What should we pay for the tree?

[Anon22224]

Hello! We are in a bit of quandary with our neighbours. They are very nice neighbours and we get on well.

Our neighbours had a very large (over 100ft) soft wood tree in the very corner of their garden which bent over and so covered half of our garden (which is 1/2 an acre!) (it did not fall over their garden at all as bent). We didn’t mind too much but this year extremely large branches began to fall down, first it happened in a storm and then we had a couple come down with totally normal weather. We were very concerned about this as had a branch fallen on us or more worryingly one of our children they would almost certainly have died due to the size and height. We got a tree surgeon in and cut it right back over our side costing £1000 but the tree surgeon said there was no way to keep it 100% safe unless we cut the tree down completely. We could cut it right back to the trunk but it would continue to grow rapidly.

We discussed with our neighbours and came to the decision that it needed to be cut down to keep everyone safe. They got 2 quotes, one for £10,000 and one for £7,500 from original tree surgeon so went with that one. Originally they were booked for December and our neighbours decided not to stump grind the tree as this was an extra £1000.

In the meantime we were looking at our garden as with the tree branches gone we could actually get things to grow and grass to grow which we previously hadn’t done due to lack of light. Our garden is an L shape and we wondered if our neighbours would sell us the corner of their garden (where the tree is) to make it so that we could see to the end of our garden so kids would play at the bottom and we could still see them (cutting out the corner roughly 2 fence panels which is currently where the stump of the large tree is, the stump is so big that it is almost 2 fence panels in diameter)

We sent our neighbours a message and said that we wondered if they would consider selling us this small corner (their garden is also 1/2 an acre so as you can imagine this corner is a small piece of their garden), if so we would pay for the tree entirely (as it would become ours) as well as legal fees etc and also a new fence as the fence is broken and had to be pulled down to cut the tree. The fence is their fence as it’s on their right hand side. We did say regardless of this we would contribute to the tree.

The tree felling was brought forward as they had space and so it’s now been cut down, it took 5 days and considerably caused chaos to our garden as it was all done from our side, there’s a giant dent in our garden where the tree was felled, it also caused damage to our driveway as heavy machinery had to come in and out and it’s covered in wood chip and pieces of wood etc. We didn’t say anything as needed to be done obviously and not the biggest deal until the next message!

We got a reply saying they didn’t want to sell the land (fair enough no big deal) but that they wanted us to go 50/50 on the tree and the fence as we were the ones who wanted it cut down.

This I suppose is true but it was to stop dangerous branches falling? What were we supposed to do?

Total cost with fence for 50/50 would be £5000, and we’ve already spent £1000 on having it cut back so the kids could play out for some of summer.

What would you do? Obviously we have the money as we would have spent it buying the land but we feel that that’s too much on the principal that it’s their tree and fence and we’ve had the inconvenience of it all?

thanks for reading!

YABU - you owe 50/50

YANBU - you owe lews

I think you should pay half of the tree removal,
minus the £1000 you have already paid, and some extra cost to restore/clean up your drive.

I wouldn’t be paying for their fence.

Did you actually see the quotes OP? And they check there was no TPO on the tree? My neighbours have a very ordinary self-seeded sycamore they reduced the crown on and they had to get planning permission for the works.

It all seems very expensive/rushed/unprofessional with damage to your drive etc. I would consider very carefully before paying out and take in to account the collateral damage to your property.

I'd want to see the bill before I offered a penny.

You had no say in the timing or the cost or the company. If they wanted you to pay half you should have been consulted.

I think your contribution should be max £1000, as your other costs of getting the branches trimmed and the damage to your garden and driveway should be added on top. So that's c.£2500 which i think is more than reasonable compared to the total.

Apparently common with poplars when they get to a certain size

It's their tree, they should pay, cheeky fuckers.

No, they wouldn’t be. If someone else’s tree falls on your home/car/property causing damage, irs you who pays for it (or your insurance). They aren’t liable. Maybe you could sue for personal injury if your kid was injured but with peppery damage, you have to claim on your own insurance or pay for it yourself.
Edited to add that this assume the tree is healthy. If the tree is diseased and a known risk, and the owner of the tree did nothing about it, you could maybe go after them for the costs.

@Anon22224 your neighbours are cfs!! they booked the tree surgeon therefore their bill. they cannot come to you demanding you pay half! In fact, you can go after them for reinstatement of your garden and drive!

Scaremongering.
On every neighbour dispute thread this gets touted like some ancient wisdom.

I'll tell you what would happen if OP would choose to declare the tree dispute:
She'd declare that there WAS a large overhanging tree that her neighbours declined to maintain (not even the case, as it's gone!). So an order was obtained via the court to have the tree cut.
The tree was felled. The issue resolved.

After reading that, I would put in an offer on OP's house. Just like every other interested party would. And rather predictably, no one would get anything under-value.

As it stands, there will be no court and nothing to declare.
Don't pay OP. I can't stand selfish arseholes like your neighbours!

They took it down for your benefit so I think you should contribute to the costs albeit I'm as surprised as everyone else about the expense that both you and the neighbour have incurred. The neighbours would only have been liable for any damage caused if they had been negligent i.e ignored a diseased tree - generally trees and branches falling are considered an act of god.

The fact that the tree surgeons scared you all by saying it wasn't 100% safe suggests that they may be less than reputable. No tree is 100% safe.

More importantly, you say they are good neighbours and the fact that they listened, incurred costs for your benefit and got on with removing the tree confirms that they are good neighbours. Keeping them onside is absolutely worth half the costs. By all means have a discussion about the damage but again, this is the responsibilty of the contractor and they should be pursued to make good the damage - perhaps this would be an easier way of approaching it with your neighbours by asking them to have the contractors sort the damage and you pay them one half of the costs of taking the tree down. Good neighbours are worth the effort (and expense) of keeping happy.

Have you ever been in dispute with a neighbour?

The tree surgeon clearly advised that the tree was a risk as there were multiple snapped branches very high up that hadn’t yet totally fallen but were very close to falling when he went to clear branches initially

Its the neighbours' responsibility to ensure their property (the tree) does not cause problems or damage. The fact that they had neglected to pay attention to tree maintenance for many years does not make it ok for them to try and sting you for the cost of remediating work.

I have quite a number of sizeable trees of varying types and my tree surgeons check them roughly once a year and advise on any work needed. They also suggest logical time for next review (typically 12-36 months depending on type of tree). I have never seen a quote anything like the size you mention, even when I needed to have large trees removed due to disease. Nor has tree work ever caused any damage or problems for neighbours. I really would be looking closely at the firms making these large quotes to remove a single large tree -there are many cowboys in the industry. Did you see the quotes?

Its obviously ludicrous for them to expect you to pay toward the cost of their essential remedial works for their neglected tree. They should be compensating you for damage to your property (whether through their insurance or the tree firm's insurance).

Based on what exactly?

Their tree, their responsibility, their liability if it does any damage up to and including injuring or killing a person.

The OP is not at all responsible for the maintenance or removal of the neighbours tree.

The neighbour should be paying in full for the tree felling, prior tree surgery, removal of tree and making good any/all damage done in the process!

I can understand the OP paying for pruning branches on their side as it was their choice rather than ask the neighbours and wait til the 12th of never for it to happen, but thats a sensible decision, not a legal responsibility.

Honestly OP, unless you reallllllly would rather not fall out with them, I'd tell them to stick the bill where the sun doesn't shine, they are absolutely 100% taking the piss!

Nice try… As a sign of good faith maybe half of the fence as long as you both get a say in it, 50% ownership of the part that is replaced and come to an agreement within a reasonable timeframe. (It was their neglect of their property that caused this problem in the first place…. They should deal with the consequences.)

If it were me and I would prefer to get along with neighbours, I would say that you will go 50/50, but they already owe you money towards the work you already had done on the tree. So, they owe you 50/50 on that to make things "fair". My calculations are, £7500 divided by 2 would be £3750, take the £500 off and that would be £3250. I would then also take the cost of replacing the fence off. If you also have to pay to get repairs done to your drive, that should be honoured by the tree surgeon. As I said for neighbourly relations, I would offer £3250 minus the fencing costs and tell them it's that or nothing.

It’s very simple.

You are responsible for the cost of removing any branches over the boundary line, not your
neighbour.

If the tree was considered as dangerous and/or damaging your property then you might have recourse, but it would need to be validated by a qualified tree surgeon.

Were they to sell you land they would need to calculate the marriage value etc. Done by survey.

For the sake of relations I would not consider nickel and diming them on the tree surgery.

Move on with your life.

Something not right here, 5 days and 6 men to take down a 100 foot poplar? I’ve had one that size taken down in one day, two men, and it cost me 500 quid. Now sure my tree surgeon is reasonable, we use him a lot. And we can shop the wood ourselves so we don’t pay for a second day to chop the wood and manage it, but I’m astounded at this if it’s true. And a grand to take down some branches??

All councils have a tree department - ask them what is the best way forward. I prob would have contacted them before this all started but I guess you didn't know about their existence as its not common knowledge.
We had a neighbour whose trees were on our boundary and they started to drop massive branches in our garden during storms and the neighbour paid for them to be cut back.

I agree. The price seems off to me as well.

I'd also behaving the tree guy back to make good the drive and clean up properly. Paying that much for a tree removal shouldn't mean anything is left behind!

I wouldn't pay. The owned a dangerous tree so it was their responsibility to remove it. You were generous to offer but given you now need to spend money to fix the damage caused to your property, I'd rescind the offer due to that.

Bloody hell, could have had a new bathroom for that price! Definitely dodgy. Have also had trees removed in the past and it didn't take that long with less people too.

This is incorrect legally.

The owner is responsible to maintain all of the tree. However a neighbour is allowed (but not responsible ) to remove any overhanging branches if they wish to. They have to offer the branches to the owner of tree but if the owner doesn't want them then the person who removed them disposes of them. (This is a throwback to when the wood was most definitely used for fuel).

But I do agree if you had already agreed to chip in with costs I would. However I would not do so until the tree surgeon has made good the driveway as the contract is between the tree owner and the tree surgeon and not OP. This gives the tree owner a financial incentive to ensure that OP's driveway is put right.

The tree is no longer there. What assistance do you think a council tree department would be able (or indeed willing) to give?

Did they have it cut into logs? And keep them? If so they've probably gained thousands of pounds worth of firewood