the thing cut down. It cost us £350.

But better that than years of a lethal pathway to our door.

Trees are very beautiful and very important, but for most gardens I think they need careful choice about which trees and where they're sited.

Late FIL was a keen gardener and sited a couple of ornamentals along the front of PIL's garden so they weren't encroaching on or shading their neighbours' property.

IIRC, Geoff Hamilton (RIP) advised planting trees at least as far away from houses as their mature height.

From the picture it looks like a cherry tree, they are beautiful when in flower, you are very lucky to have one to look at

My neighbour Hoover's her garden every week. But she has patioed over all of it and only left a small border. She's also a bit . Hoovering the garden is quite common in cities...

YABVU.
I have a very large oak tree at the end of my garden - and I love it, its one of the reasons we bought the house. It's approx. 100 years old and though some of the neighbours at the end moan about it and have suggested cutting it down if I have my way it'll be standing another 100 years. Am getting a tree preservation order so that it'll be protected.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ICn6muY5O-8

YANBU. I get it. Our neighbour has a giant tree. Overhangs our garden and creates shade in the top half that would get the sun all day. It's the only place for our trampoline as it's the only flat bit of the garden and we constantly have bird shit, leaves, twigs, branches and bits of (it's not blossom) small flowery stuff. DCs swept it earlier, I cleaned off bird shit and even whilst I was doing that loads more was falling down. It drives me mad. I've looked at canopys but they don't make one for our brand of trampoline. We cover it at night and all winter but even having the cover off for the day leaves shit and leaves etc all over it.

People who object to trees and greenery in gardens should be made to live in the Sahara desert in a hermetically sealed plastic box.

I'm still stuck on hovering a lawn..... WHY??!!