Neighbouring treehouse

[Spooked7]

I will append a diagram if it helps, but AIBU to ask neighbouring family to take down large wooden treehouse that sits above the level of our fence and dominates the view?
I don’t know the neighbours and don’t want to start a dispute with them, especially as we only recently moved in. However, we had no idea there was a treehouse overlooking our garden. It was disguised by overgrowing trees as the previous owner of our house had passed away over a year before we viewed the house...and the trees hadn’t been cut back for a while. After a few days living here we started to see heads of small boys popping through the trees about 4 feet above our fence. I still didn’t realise it was a treehouse. Then a month later they employed a tree surgeon to cut back the trees as they were overhanging our (small) garden and blocking light from getting in. This exposed the entire, very large, wooden treehouse. It is a platform about 5.5ft off the ground, with a see-through fence panel about another 3 ft in height around its edge. The whole structure sits above the level of our fence. It has some bits of camouflage netting and a sheet of canvas loosely attached, that flap and wave in the wind. It is both intrusive and unsightly and I have no idea what to do about it without angering the neighbours. I have had advice from the council who said they will happily go round and investigate anonymously whether they should have sought planning permission for it, but it would be completely obvious that we instigated it, as it doesn’t really affect anyone else. I know that if/when we decide to sell our house this treehouse will put a lot of people off. It dominates our very small garden.

Has anyone managed to resolve a similar issue without it leading to a dispute?

Yabu. Surely you'd look to see what was there before cutting over hanging trees??

Well if you do go down the council route the neighbours will know it was you and that will be the relationship ruined. I’d imagine the children will be devastated to tear down their new, regularly played in treehouse and may make living next door to them difficult over the coming years.

So I suppose it depends how much you really can’t stand it versus how much you want to risk a war with next door.

Bamboo- but in pots, don't plant in the ground whatever you do.

@Rollmopsrule we didn’t cut back the trees! They got a tree surgeon in and he hacked it all back.

could you fix a sail like structure to your bottom fence to screen them off?

It sounds like it definitely needs planning permission.

I would hate this, and I do think neighbours can be selfish in this way. Building things that they would never get planning permission for then forcing other neighbours to decide if they want to complain. Queue a dailymail sad face article about the little boys childhood cruelly cut short by their selfish new neighbour.

Is there a compromise here? Explain to the neighbours the tree house is really intrusive And taking away the enjoyment of your garden. Ask them for solutions, and ask how long the tree house will be up. The children will stop playing in it in a few years.

Ask them to screen it . If it was my tree house I wouldn’t be offended. They might be sitting in their kitchen right now discussing the fact they are surprised the new neighbours haven’t mentioned the tree house since the other trees were cut back.
If you plant something big enough to screen it from your side you might lose a chunk of land or light. I wouldn’t recommend Leilandi ( can’t spell it sorry ..... they take a lot of moisture from the ground around them and require maintenance .

I doubt the neighbours thought it would ever be so visibly intrusive as the trees were probably acting as a screen at the time they built the thing. Had they not cut the trees back so hard (which they may not have even requested) it would be less of an issue as it would still be somewhat disguised, but it’s a different situation now, and it is an eyesore and makes it feel like their kids are in our garden. Due to the garden sloping away from our house the treehouse is actually level with our kitchen window, so it is our entire view.

@Spooked7

Well we can’t fail to notice it now.

That’s the price you’ve paid for not checking out the property thoroughly before you bought it.

@emilyfrost checking out how? By climbing through the trees? We paid for a full survey. They didn’t spot it either. How could I have checked it more thoroughly? Climb into the tree looking for signs of a treehouse during the viewing?

[quote Spooked7]@emilyfrost checking out how? By climbing through the trees? We paid for a full survey. They didn’t spot it either. How could I have checked it more thoroughly? Climb into the tree looking for signs of a treehouse during the viewing?[/quote]
By looking through the trees. Moving the branches aside to see what was behind them if ever anything happened to them.

You should always thoroughly check out all parts of a property before buying to avoid such surprises.

It sounds from your OP that you asked them to cut the trees back, to let more light in? Is that so? In which case you will mightily annoy them by now complaining about the tree house.
I would put up with it for now, it's not likely to be used too much through the winter, and look at screening options. Good neighbourly relations are important to me.

How are you going to notice a tree house disguised by trees when buying a property? You're lucky if the agent lets you have 20 minutes look around and you can't very well go into the neighbours gardens.

It is intrusive. If you speak the neighbours, they are unlikely to take the structure down and will probably take umbrage, then you'll have to go to the council anyway. If you contact the council in the first instance at least it will keep some ambiguity who has reported them.

@emilyfrost are you just on one today? you've been goady on other threads too!

If I had a potential neighbour parting branches on my trees to 'thoroughly check them out' before they bought the house next door I'd think they were batshit and move myself!

could you take a photo from where you have drawn your diagram, with the children in it if possible - the neighbours might not appreciate how bad it is but a photo would soon show them and they might be a bit more understanding? x

Screen it with a sail canopy.

Ha! Believe it or not I did look through the trees. The thing is made of wood. I didn’t see it at all. It isn’t part of my property. The branches between it and our garden were many and thick, and the tree is very big and tall. I specifically asked the surveyor to check the other side of the fence for signs of an electricity substation as they tend to crop up at the ends of gardens, and he said there wasn’t one but didn’t see the treehouse either. I wouldn’t have cared that a treehouse was there whilst it wasn’t visible, but it is now.

[quote Sparklfairy]@emilyfrost are you just on one today? you've been goady on other threads too!

If I had a potential neighbour parting branches on my trees to 'thoroughly check them out' before they bought the house next door I'd think they were batshit and move myself![/quote]
There’s nothing goady about suggesting potential buyers check out the property they’re buying thoroughly.

You’d be a fool not to.

And when I say “check out the property”, that includes the neighbouring houses too.

I don’t see how you would miss a treehouse like that which makes me think it was built when the house you bought was empty and now they have chosen to cut down the trees, I think it’s reasonable of you to ask them to put up screening as a replacement.

If you do end up having to sort out screening for yourselves, I recommend ornamental pears - mature ones aren't cheap but they will quickly block out the kids/treehouse. I speak from bitter experience, having used a row of them to block the view of our neighbours' enormous extension, for which they did have planning permission.

It's a bit late now but really you should drive round a new neighbourhood, check boundaries, fences, views, etc, before your buy. A survey often doesn't throw up issues that affect day-to-day living.
You've just moved in and the treehouse was there prior to your purchase. It's going into winter so presumably the DCs won't be using it much. I'd leave it atm. Get to know your neighbours. Settle into the area. Stop gossiping with other neighbours about it. That isn't conducive to a good relationship with your next-door neighbour.

Our neighbours constructed a new tree house during lockdown. They are responsible for the fence too, which is only 5 foot. The treehouse is on stilts it towers over the fence.

The only plus is it’s solid with no window our side so we can’t see the kids playing in it, but their other neighbours can. We all get along well and they never mentioned it. I dislike it but haven’t mentioned it. I’m fairly sure this one doesn’t need planning permission but even if it did, I wouldn’t object. If you want to move in the future you might have to declare that as a dispute.

I’d be pissed having those kids there like on the diagram but if you plan to stay in the property a while I’d do my best to ignore them for the sake of good relations.

@tattychicken no the tree surgeon mentioned the light issue to us (as in “I’ve opened it up so you’ll get more light” but we had only told them that there was a large branch that had come down in the wind and was hanging about 5ft into our garden. They said they’d get someone to look at it. That was all.