To trim neighbours trees against their wishes?

[Dippypippy1980]

My house has a long side garden, I have a six foot fence and on the other side is the bittom of a number of gardens.

These all have trees and bushes growing along the other side of the fence - which grow half into My garden.

Last year I had a confrontation with one neighbour who strongly objected to me trimming another neighbours trees - even though
I was only trimming the bits that were clearly in my garden, and he said it was ok.

This year her trees are starting to bud, are about two foot into my garden (more for the higher tree branches) and are so overgrown some are will be touching my house by the time spring is over.

I called this morning to tell her I was going to trim those branches that were in my garden. She was very rude And said she refused permission - I explained didn’t need it but was just telling her out of courtesy. There are no tree protection orders. She shouted about her privacy and slammed the door in my face.

Her trees are right at my front door, some are sycamore and they make a huge mess. She has spent all morning and afternoon in her garden and I can hear her husband as ifhe needs to go round. Should I just woman up and trim the trees?? Or hide 😬🤣

Take photos/video before you cut it back just so you can prove to anyone that the branches are intruding into your garden.

Don’t just look for nests using the calendar. Use your eyes. Lots of species have surprisingly wide nesting breeding seasons and they can shift due to weather food availability etc etc.

Trim them now, if there are no nests. But don't 'hack' them back or cut them to such an extent that the tree could fall over or die.

Although you don't strictly need permission, it's only neighbourly to tell them first.

Don’t chuck it into her garden. You may damage something or she may say you have. Bundle them and put over carefully. Take a photo of them returned (don’t photograph her garden generally) as well as before/after trees.

@FaFoutis what planet are you on?! Are you basing your comment on bonsai trees?!

On the fact that leaves in a garden are not 'mess'. It's fucked up to think that they are.

Check for birds, check the way you do it won't damage the trees, and reassure her thus, and then get on with it.

Personally I would ask her what worries her about cutting them back and ask her if she wants the offcuts.

I imagine her concerns are mainly aesthetic. But if she wants big bushy trees she needs them planted fully in her own space.

Yanbu. Trim carefully, tie up the branches in a nice ribbon and offer her them back

FaFoutis you've clearly never had a sycamore...

People get very strange about this sort of thing. You’ve checked, you’ve told so crack on.

It's bloody rude to allow your trees to overflow into others gardens!!! She should be embarrassed not offended

I have a row of sycamores in my garden, maybe 5 or 6 of them.

You've be courteous informing her. She cannot stop you trimming back to the boundary fence. As pp posters have said - check for nests. Also, if she's going to be awkward/stroppy - perhaps take a couple of "before" and "after" photographs? (of the overhanging branches, not your neighbour ).

Trees do not make a 'huge mess'.

Sycamore do FaFoutis

They drop sticky sap (which is a bugger to get off your car and destroys the paint* and then millions of seeds and tons of leaves. The seed shoot up all over the place and if you don't pull them out the minute you see them, you risk waking up one morning in a thicket of sycamores because THEY GROW VERY FAST!

In short - they are effing WEEDS! Their roots are near the surfaced damage fences, walls, paths and foundations, and they grow alarmingly quickly to an enormous height! They are second only to leylandii in arboreal horribleness. They are a foreign import which have over-run the good English Oak etc and should be strangled at birth.

OP you are within your rights to remove overhanging branches, but you need to ask her if she wants them back (i know, I know - English Law at its finest). If she leaves these trees and they are anywhere near her house, I can promise you she will regret it. They are BUGGERS!!!!!

Bundle them and put over carefully. No, as others have said, you're not entitled to do this if she doesn't want them. What you are required to do is offer them back.

@FaFoutis deary me, definitely on another planet! 😂

This makes me so sad. People tend to see trees as an inconvenience and don't think about their benefits.

Shade, habitat for birds and insects, noise insulation, water retention, air purifying. But all people focus on is the mess, even though that's temporary.

Oh carbolic type territory - interesting always thought you had to return !

@ChardonnaysPrettySister I think that people do value trees, but it's a very different situation when they're encroaching on your garden etc. Not wanting that is not the same as what you describe

I always defend trees but you are entitled to cut to your boundary.
If you own the property get someone qualified to look at it. It's my understanding that the roots spread to width of branches so may be impinging your house

Actually, I've realised that my neighbour across the road has lime trees - fortunately not over their driveway. Now they are messy trees, with honedew and sooty mould being dropped by the aphids on them .

We had three on the boundary line in our driveway and our cars were covered in the sticky stuff. Fortunately, we got permission to take them out and yes, I planted 4 replacement trees, although not by the drive Once the plane trees had been taken out, the wild cherry, also on the boundary line, was able to thrive

Not really, when we value something we tend to put up with a bit of inconvenience.

We are drowning in air pollution, noise and apparently we all lose most of the insect life in a hundred years, but hey, lets go chop some trees.

Trim the trees, just as the law allows. Give her back her tree trimmings (I.E. throw the rubbish into her garden) just as the law says. Job done!

I always had the impression that you had to return tree trimmings to their owner - particularly something bearing fruit - as it's their property.
Similar comparison about returning dog poo to dog's owner, if you witness the deed being done?

Aren't sycamore seeds poisonous?

ChardonnaysPrettySister

There are trees and trees.

Sycamore are not native to the UK, and is very invasive. It does provide habitat for a number of British species, but TBH getting rid of the buggers and replacing them with native hardwoods would be better in the long run (though these tend to be slow-growing).

It is VERY difficult to kill a sycamore, so I doubt that OP will do any lasting damage. Even when cut down to shortr (4-6 inch) stumps, they will put out shoots and coppice themselves. They are bastards.