Neighbours trees interfering with my Sky

[SamW98]

The last few weeks my Sky keeps breaking up. I got a mate who's an engineer to have a look in case there was a fault and he said the reason is that my neighbours have very high trees which have grown and are now directly in the line of where my signal is being received.

So I gave them a knock and, very politely asked if they could just cut the tops down a bit and explained why. The man who lives there looked me up and down and said 'how sad is it that you think watching tv more important than trees that have been there since before I was born' and shut the door

Now I'm not asking him to cut the trees down just cut the top back so I can watch my Sky without it breaking up

AIBU if I now cut the tops back myself? They do overhang into my garden anyway?

Your neighbour is right.

We are surrounded by trees OP, the largest being a walnut that our NDN refuses to do anything to. It is 2/3rds into our garden so doesn't affect them, and is now so far over our garden that it's covering our garage roof and is touching the house gutters. I'm fuming about it, only it's listed and not even ours to apply for planning permission to cut back. There needs to be tougher laws on people who refuse to top trees in areas with housing.

So our Sky dish is now on the chimney........ Sky sent 2 engineers for safety reasons, and the joy is that we now never lose signal for interference. We don't pay £150 to watch a blank screen and can't imagine many others would either

@SamW98

I found this

www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes/high-hedges-trees-and-boundaries

If the satellite/sky tv person says there is nowhere you can move the dish to, to get a picture, then it may be worth contacting the council.

It says (a bit down the page on that link,)

-----------------------------------
High hedges, trees and boundaries....

You must try to settle a dispute about a high hedge informally before the council can intervene.

Ask your council for a complaint form if the hedge is all of these:

2 or more mostly evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs over 2 metres tall, affecting your enjoyment of your home or garden because it’s too tall...

----------------------------------

Well you have already tried to settle it by speaking to him, and he dismissed you. So if the sky engineer says there is nothing you can do, then contact the council...

Good luck.

@TheDevils

She just needs to move the dish rather than the neighbour's tree 😆

That's not always an option. It certainly isn't at our house.
We have to do without Sky unfortunately

The man who told me it was the tree causing the interference did say my dish can be moved but I will get Sky in for a second opinion. If it can be moved that's the obvious answer but the reason I asked about trimming the trees - not cutting down - is because I was told moving the dish wasn't an option

Honestly some of the comments make it sound like I'm a tree hater just ready to swing my axe but with the information I had available it was a genuine question and regardless of some of the assumption on here I was very polite and tried to engage my neighbour - and yes I would have arranged for someone to get it done if he would have been ok with it

@SamW98

Thank you for all of the polite responses. I've taken on board what's been said despite the incorrect assumptions been made about me

I did ask if the dish could be moved but was told that the it can't be moved any higher than it already is (its already on a pole having been moved previously) and that it needs to be on that side of the house - looking from my garden, all the houses on this side have their dishes in a pretty much identical position.
But I will call Sky and get someone to look at it properly rather than just give it a quick once over as the previous bloke did

With the trees, they do overhang my garden quite a lot. We've trimmed branches before that were lower down.
They've grown a lot since we've been here. I've still got the pole up from a basketball net the kids used to play with when we first moved in and the net used to be above the trees. Now the highest branches are a good metre above the top of the net

I like the trees, it gives a nice bit of privacy between our house and the neighbours - its actually our side and his back garden but without any trees, my bedroom window would be in full view of thee garden so I don't want to lose the trees, I only really want the top bit trimmed down but I accept others think this isn't a reasonable request and I will look at what other options are possibly available

Unfortunately, we don't have fibre option or cable available where we live. We seem to be in a bit of a blackspot - we only have BT or Sky internet available and service is pretty hit and miss on both.

If he was happily living in a green belt land he’d have been shocked when a house was built on it and suffered the noise and mess of that house being enlarged. Then you ask about the tree - I’m sure you hit a very sore spot, definitely history which explains his reaction. Now that you’ve explained, I can see see your POV but we live happily without Sky so....

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

I'm surprised your neighbour was that polite tbh. I would have thought you were a loon thinking your Sky signal is more important than nesting birds or the immediate environment.

Both are important. it comes across as a bit faux-snobby to suggest that a householder should just have to completely do without access to television, because of one specific tree in one specific place that apparently represents the whole of nature.

Thank you. And I don't think at any point I've said my tv viewing is more important than the whole tree - I only want to cut back the branches that have grown too high and also the ones overhanging my garden And as I've said, I have lived here since 2003, its only recently the trees have grown so high that its starting to cause interference

I read your title as your neighbours trees were blocking your view of the sky.

I was about to give out my first ever biscuit.

@FlaminEckVera

@SamW98 doesn't seem to want to answer this question. As @Okcookie said, the OP has been told she is being unreasonable by almost everybody, and doesn't like it . She wants people to agree with her, and is therefore not answering any questions she doesn't like.

Sorry but you couldn't be more wrong. I think I've more than explained my POV and taken on board what others have said.

We had this issue and contacted Sky, they moved our dish further up.

I wouldn’t have dreamt of knocking on a neighbours door tbh but then again, if you don’t ask …..

@SamW98 Ummmm have you not read my subsequent posts? I said that ages back. I have posted several supportive posts, and one with some help and advice since?

We had our dish moved and put higher as trees in council land behind had grown and were affecting the signal. All sorted and sky didn't charge us as was a signal fault.

[quote FlaminEckVera]**@SamW98* You have had a hard time on here from many posters. (Including me !) And as @WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll* said, I guess you have a bit of a right to have a moan.

Could you speak to the man again and say sorry if you upset him, but would he consider having the tops trimmed if you paid for it?

That's if the SKY engineer says there is nowhere on your land or home that the satellite dish can go, to enable you to get a picture... See what he says first.[/quote]
@FlaminEckVera - to be fair mostly by you but fair enough now I've had more time to explain myself further you have offered some really constructive advice so thank you

I've taken on board what's posters have said - though still think some have been unnecessarily rude - but maybe had I had the time to go into more context and detail in my OP I might have had a slightly different response from some

I'm not trying to make a fuss or cause any drama with my neighbour, I just thought it was a question worth asking.

@Abracadabra12345

Oh I totally get he wouldn't have been happy but tbf the houses in my square were built in 1988 and the extension was added in 1996 so he's had a bit of time to get over it

If I was just having Sky put in then it might be different but I've been here since 2003 and the problem only just started

Anyway, that's enough of the life story of me and my neighbours - thank you for anyone choosing not to insult me and offering constructive comments whether you agreed with me or not

All taken on board and I've now got a next step to take which doesn't involve swinging an axe

You cant just chop the top off a tree. Its not really how trees work.

You can cut the bottom branches off a tree, or thin the crown (remove some of the branches from an overall tree.

But you cant just cut it down a bit from the top.

Its kind of like a human. We can live with no arms or legs, but we cant live without a head. Even if we just chop part of the scalp off a bit

I don't know why everyone's saying there's nothing you can do. If the bit of tree causing the problem is on your side of the boundary line then you tell them to cut it back to their side or you will. You can't force them to pay for it unfortunately. Ask them if they want the cuttings or not. And get on with it. A lot of people in here who don't live in the real world. How about you all stop mowing your lawns to make up for this tree getting trimmed?

The man who lives there looked me up and down and said 'how sad is it that you think watching tv more important than trees that have been there since before I was born' and shut the door

I love this man. I want to live next door to him

So it's safe to presume that both the NDN and you don't have TVs yourselves, then?

Its kind of like a human. We can live with no arms or legs, but we cant live without a head. Even if we just chop part of the scalp off a bit

Surely you can see the vast difference between somebody going to the hairdresser to have their 'overgrown' hair cut and neatened up and going to an executioner and asking to be decapitated?!

If he was happily living in a green belt land he’d have been shocked when a house was built on it and suffered the noise and mess of that house being enlarged. Then you ask about the tree - I’m sure you hit a very sore spot, definitely history which explains his reaction. Now that you’ve explained, I can see see your POV but we live happily without Sky so....

How is it greenbelt - proper, undisturbed, dedicated to nature greenbelt - if he was already living there?! He may prefer to have the beautiful surroundings all to himself and pull up the drawbridge, saying 'it's fine for me, but nobody else should be allowed to live here'; but if there is land adjacent to his and the owner gets planning permission to build on it, other than lodging his objections in the usual way, it's none of his business once a decision has been made and permission has been granted.

Also, you live happily without sky, but that doesn't mean that everybody else should have to. Our household happily lives without alcohol - our choice (well, the adults, anyway) - but we don't presume to tell everybody else that they should never enjoy a drink, just because we happen not to be interested.

Yabu

We had to move our dish because of smallish tree in neighbours garden , signal was playing uo and skyman said because of the tree and moved it

That being said my mum had nowhere to put sky dish or arriel as trees at the back of her were so high as owner had just let them grow to a stage they were blocking light and near cables as well as overhanging the garden a lot ,and in high winds not very stable. Some trees do need maintenance if they overhang a neighbours.
My mum had paid to have them trimmed on her side that were overhanging but it wasn't cheap

@SamW98

Anyway, that's enough of the life story of me and my neighbours - thank you for anyone choosing not to insult me and offering constructive comments whether you agreed with me or not

All taken on board and I've now got a next step to take which doesn't involve swinging an axe

Realistically, you have a first step to take. Ringing Sky and telling them you have a signal problem is the obvious first step. Moving dishes is what they are trained to do and a normal part of a day's work. It's not your neighbour's problem.

Asking your neighbour, however politely to somehow cut the top of his tree off is not the first step, but a last resort. If Sky had been out, looked at the situation, and refused to move your dish then your thread would have gone differently I am sure. Your neighbour would still have been within his rights to look at you askance for that request, though.

@unwuthering

Yeah, move your dish. It's not really a reasonable request they cut their trees to accommodate your Sky signal. Ask old mate to shift it.

Exactly.

Pics of said tree?

Get Sky to sort it out. They charge enough for their services and part of that is realigning dishes where there is a signal problem.

If the trees were there before your neighbour was born and he has had that house for 40+ yrs then I'd assume they are deciduous, possibly native. They may well have TPOs. As pp have said - you can't just "chop the top bit off" a mature broadleaf tree, they need expert maintenance.

I'd react like your neighbour if you asked me to chop the top off a mature tree so that you could get Sky sport without having the "hassle" of asking SKy to sort it out the signal issues first.

If on the other hand you had approached me about the light and asked if there was scope for deadwooding and some light thinning for light I'd have had it checked by the tree surgeon as both of these can be good for the tree and are part of maintenance.

My neighbours moan about the height of my trees and I tell them the same as your neighbour. I like my trees. They've been there forever. I'm not touching them.