Neighbour trimmed the tree that hangs over in to her garden......but

[Blushingm]

She chucked all the bits she trimmed over in to my garden

Is this normal?

I don't mind her trimming it - trees grow - but I'm pissed off that she threw it all over in to my garden

@beckybarefoot it seems she can trim but that she disposed of trimmings

It's not a massive tree and it doesn't shade her garden either

nope

@ZombieFoof I thought that, you’d think she was Pol Pot the way posters go on.

The law says you must offer the prunings back to the neighbour, but many people simply take this to mean 'just chuck them back over'.

If it bothers you then have a word, however I'd imagine the neighbour will come back with something along the lines of 'well if you don't like it prune your own tree and make sure none of it overhangs my side then, and I won't have to'.

Just ask yourself, is this the hill you want to die on, and start a neighbour dispute over?

Pick em up once or twice a year, or trim your own tree before it starts overhanging.

Yes, this. She shouldn't have just thrown them into your garden.

Wrong.

I'd throw it all back over.

F G S read the thread folks - the law does NOT say chuck the bits back over the fence!!

The trimmings are classed as your property. So laughably if she didn't do that you could accuse her of theft. I personally would probably get rid myself. But lots of councils have just introduced a green waste charge, so if she hasn't paid it then she won't want to dispose of the stuff.

The law says you must offer the prunings back to the neighbour, but many people simply take this to mean 'just chuck them back over'.

Nobody can be that stupid

I would be retiring the favour, right back over their fence. Not that hard to send a text or ring the doorbell and offer like a grown up in the first place

@Blushingm actually she is doing the correct thing. the tree belongs to you as do the cuttings!

If she had bothered to ask OP then there's every chance she might have done so. But taking it upon yourself to cut it and throw it into your neighbour's garden is out of order.

I don't think she can just chuck them over the fence but she's able to trim the parts of the tree that overhang from your side of the fence to her side of the fence. As people have already said she's supposed to offer them back to you. Chucking them over seems quite necky. Not much of an offer there.

Nope the prunings should be offered but the op does not have to accept them. If declined then they become the responsibility of the pruner.

if they’re not offered then technically the pruner could be done for theft but the amount fined would be inline with the value of the pruning so so probably pennies!

The law states you’re allowed to trim branches of your neighbours’ trees as long as you return whatever you have cut off. That’s what she’s done.

@Blushingm if you kept your tree tidy then the neighbour would have no need to return the cuttings... anything that overhangs the fence or whatever divides your boundries is classed an encrouching on their property.

i would do exactly the same

🤦‍♀️

bloody hell this thread is mind blowing.

I’d assume she’s another ill informed idiot OP and not take offence 😂

So yes its allowed to trim them without permission, no she shouldn't have thrown them over. She should have offered them and disposed if you didn't want them. However, this seems a bit awkward if you don't have a relationship with your neighbour or have never really spoken to them so maybe this is why people put them over the fence because they are yours not theirs.

Rtft ffs

Isn't it illegal to open someone elses post ?

It's really annoying that posters keep repeating the same wrong information, when the rules have been clarified earlier in the thread.

More generally, I don't understand why people get upset if a tree or shrub crosses a boundary. As long as it isn't blocking light, what harm does it do? My neighbour's trees and shrubs all encroach into my garden, and one has produced a smaller tree on my side. We can no longer see the boundary fence! As far as I'm concerned I have a lovely natural boundary that cost me nothing! One of the trees needed a trim (for its own good) recently and I asked the neighbour's permission before trimming it. I knew I was entitled to do it, but it does no harm to be polite. I didn't offer the cuttings back as my gardener was taking the waste away, and they didn't ask for them. Sometimes it's about common sense and not following the letter of the law.

This thread is hilarious. A proper MN Sunday afternoon.

Love to see some of the posters standing up in court to explain why they think that "offer to return" and "return by throwing over the fence" are exactly the same thing.

Maybe you should keep your tree trimmed back from her garden.

Perhaps the law should be reversed in that it is the correct thing to do to throw them back to their owner.
People with large overhanging bushes and trees may be more inclined to keep their trees and bushes under control.
(looking at my wanker of a neighbour here)