To think my neighbour is being unreasonable

[princesstiasmum]

I have a very large fur tree in my garden which hangs over my neighbours fence too
I know it was cutting some of the light out of their garden so go someone to cut it down quite a lot.also to cut at the sides as it was getting very bushy and spreading enough to cut light off from my living room
The young man has been to do it this morning , and cut loads off
I havjust had a phone call from my neighbour to ask why he hasnt cut some off their side of the fence, she had apparently already had a go at him, and he said i didnt ask him to, but the general rule is to cut only the side if the person whose tree it is.
Anyway she rang me again and i said ididnt know how it worked only that i had asked him to cut it down to a certain point and cut the top off, which incidentally wasnt bothering me,
My neighbour said well its your bloody tree, and i am not paying anyone to cut my side,
I had told them last summer and before that they could cut some off if they wanted to
I am really annoyed and sad that it has come to this and her being nasty, as i have lived here for 35 years, and looked after their house when they went away etc, and also offered to shop for them as they have both got health problems,
I told her i couldnt afford to pay anymore, couldnt really afford this but apart from the sides the height didnt bother me
I wish now i had left it,
We are both pensioners, but they are older than me and much better off
When the tree was cut down at the top i rang her and asked if it was better and lighter, she said yes much better, but now being nasty because he hasnt cut at her side ,low enough not to cut any light out
Just wondered if it is usual to cut just one side or go all round, in others experience

If you are living there for 35 years and can’t afford to trim a tree that is bothering your neighbours, I think YABVU.

70isa actually have a similar problem and taking a similar approach. Last thing I am going to do is trim NDN's tree and then have them claiming it is my fault when it gets uprooted in a storm causing major damage.

Most frustrating of all is like you we had ours professionally done and cost was about the same as NDN who got the half-hearted bloke with the manicure scissors.

Ah so because in your opinion they are better off than you, then they can pay to have your tree trimmed?
That's not how life works.
Your property you pay for it.

YABU. Who cares what the rules are, your tree that's causing a nuisance, get the whole thing cut. It must look shit now.

We should have a law in this country that trees cannot be planted on boundary lines like this. It is insanely selfish to inflict a large tree on your neighbours.

Why wouldn't you have a conversation with affected neighbour and get whole thing cut? Yes she's allowed to cut her side but it's really your responsibility so getting someone to cut bits of the tree and not the whole thing is really twatish behaviour. We have a similar tree in our garden that could affect the neighbour at the bottom of the garden. I spoke with them and then arranged for the guy to come at a time they were happy with. It's not difficult to be nice

I think if my neighbours had a big tree annoying me, and refused to cut it, I might ruin the tree in protest by accident

Panicwith the bisto i dont think its fair to say that,i have a dog which i am very resposible for,and as far as i knew the tree was going to be chopped all round, the neighbour has already said she has more light, and i didnt need to cut the top off at all it wasnt bothering me,only the part that spread out, so yes i think she is being unreasonable i had the top cut off for her benefit not mine
The man who cut it down is a proper tree surgeon who works for the council, and when i told my neighbour what i was having done she was pleased and we both agreed, tha we didnt want the whole tree down as it gave us both some privacy,
I had no idea that the general rule was to cut only the person whose garden it is side down,and told afterwards that i only needed to cut my side, her side is cut to quite far down,its only the bit thaT ACTUALLY GOES JUST OVER HER FENCE THAT ISNT CUT, AND HE WOULD HAVE NEEDED TO GO INTO HER GARDEN TO DO THAT,THEY CUT SOME OFF LAST SUMMER, WELL THE SON DID AND COULD DO THE SAME,
i KNOW ITS NOT REALLY RELEVANT WHAT I DID FOR THEM, BUT IT WAS THE NASTY ATTITUDE, AND WE HAVE GOT ON SO WELL UP TO NOW THAts all i am saying
Sorry just realised caps on, not going all the way back now to alter it
I really wish i hadnt bothered now, i couldnt really afford it ,so definitely couldnt pay more to have the other side cut.

You should definitely have cut back the tree on her side, I think cutting your side only was VU. I honestly cannot believe you didn't TBH.

The tree needed trimming on all sides. It’s your tree. All overhanging branches should have been removed.

I think there are some very nasty remarks on here, and why does living here for 35 years make me any better off,you dont know my circumstances
They can cut as much off as they want and throw it back, and by the way, quite a few of their trees are overhanging my side, i just trim them back, i dont complain , my winter fuel allowance has paid for this tree cutting down, more than just trimmed,and i was thinking of them having the top cut off, didnt bother me,
If it bothers them that much they can pay for it,and i will tell them to get theirs cut back too

I always thought if a tree overhangs into a neighbour's property they can cut it back, if that's correct then of course yanbu

motherofdragons there were more than bits cut off it was almost the whole tree,and as said before i didnt know that side was going to be left, only told afterwards that is the general rule and as also stated, i had discussed with neighbour before
If she wants to complain to the council she can, see how far she gets,that is the council; rule, NOT MINE

I always thought if a tree overhangs into a neighbour's property they can cut it back, if that's correct then of course yanbu

Yes they can cut it back, that doesn't make it their responsibility to cut it back though. It is just some protection for those unfortunate enough to have selfish neighbours.

Cutting back overhanging branches is a tough job though.
If you do it wrong and the bark tears or you leave a rough edge , disease can get into the tree .

Anything over 1" thickness you'd need a saw rather than loppers .
And if you have to use a ladder , there's a safety issue , also with falling branches.

They are messy , the fallen leaves can be a slip hazard

If we'd lopped our tree ourselves (unlikely) then we'd have had to ask both NDN if we could go into their gardens . Tree surgeons didn't have to , they used harness and pulleys . (And a huge chainsaw)

I'm very surprised your TS didn't go to your NDN and clear this first , though.

Does op have to cut the whole tree though? I mean is it her responsibility (legally) for the whole tree?

Just had a word with this tree surgeon and he said what hangs over someones fence is classed as theirs,which is why they are allowed to cut anything on their side back or off,so if my neighbour complained to the council that is what she would be told, and it isnt as if it has been done on purpose ,
I paid as much as i could afford, if i had the whole tree down it would have cost a lot more, he took 15ft off,the tree has grown massively this summer, was supposed to be done last year and i was let down
By the way we are in HA houses so i dont even own my own and was under no pressure to have it cut back
The council would have done it once, free, but they dont now

A very quick google confirms the owner of the tree is responsible for maintaining it in its entirety.

www.hellistreeconsultants.co.uk/page/who-owns-the-tree/123/

Suggest you get back to the Council contractor and get them to complete the job properly - sounds like you had an ill-trained work shy tree trimmer.

ADastardlything its not even my bloody tree,it was here when i moved here,so i didnt even need to do it,council wouldnt i asked

I think it would have been good neighbourly to have ensured all the tree was lopped, on both sides of the fence, particularly as you knew it was cutting out light from her garden.
YABU.

My googling says different? And that link doesn't say the owner needs to cut the branches back on the other side (does it?)

www.problemneighbours.co.uk/rights-trees-and-overhanging-branches.html

(Trying to work this out as my neighbours tree overhangs and I'm just deciding whether to be arsed about it or not)

You sounds like a very unfriendly neighbour to be honest. Surely your HA would have cut it back for you, like you say it's their tree not yours.

Oh are you council/HA?

howabout read all my comments, the man is a qualified tree surgeon who works for the council, and had proper equipment
The fir tree is in my garden but is not my tree,it belongs to the council,and i didnt have to have it cut back i did it partly because it was cutting my neighbours light and sun off her garden,
I have had 15ft cut off ,and she has already said its much lighter now,she is being awkward because a bit has been left on, by law that bit belongs to her,she can do what she likes with it

Sorry but YABU.

I had a gigantic Bay tree in my back garden which shot up. It blocked light from the back of my house, and I could see it was blocking light from my neighbours garden. They rented and I owned.

I had the tree trimmed, on my side only and had a bit taken off the top, but that appeared to just anger it and it grew like the proverbial beanstalk.

So, 5 months later, I had to pay for the tree surgeon to come back and take the whole bastarding thing down. I left NDN a note ( am in SE so obviously we don't actually speak) explaining what would be done and when, and asked her to let me/gardener know if they had any queries. I told her to let me know if it was not OK for gardener to come into her garden to pick up and clear any branches and leaves that fell into their garden.

This is the responsibility you have when you have a garden with trees. If you cannot afford to maintain it properly you should move.