AIBU to not be U with a not unreasonable request from neighbour (not a CF)

[TwitterQueen1]

I hope you can wade through the double negatives

Neighbour has a satellite box on a sidewall overlooking my garden. I have hazel growing by the fence, plus a rose and a couple of other shrubs. Apparently the hazel has grown too high (maybe 8ft?) and is interfering with the signal. Neighbour has just been round to explain and ask if I can cut the shrubs & hazel down to fence height.

AIBU to agree politely to this,? And to suggest I would appreciate it if he could perhaps help with the trimming? Or should I have made a fuss .

I would expect them to move their satellite dish to somewhere else on the wall where they can get a good signal rather than cut down anything that birds may be nesting in at this time of year.

Most houses have more than one place to put their satellite dish - we have just moved ours from where it was when we moved in to the other side of the house because a hedge was blocking our signal.

No you should have demanded they move the dish, paint it a different colour to blend in with the wall so it doesn't offend your view and planted even taller shrubbery

I'd decline and suggest they relocate their satellite dish.

Hazel is a fantastic food source for wildlife (well, ours is - it's sparrow city and we have 2 different robins, plus tits, finches and a pair of the fattest wood pigeons I have ever seen) and the roses will encourage pollinators, all of which are more important than their statellite signal.

Yes Wavey there ought to be special brick patterned paint to disguise dishes....
The trees aren't big or substantial enough to house birds nests and I do my bit for wildlife elsewhere (gaps under fencing for hedgehogs etc). I though we could have a lighthearted, naice neighbour thread to take our minds off babies....

haha. I had a conversation with neighbours about their planned extension yesterday. Could tell they were worried I was going to launch into a string of complains (other neighbours have done so already). But while the extension might have some tiny impact on DH and I, our view is that they have the right to do it and it's ridiculous to complain. I told them I think it sounds fab!

So YANBU.

It's nice to know that not all neighbours are demanding and precious!

You should have offered to stand on your NDN's roof, holding the satellite dish up as high as you can so that he can get the best signal. Where's your neighbourly spirit OP?

I'd tell them that if they want to trim your bush then crack on, make sure they pick up the waste and dispose of it correctly.

It's not like they're asking you to rip up a thousand year old Oak Tree that Robin Hood used to live in and install a crack den is it?

Oh damn! I wish I'd got trimming bushes in earlier.....

I dream of having a garden with tall trees etc

so I would definitely be asking him if he could resite the box.

Well, their dish is too low on the wall and trimming trees that cross the property boundary is their responsibility!

So, ball back in their court, methinks!

No, YANBU - you are being polite and considerate, as is your neighbour to come and ask nicely. Would that all folks could be like this. Some people would have just hacked away at your shrubs.

Perhaps ask him if he could help to cut the shrubs if he can do so in a aesthetically pleasing way. Then you can all stay friends.

actually OP may I ask a boring question?

I don't know what the rule is re the hazel. If it's not overhanging his wall, but is just very tall on your side, then actually I think asking you to cut it is CFery.

if it's overhanging and he was legally allowed to cut it, then it's different.

Actually hazel grows back incredibly fast if trimmed. You will probably find it shoots up over the next couple of years back to the same height, maybe even higher, albeit with whippy branches. It won't harm the tree and will keep relations neighbourly so why not?

We have several hazel trees that have been regularly coppiced over their lifespan. A tree surgeon that did some work on a different tree got very excited about them as he estimated that the oldest one is 500 years old, which is fricking ancient. Uncoppiced hazels don't tend to make it to 100.

I think the real question here is, did the neighbour 'pop in' unannounced? If they did, naturally they are BU. If you answered the door, well you only have yourself to blame thus YABU.

The dish is about 8ft high, on the side of his house that has no windows (we're detached). It is directly in my line of sight from my kitchen window but our garden is not very big really and I don't want the trees to get too tall.

The houses are all close together and I think my dish (which I don't subscribe to) can probably be seen from other houses. I don't mind, I don't really don't.

I have a newt in the plastic boat the children used to play with. Lily of the Valley grows under my bay tree. I have a friendly squirrel and lots of birds.

Actually that's very true Teddy.... unannounced, and at 9.30am - when I am usually NEVER dressed. (Not a slut, just not in great health.)

My neighbour, again detached, asked the same thing about 4 years ago, except it was a plum tree. We did cut it back, but it’s now much higher than it was before. He’s not asked since, so it’s obviously not interfering with his signal as he previously claimed.

We agreed to it to be neighbourly, but you don’t have to trim it if you don’t want to. He can’t force you.

It's not legal to trim it now anyway as it's the nesting season.

Squirrel has had a baby! I've just seen the two of them together. Forget that royal one - this is much more exciting! What shall I name it?

brizzle again, trees are not dense/established/strong enough to have nests. The twigs are too whippy.