Neighbours tree

[Thebig3]

Shamlessly posting here for traffic....

Been in our house for 7yrs, small road with the end part only having 8 detached houses. Lovely neighbours. Our neighbours to our left have a tree in their back garden. When we moved in 7 yrs ago the tree was a normal size, now 7 years on it is absolutely huge. We have a South facing garden and due to the size of the tree it blocks out most of the sun over the majority of the garden from about 1pm onwards in the summer time. The neighbours garden is not affected by the tree at all.

We have asked on 3 separate occasions if they would consider chopping the tree down or reducing the height. We have offered to pay for it as well even though its not our tree. Each time they have said they would consider it but then nothing is done.

We have now booked in a tree surgeon to cut off the branches that are hanging over onto our land, although I don't think this will do much as its the height that is more of an issues. The roots of the tree are also coming into our garden and affected the shed as they are pushing it upwards.

What else can we do? It absolutely ruins the garden and its just going to carry on getting bigger and bigger!!

As you have booked a tree surgeon to o the branches, why not go over the neighbour now, tell them that you’ve booked a tree surgeon to do the branches on x date and reiterate you’re happy to pay him to reduce the height and can you go ahead and do this. Right now it has a definite date so you’ll either get a yes or now rather than waffle

Is there a tpo or are you in a Conservation area? Agree tell them you are having overhanging branches cut and can you reduce height while Treesurgeon is there, if so how much. Ultimately it is their tree though

Are there any visible nests? Nesting season is March - August and it's illegal to disturb nesting birds. The tree surgeon will have to check this prior to carrying out the work.

We have this problem, the neighbours refuse to do anything, even when we offered to pay, it’s taller than the houses and blocks so much light.
5 years ago when we realised how much the roots are coming into our garden we decided we needed to take action.
We did a lot of research and decided to start salting our borders.
Once a year we buy a huge bag of rock salt and pour it all the way along our slate border.
It is poisonous to the roots but doesn’t kill the tree, it also reduced the hight and thickness on ‘our side’ of the tree significantly.
The unexpected side affect is that ‘their side’ of the tree has grown significantly more, it literally takes over 2/3rds of their garden, I don’t know how they stand it.

We’ve continued to do it every year as we are happy with the results and feel it’s protecting our land from being destroyed by the tree but we are not killing the tree which we didn’t want to do.

its just going to carry on getting bigger and bigger!!

Maybe not, depends on the species of tree really. What is it?

For a split second I thought I’d typed this and forgotten all about it.

Having the same issue. New people moved into house a few months before lockdown 1 started - said they’d cut down the tree ‘soon’. One year later and the thing is still there. We have a lovely south facing garden, not that you’d know it because in summer the sun is smack behind the tree so we get maybe two hours of sunshine on the grass then it’s game over, not to mention in the autumn is sheds these tiny leaves which bed into the lawn and slate chips. Am plucking up the courage to politely but assertively ask them when they are going to cut down the bastarding thing like they said they would.

As you have booked a tree surgeon to o the branches, why not go over the neighbour now, tell them that you’ve booked a tree surgeon to do the branches on x date and reiterate you’re happy to pay him to reduce the height and can you go ahead and do this

I'd do this. I'd probably word it something like:

"We've got a tree surgeon coming Tuesday to reduce the size of your tree on our side. Shall we ask them to reduce the size of the tree for you as we discussed the other month? We are happy to pay as you know it's really blocking the sun from our garden and we'd really love to be able to enjoy the garden this summer. You wouldn't need to do anything apart from give them access"

Am plucking up the courage to politely but assertively ask them when they are going to cut down the bastarding thing

Maybe they enjoy the tree? Fortunately, unless it's a monster leylandii you can't compel anyone to remove a tree on their property.

OP, when your tree surgeon does come please don't forget the law states you are to offer back the branches. Please don't just jump them over the fence. Though a good tree surgeon will know this.

My friend cut down a tree to accommodate a neighbour, and lost a lot of privacy, and it reduced the number of birds in her garden. She regretted having the tree removed

Jump them? Dump them even.

If the roots are damaging your property then it might be worth your while contacting your insurance provider.

I dont know what kind of tree it is. It's very big though taller than the house. I would say about 75% of the tree leans over towards our side. So if they don't want any of the height taking down its going to look awful. My husband is going to ask again about taking the height down. Also we would never just throw the branches back onto their garden.

I think what annoys me the most is their garden is not in the shade one little bit but their tree completely shades ours. I find it quite selfish really that they won't consider taking the height down.

Hopefully if we go round again and say the tree surgeon is coming then they will reconsider.

Also there are definitely not any nests in it. The tree hasn't got all its leaves on yet and I can see there isn't any nests