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 😬🤣

If the branches are touching your property, you can bet that the roots go further still. They need to be to anchor themselves in the ground. If they only had shallow roots, they would tip over in a light breeze.

There was one long branch that was actually over my roof, so I cut it back by about four foot - but it’s still in my air space so nothing drastic

You are well rid of that particular branch - it would fill your gutters with seeds and leaves later in the year.

you still need to ask them if they want the trimmings though because if you don't it's technically theft and if they are peeved with you already you don't want them making a complaint to the police!

I was going to say the same as Crier. She will probably go crackers and be abusive, but it means that in legal terms you've fulfilled your obligations. (Or alternatively, if anything comes of it, you can just claim you asked her and she told you to stick them, so you took them to the tip. One person's word against another's.)

I cut down a sycamore from my garden as it was killing everything underneath, so I feel your pain. It had probably self-seeded but it killed the lawn, sprouted everywhere and the roots have damaged a nearby wall to the point it needs removing.

As much as I hate to cut down a mature tree, it really was the best decision. There are plenty of other trees close by and I will make sure there's other more appropriate planting.

I'm sorry to hear your neighbour is such an arse. Maybe it would have been an idea to suggest she trims it herself first but it doesn't sound like they were amenable to this anyway.

@kaitlinktm

They are highly toxic to horses. I lost a pony to atypical myopathy (the condition it causes) in 2014 and its horrific to watch. Literally nothing we could do to save him.

We had to cut sycamore in our garden. In last 10 years the tree has grown taller than the house, 3 times a year the gutters were clogged up with flowers, than seeds and leaves. Not to mention big mess of the huge leaves and milions of seedlings popping up everywhere in spring.

Now the tree is gone I’m surprised how much light we get from that side of the garden and how our garden has flourished since the bastard tree disappeared.

Sycamores also have very extensive root system which might result in water pipes/ drainage being damaged by the tree if it grows too close to the house.

Go for it OP, trim them, your neighbour wants don’t trump your needs.

THE boyfriend has refused to go round with the clippings, and I don’t want to. I have had enough of her for today. I have taken them out of the car and they are in the back garden, if they want them. I doubt they will.

@Clairaloulou yes I'm well aware of what was meant, but thank you so much for clarifying

Well done OP! Just do what you need to do to keep your home and garden safe.

@NoonAim sorry 😐