AIBU to think that people should have to get permission from all surrounding neighbors before cutting down a tree?

[ElberethGilthoniel]

I live in a third floor flat with a lovely surrounding of trees on each side giving a treehouse sort of vibe.

Two times over this summer, neighbors in houses with large gardens have chopped down huge trees (approx 30 meters) that must have been over 50 years old.

This has really affected the views and amount of light from both sides of our flat, and made the whole area less appealing. Is it unreasonable to think that there should have been some neighborhood consultation before they did this? Or some sort of democratic process?

Why should the owner consult the neighbours? We had a large tree in our garden which we had chopped down a couple of years ago. It was the wrong tree/wrong place. The roots were damaging paving in the garden and it was blocking a huge amount of light from the lawn - which was turning to moss. I realised one day that this particular tree gave us no privacy from neighbouring properties so decided to get rid. It never crossed my mind to consult the houses which overlook our garden/tree. What if they'd objected? I still wanted to chop it down.

@SW1amp

"There was a news story a few years ago about a beautiful chocolate box village in the Cotswolds which was on the Chinese tourist bus route
Coachloads of people arrived at the village every day to take pics of the quintessential English village
And then one of the residents bought a bright yellow car and lots of the tourists objected because it ruined their holiday photos and thought he should move the car from outside his house, or change it for a less offensive colour

Yes. People really are that self entitled confused"

yes this is true www.rabbies.com/en/blog/story-peter-maddox-and-yellow-vauxhall

People don’t go to the cost of having trees like that felled for no reason. It cost £900 the last time we had to have a tree brought down.

It was very likely unhealthy or seriously blocking someone’s light.

We live on a tree lined road, the council came and cut down a large flowering cherry last spring, the abuse they got from some of the neighbours was horrific (one kept shouting tree murderer at them, so embarrassing). My lovely NDN took the time to ask why, politely. Turns out it was diseased and dying from the inside and could have toppled over at any moment, potentially killing someone. YABVVVVVVU OP to think your aesthetics trump the owners’ particularly when you haven’t even bothered to find out why.

"Two times over this summer, neighbors in houses with large gardens have chopped down huge trees (approx 30 meters)"

"The tree is nowhere near their actual property. It's at the far end of their garden, again about 40 meters away from the back porch."

Root systems are a lot bigger than you think. 40m is not far at all for a tree that size. It could be damaging the house's foundations and/or the sewers beneath. It could even be affecting the sewers serving your block of flats, depending how close they are. It would be interesting to know how you'd feel about the trees were that the case.

Your idea that the tree owners need your permission is staggeringly self-absorbed.

Hopefully this version of the diagram will be big enough to read.

Yanbu in terms of good neighbourliness it Gaby in terms of law.

Our neighbours removed all the trees at the top of their garden/bottom of ours and now we can see the husband masturbating in the bathroom at night. It’s impossible not to see as if we’re washing dishes our window looks into their bathroom. We changed our wifi name to let them know we can see them. Not sure they’ll have noticed as he’s still at it…

[quote godmum56]@SW1amp

"There was a news story a few years ago about a beautiful chocolate box village in the Cotswolds which was on the Chinese tourist bus route
Coachloads of people arrived at the village every day to take pics of the quintessential English village
And then one of the residents bought a bright yellow car and lots of the tourists objected because it ruined their holiday photos and thought he should move the car from outside his house, or change it for a less offensive colour

Yes. People really are that self entitled confused"

yes this is true www.rabbies.com/en/blog/story-peter-maddox-and-yellow-vauxhall[/quote]
My husband used to live in a small village set in a park on the edge of town (Stanmer village, Stanmer park if you want to google it) People used to walk up their front paths and peer through the windows! I think they thought it was some sort of tourist attraction, like Beamish or Singleton, instead of somewhere that people actually lived.

You are being totally unreasonable.

Why should they get permission from you about what trees they have in their garden. You have absolutely no idea why they have taken those trees down. You are assuming they've just cut the trees down but people rarely do that, most people love trees BUT sometimes for lots of different reasons they have to come down: disease, root system, too big for the garden etc.

It is absolutely none of your business.

Do you check with your neighbours what curtains or blinds you are putting up? I thought not !!

Would you hell as like go into someone's garden twice a week in the autumn/winter and collect leaves twice a week for three months.
Don't believe you.
And other neighbours too? Best laugh of the day.

You are funny. It's got nothing to do with you what someone decides to do with their own garden.

I disagree with people saying it's a 'silly suggestion to require a consultation' when mature trees are to be felled. Or would you say the same about planning permissions for new builds / house alterations? No, you wouldn't because new buildings / extensions affects the surrounding properties, and certain neighbourhoods have an estate management scheme, which don't allow certain alterations purely for 'aesthetic' reasons.

Are you going to chip in to fund repairs of the property owner's foundations, drains etc when they collapse because of root damage?

This has to be a joke 😂

Hilarious. You sound like you have a massive chip on your shoulder about living in a flat while they ‘have a mortgage on a piece of land’. One of the weirdest posts ever.

We have hundreds and hundreds of trees on our land. Love the things. We are forever getting people out to remove the ones we can't, at a cost of thousands, because if one is diseased it'll spread, or if one bordering the road or a farmer's land goes down we will be accountable. We plant new ones too though. As healthy as the trees looked to you from afar they may not have been.

If you're really upset you can start applying for TPOs on your neighbours trees but they will still be able to take them down if diseased or dangerous I believe.

Like people, trees don't life forever and even those with a long average lifespan can die young. My husband is currently obsessed with ash die back and does a regular inspection of all our ash trees (it's that exciting around here!!)

Haha
Good one

If you want a tree near the border, pick one, pay for it, plant it. That's it really.

But you don't have a say in how other people have their gardens. (Or houses, cars etc)

We cut down a big tree in our garden a couple of years ago. We didn't consult with the neighbours because:

A) it was in our garden
B) it was blocking our light
C) its roots were interfering with our house's foundations
D) it wasn't our neighbours sweeping up all the leaves throughout autumn!

We live in a conservation area, as it happens, so did have to get permission from the council. Getting permission from the neighbours as well would be a step too far!!

We used to live in an area that was idyllic in terms of trees, except there were 2 separate accidents in the short amount of time we lived there because of old trees in stormy weather. Apparently a lot of councils now are getting a lot stricter about making sure house owners keep trees at a certain height etc. Of course it's unfortunate but as someone said above it's so expensive to get trees cut down,chances are it wasn't on a whim

No, it's on their land as long as they take it down carefully then no reason not to, You have also said you live on third floor so you wouldn't have much say regardless

YANBU. Trees, and the bird life they sustain, are part of what makes an area pleasant for everyone.

@Alpenguin

Yanbu in terms of good neighbourliness it Gaby in terms of law.

Our neighbours removed all the trees at the top of their garden/bottom of ours and now we can see the husband masturbating in the bathroom at night. It’s impossible not to see as if we’re washing dishes our window looks into their bathroom. We changed our wifi name to let them know we can see them. Not sure they’ll have noticed as he’s still at it…

People are a trip today

Wow

@FlumpsAreShit

We have hundreds and hundreds of trees on our land. Love the things. We are forever getting people out to remove the ones we can't, at a cost of thousands, because if one is diseased it'll spread, or if one bordering the road or a farmer's land goes down we will be accountable. We plant new ones too though. As healthy as the trees looked to you from afar they may not have been.

If you're really upset you can start applying for TPOs on your neighbours trees but they will still be able to take them down if diseased or dangerous I believe.

Like people, trees don't life forever and even those with a long average lifespan can die young. My husband is currently obsessed with ash die back and does a regular inspection of all our ash trees (it's that exciting around here!!)

That’s right. We own a woodland which has a blanket TPO (covering every tree of whatever type) but can still take out diseased/dead trees. We have to let the LA know of course, prior to removal if possible.

We’ve never had an application refused either, so it’s not affected us that much.