Neighbours and overhanging branches

[Dollymixture22]

My house is surrounded by tress and scrubs which are at the bottom of other people’s gardens. I allow the branches to overhang a little, but keep them neat. I don’t have a single tree in my garden yet autumn and winter is spent clearing huge piles of leaves from my garden!

Anyway last week I was trimming a few branches when a neighbour started yelling at me. I couldn’t see her because I have six foot fences. She kept yelling they weren’t my trees and I couldn’t cut them down. I calming explained over and over again that I wasn’t cutting down any trees I was just trimming a small number of overhanging branches which were hitting my guttering. The trees weren’t even hers, they are her neighbours.

I called at the neighbours house to explain. She apologised for the state of her trees and told me to trim away.

My issue now is angry neighbours trees are also hitting my guttering. I am trying to build up the courage to call at her door and let her know I need to trim the trees and bushes back a little, but I know she will be aggressive and I am a big wimp. We live on different streets so the yelling over the fence is the only contact I have ever had with her.

Just looking for advice - I know I should call round to try and avoid further confrontation, but she will say I can’t trim the trees when legally I know I can? I don’t want a war - but the tress need trimmed.

I would just trim them and keep the branches for a couple of days in the unlikely event she wants them back. If she was more understanding then yes I would let her know first, but either way she's not going to be happy is she? YANBU for not wanting her trees to damage your property.

You need to ask your mp to lobby Parliament to request a change in the definition of 'nuisance' then.

Oh do I? Or people could just not be selfish.

The people living in the house backing onto ours have a really big (out of control) Apple tree which hangs a good way over our garden blocking daylight and shedding a large crop of apples into our property every year - not to mention bloody leaves all autumn. Their garden is such a disaster area that they admitted they hadn’t been aware the tree belonged to them. No-one uses the apples because you’d need a crane to reach them.

We had a tree surgeon take a look at it and he advised that it be taken down for safety issues - it grows at a slant and if it comes down in a storm it would land in our garden. It also gets tangled up in the phone lines which costs us money to constantly get BT out.

We are willing to pay for the removal but the neighbours have now decided they like trees and will be keeping it. Short of paying a solicitor we have to put up with the mess and the inconvenience. We have to live beside these people and don’t want to cause trouble. Maybe if they did something in their garden apart from sitting in the overgrown jungle smoking they would realise it’s an eyesore. I guess it’s far enough away from their house not to worry them.

I’m sick of selfish people but like you and your neighbour I’ll just have to suck it up. 😠

Do you have a male friend or relative that could come and do it for you?

(I find it helpful for example to get my brother willingly involved....as a sort of “third party”, so I am “removed” as being first hand involved in the problem.

Or pay a jobbing gardener for an hours labour....so the work is done, but you yourself are not the perpetrator?

I have to speak to a neighbour who is throwing all of his garden waste over my fence....I have worked out a strategy....
I am going to ask him pleasantly and faux-naively, if he will “have a word with his gardener” to put a stop to it (he hasn’t actually got a gardener) ...otherwise I will “have to ask my gardener to extend the height of my fence” which will affect their view.... (I haven’t got a gardener either!)....but hopefully will sort the problem amicably.