Massive trees next door, blocking the evening sunlight

[Tahlbias]

Next door was previously a rented house. It has now been sold and a lovely young couple is going to be moving in. When I saw them, I briefly mentioned about them having a lot of work to do in the garden, with all the massive trees there. They just nodded and said "I know, we have loads to do"

My problem is, now the evenings are lighter l, I want to enjoy my garden in the sunshine. But I can't! I will add pictures to this post to show you how big the trees are and the sunshine we don't get compared to my other neighbors.

Would I be unreasonable to ask them to cut their trees down when they do move in?

Yep, brass neck doesn’t even come close….

Same. It can't have been a good first impression.

When we moved into our house, our neighbours kept chatting to us and made lots of unsubtle hints about things they thought we should do to our garden. It was really irritating and really put us off. Moving house is stressful and expensive, the garden was last on the list. We had to make the house habitable first!
Bear in mind that you've had years to think about this, the neighbours won't have had five minutes. Let them live in the place and decide what they want their garden to be like!

How long have you been there? May I take a guess that the trees were there long before you, and that they were there on the day you first saw the house, and when you decided to buy it, and when you signed the contract?

Ask, there is no harm. And be prepared to pay for 50% of the work, if they agree. Or even 100%. Which will be thousands.

But if they refuse, then that's it. So be very careful on how you approach them.

our neighbours either side are retired. They make subtle hints but we ignore them. If we get a spare 5 mins to sit and do anything for ourselves during the day it’s a bonus. We are not going to be gardening. We go away every weekend in the summer with the kids hobbies too. It makes life exhausting but we love it.

Personally, I love the look of these trees. They decarbonise and they are grown so do a great job of that. Would be such a waste to cut them. If they were mine, I would treasure them. They are also great to hang the swings from.

Leave the poor bloody trees alone.

We had this issue. But with a grumpy old man who'd let next door go to rack & ruin. We ended up paying £2k to have them removed (from his land) ourselves as he refused to contribute any finances towards the tree surgeon. It was the single best money we've ever spent, especially on summer evenings. Our garden is lighter, bigger & now gets the sun all day.

If your neighbours are only just moving in, given moving is stressful, busy & expensive, bear in mind what is your priority right now may not be theirs. Plus no surgeon will touch them until winter if there are birds nesting, another thing to check.

It was a bit pushy. I wouldn’t be in any rush to sort them out after the bossy neighbour told me what to do.

They are lovely but they block the natural light too. We have to have our light on in our kitchen during the day because it's so dark.

They were there when you moved in.

They're doing a sterling job keeping the temperature down when it gets hot. Also taking those down now your neighbours are risking subsidence due to ground swelling

Leave them be and learn to move the shade

OP, my condolences. Losing your mother must be very difficult.

I think you are wrong to ask your neighbours to remove their trees, though.
You knew about the large trees next-door, and you still decided that you wanted to move in.

I agree.

Do you know the species of the trees?

Where is the bungalow, flagpole and trampoline , the trees are at the side so it's hard to work out what's where. I wouldn't post photos of my neighbours houses or gardens.

The conifers aren't native but I think the larger one is a field maple.

How? How can a shorter tree. Flood when a taller one doesn't?

@somethingwickedlivesnextdoor trees soak up a lot of water.

I think you need do order to pay for a tree surgeon if it bothers you that much

You can ask, but they don't have to agree. Millions of people live with the same problem - I lose sun early due to the placement of the house next door. It's just tough luck.

So, you decided to keep the house, and didn't know about the trees. I don't think there's much you can do in that case.

The trees look far too big for a domestic garden. I totally see your point. I think your best bet is to be open and honest rather than tip toe....and say you'll pay. They might be totally relieved because they've so many things to tackle they will bite your hand off.

We had this when we moved in. Like, 2 weeks after. Woman behind us sent us a snotty letter demanding we cut the hedges down at the back, as they were too high and she wanted to rent the house now that her father had died. The previous owners had apparently ignored her. She didn't offer to pay half though.
We were planning on getting rid, but seriously, we'd literally just moved in. She'd been in dispute with previous owners, but they hadn't declared it.

Our next door neighbours have a big tree. I love it, but it does take all our light. And we're northern, so we don't get warm summers as it is.

If I was your neighbour I'd be thoroughly pissed off. The comments about having a lot of work to do in the garden make you sound like a busy body. I can understand your frustration about the lack of light, but trees are beneficial and it's wrong to cut them down for the reasons you've cited. The trees were there before you inherited the house and will probably be there long after you sell it and move on.

YABVU, selfish and entitled to even consider this. The trees are gorgeous and there aren't enough trees around as it is. Wanting to cut them down for the sake of some sunlight in your garden (really, you can't go anywhere else??) is appalling