Neighbours have chopped our tree down

[treeless]

More of a wwyd as know I'm not being unreasonable...neighbour in terrace next to ours have chopped our tree down! It's clearly on our driveway and not theirs. Speechless!

Mia - I would have called the police. Did you at least charge his for a replacement?

First of all, it's not a tree they have cut down, it's a shrub. They haven't killed it, it will grow back. It looks to me like it might have been encroaching on their property too, and possibly the road / path.
So those of you who keep harping on about suing them, get a grip!

Reading this post had me hyper ventilating with stress... Our neighbour who has form for her entitled behaviour but received some sympathy for losing her boyfriend in tragic circumstances considers gardening a job of hacking back any vegetation she can reach. She had neglected her garden for a few years - no skin off our noses but then decided one Easter bank holiday while we were away to cut back the clematis and honeysuckle which grows from her side over to our side of the fence. When we returned a day earlier than we expected and she was out - the garden was strewn with debris - it took a half day to clear. I left her a cross message on her mobile. Then whilst recovering from an operation she spent a week cutting back everything growing on her fence thereby increasing the need to replace same shabby fence - hacking ivy and the Winter flowering Jasmine. And even though she had planted trees and shrubs right up to her boundary - has created a foot exclusion zone on our side pushing our shrubs away from her fence. [Takes breath] she even lopped off the branches of her flowering magnolia hanging into our garden. It took a week to clear up the debris - she apologised but only after the fact. [Another breath] last year our tamarix which is very slow growing flopped into her garden in a storm - yep she hacked it back... It is now a sad twig... But might recover in a decade!
The only thing I can say is that I have two very nocturnal noisy teenage boys... But I do still get a bit twitchy when I see a branch moving in the corner of my eye... Although what further 'gardening' is required I really don't know!

OK just had to add if not been said, if they are a tenant they have no right to make changes in the first place. As a tenant it can never be 'their' tree but it most definitely was yours. Id try and find the landlord as their tenant has damaged your property. if it weer my tree/shrub Id be furious as I love big shrubs surrounding my garden.

Just seen all my grammatical errors but I see there is no edit facility. Doh

My neighbours did the same, they chopped the top off just above my bird box..I asked them why and why they thought they could just do that and all I got was it's a tree... when I asked for more reasons as to why he thought they could, he went into his usual, so sorry my English is not good and walked off, I could have slapped him, on a plus note, it has sent out more shoots, so should recover, I will just keep more of an eye on it now.

They haven't killed it, it will grow back. It looks to me like it might have been encroaching on their property too, and possibly the road / path.

In the eyes of the laws alluded to in my post, it doesn't matter if it's a shrub or a tree.

And it could grow back, doesn't really matter though that does it given they have destroyed it's current state and it will absolutely not grow back the same, and won't grow into the same size for a long time.

They are allowed to trim anything that comes into their garden. They're not allowed to hack the entire bloody thing down

That an expensive tree they take years to grow, I would livid and getting an estimate for replacement.

Maybe they just have a radical definition of a trim. 😱

Speaking from experience here, and this is English law only.

If your neighbours genuinely thought that it was their tree/bush (even if it turn out that they were wrong) it’s not a crime, they would have needed to deliberately damage someone else’s property knowing that it’s not theirs for it to be criminal damage. Even if this is the case, the police will not care.

It’s a bush.

They’ll give you a crime number and will probably close the case as a non-crime - makes the stats look better.

Using your crime number you can speak to your insurers if you have legal cover and ask them to get involved but for the sake of a bush worth a few hundred pounds at most they won’t care either and your excess will probably be more than the bush is worth.

Sadly you’re left with little recourse unless you want to fund a legal case yourself but for something so small there’s little point - it’s a civil dispute and the court won’t be interested.

This sucks but that’s how things are.

Talk to your neighbour first, ask them to do something about it if you want, maybe even pay for a solicitor to send them a letter saying you want a new bush but anything more than that you’re throwing good money after bad

I know from first hand experience when someone cuts your bush.It can be devastating. Have you tried counselling? I mean, have you thought about joining the local council

hiphop's right.

However - none of that should put you off simply being good old fashioned pissed off with what they did and telling them that you are. Maybe they themselves will come up with an idea to compensate you? You never know.

I'll echo the point made by a few pp's that the shrub will probably sprout again by mid summer. You'll have new growth sprouting on a strong root ball which you'll need to keep gently trimmed to encourage a neat shape.

I have a narrow strip of woodland behind house, this separates about half a dozen houses from those behind. The woodland d actually belongs to a national woodland organisation but our Deeds demand all households contribute to maintenance costs. I love the woodland. Neighbour over back decided some trees were limiting their light in the garden and they didn't like leaves falling in. We were on holiday came back to find a huge empty space where about half a dozen trees had been hacked down. Reported said vandalism but without witnesses couldn't accuse those responsible. Criminal damage was mentioned in the annual letter/invoice. We were given permission to erect camera on our property capturing the area belonging to the woodland organisation. It's vandalism to destroy something that doesn't belong to you. Report to police then ask for cost of replacement. Give 2 or three quotes to the vandals highlighting your preference. It's like having your arm cut off!

Have you got legal coverage on your insurance if so they might be able to help

Don't let them away with it!! Once came home to find next door neighbour (semi) had built brick housing for his oil boiler onto the side of ours.... meaning that we couldn't put a fence up properly. We fumed a lot but said nothing. We'd have said no had he asked!

Then we put a fence up, had to cut it out around the sodding boilerhouse. I finally lost the plot when I looked out the back window to see staining on my brand new, treated fence panels because the arsehole was painting 'his' side of MY fence with black bitumen!!! It was totally on our side too because of the boiler thing!!

I’m astounded that anyone could ever imagine this is ok

@touchmybum

please tell me you said something and made him replace your fence... I wonder what on earth goes through people’s minds

This is serious. There is a law against felling trees and shrubs during bird nesting season - between March and April.

It does not matter whether birds are nesting in a particular tree or not, but I think the fine is heavy if there are any birds nests in it.

Your neighbour should be reported to the authorities and at least the RSPB.

Stiff letter from a solicitor, saying they damaged your property and have to pay for a replacement.

It's trespass for a start and wilful damage to your property.

dippypippy: the police do nothing. My neighbour did worse. When my husband was alive we went away while the carpets were replaced. When I returned the neighbour had come into our garden, taken up the paving around the shed, and the posts and panels, took 3ft of our garden and erected a shed on it. He wedged a loose fence panel between our house wall and shed and his shed. It was a nightmare. The police do nothing. When we had a boiler situated in our extension he planted three more leylandii trees where the boiler is sited. Several times the police have climbed up and removed stuff piled on top of the flue chimney where he had blocked it, yet they did nothing because they said I could not prove he did it. I heard a noise above my head a few years ago and went out to see him up a ladder raking my flat roof with a garden rake with his wife holding the ladder. When I asked what he was doing he said he had cut the trees and was raking up the leaves, but there were no clean cuts to show any pruning. the next time it rained the rain poured onto the bed - bullseye. It cost me £1500 to have the flat roof recovered. I attach a photo if I can of the nightmare I live with and cannot afford to take him to court and the police say it is a civil matter. Last year the radon gas extractor pipe from the tank in the foundations was smashed and the pipe filled with cement and goodness knows what it is doing to the radon gas extractor tank we had to have installed in the extension when it was built. The only access to that part of the property is from next door over my flat roof and he had removed a tree to gain access yet the police said it could not be proved to be him. I could have CCTV but I think unless his face was visible there would still be no proof. The police will do nothing.

Lizzie that is dreadful - the man sounds like a maniac. I am so sorry you have to live with that level of stress.

Whatever you do, establish your boundary line. by no means, tell them that they did you a favour. You have to stay strong with your boundaries. You may decide that you are okay with it, but ask for them to make sure roots are out and area is 'made good'. that is to your discretion. You should also contact the owners of the flat as they need to be aware of the tenants actions.

Mia your neighbour sounds batty

Any update OP?

He really was batty and came across as quite dim so I think he was being completely sincere when he said he'd thought it was OK to pop into our garden a chop bits of it down. They were parents at the school with a child in the same class as DC1 so making it awkward. Happily they have moved on and been replaced by normal people who don't poison our plants.