Neighbour’s tree is basically living rent-free in our garden — now she’s offered us a leaf blower 🙃

[Buddhabuns]

Our neighbour’s enormous tree hangs over almost the entire width of our garden. It blocks sunlight, drops catkins and leaves everywhere, and last autumn we filled four garden bins (which we pay for) clearing up her mess.

We’ve asked — nicely — twice. She trimmed a few bottom twigs, probably with nail scissors, and called it done. No difference. Now the roots are pushing up our fence, and the leaves are back in full force.

Her solution? She offered to buy us a leaf blower.

We already have one. We just didn’t realise we’d signed up for unpaid groundskeeping for her passive-aggressive tree.

Every other neighbour manages their trees. She clearly thinks if she waits long enough, we’ll give up or vanish under the leaf pile.

AIBU to think she’s completely taking the mick — and that the leaf blower offer was basically an insult?

Aren't you meant to be able to trim the bits of tree overhanging your garden as long as you return the trimmings to the original owner?? But it sounds like a right nightmare

You need to be blunt. Tell her if she doesn't do it herself, you're getting a tree surgeon to remove the parts that overhang / grow under your side. Which will in all likelihood kill the tree.

Was the tree there when you bought the property? You could have it cut back to the fence line, although it would look terrible.

We lived in a house with a small, N facing back garden that had a massive Ash tree in it. It was enormous and blocked our light but it grew mostly over a neighbours even smaller back garden, reached to their roof, and filled it with the stalky leaves it dropped every Autumn. We rented so apart from lop branches off it there wasn't anything we could do but I imagine when the very elderly person who lived there moved on the new owners would have something to say about the tree!

I adore trees but some are menaces.

Photo?

Would cutting it right back to her property line be possible and would it help?

Ive several large trees and I pay to have them maintained and cut back regularly so they don’t annoy my neighbours. I’ve also paid to remove some ugly evergreen trees that some idiotic previous owner had planted right next to the boundary. It’s normal decent behaviour.

The tree might have a TPO on it.

You can turn the autumn leaves into nature's gift, leaf mold for the cost of a few bin liners.

You’re supposed to trim the branches and give them back to her over the fence

if the roots are causing damage and it’s interfering with your right to light you need to take legal advice

BTW, document the damage to the fence and put something in writing to her that you are concerned her tree is going to damage the fence and that you want her to do something to stop it. It might make her think a little more clearly

*OFFER them back. Lots of people think they can just chuck them over, but that's actually classed as fly-tipping.

Even if a tree has a TPO or is in a conservation area you can apply to have it trimmed. And you are entitled to cut back the overhanging branches.
Unfortunately that is all at your cost and there's not much you can do about that. You are also not able to charge for disposal of their tree leaves and nor are you actually allow to throw it back over. You can offer them the cuttings back but you can't just dump them.

I get it’s annoying. But seriously we do need trees to breathe.

You should see where we live. It’s dire. Our garden is 5m in length from the house and we have 20m tree in it. It’s annoying. Literally right next to the house. Squirrels jump to our roof and often pull tiles and enter the attic / cause leaks. South facing so blocks all the light.

But we can’t in good conscience pull it down. All the surrounding houses have removed every tree. It’s a hideous sea of fence work for about half a mile in every direction. Our last remaining tree keeps all the local birds. We have crows, a variety of tits, blackbirds and sparrows. And unfortunately some pigeons.

And actually we realised if we did remove the tree the garden would feel teeny tiny. Trees actually give this odd optical illusion of lowering the ‘ceiling’. It’s why an inside room feels huge but that same space outside feels like nothing because you perceive it in relation to the infinite sky. So a tree will often make it feel much larger than it is.

I am not trying to berate you with all this. Just wondering if it helps to reframe it. Yes it is annoying. But also super important and there are some benefits for you that you might not realise.

She certainly isn't taking you seriously, is she? I would be annoyed by the offer of a leafblower too, she's either taking the piss or not quite with it...

I would point out to her that you are entitled to cut off branches that are overhanging your property and that if you do, it will unbalance the tree. I would definitely point out the damage to the fence as well, if this is yours then she should compensate you for repairs to it. What species of tree is it? Some are notorious for causing troubles with surface roots (cherries, I'm looking at you) but any planted too close to structures can cause issues.

The leaves falling in autumn is just one of those things. I actually sweep all in my garden up and bag them - they rot down in black plastic bags and you can just stick them behind a shed out of the way for a couple of years, then put the result on the beds/borders. Or sell it if you'd rather. I wouldn't put it in my garden waste bin as I use that for stuff I don't want in my compost heap.

cut it yourself and throw the cut off bits over her fence

I imagine the tree was there before you, and doubt it suddenly has new roots pushing up your fence. How about you calm down and enjoy having a beautiful tree to admire? But yes, you can legally remove any overhanging branches if leaves cause you such anxiety.

We have lots of trees, many over 250 years old and quite a few with TPOs. A new estate was built behind our garden and my god, the tizzy some of the neighbours get into over our trees! They don't overhang and they were there first, but "they block the light", "they're not safe", "leaves land on my lawn", "I'm frightened to let my grandchildren play in the garden".

We need trees, trees are beautiful, trees are essential. How did humans get to a point where we can't accept leaves falling from trees ffs? And where we prefer plastic grass to the real thing?!

Was the tree there when you moved in? What did you expect? Why put a fence right next to a growing tree in the first place?

This ^

Does she know about the roots pushing the fence up? I'd be having another (nice) chat and going 'hey so I'm not sure i made myself clear last time, the roots are damaging our fence, just wanted to check on timescales for you sorting that out as we've got a few holidays booked this summer and wanted to make sure we're around for when you get the surgeon round to sort that out?' Basically talking as if it's a done deal, as it's harder for her to brush it off? Apologies if you have already tried this!

But we can’t in good conscience pull it down.

I would. Then put in a few smaller ones. The right tree in the right place is key. But it would be really hard to do without disturbing all the birds. Neighbours around us have removed mahoosive leylandii for good reasons but they housed a lot of pigeons and it made me sad.

Wouldn't bother me at all then again i love trees.
Having spent many years living next to a busy road.
I am now surrounded with huge trees that give me plenty of privacy.

Trees are lovely but some are too big for the space they are planted in. This is not really the fault of the tree.

If the tree is big, then in all likelyhood it was there a long time before you moved in. It has more right to the space than you do.

Look up on the gov site for information on what you can and can't do with overhanging trees in your garden and more info on things like who is responsible for damage the tree may cause.

I think you’re supposed to ask if she wants them rather than just putting them over the fence.

doubt it suddenly has new roots pushing up your fence. At the risk of stating the patently obvious, tree roots do grow bigger over time.

Agree with this. Talk about it as if it's a fait accompli.

A neighbour of ours bitterly objected to our mature beech that overhangs his small garden. There’s a TPO on it, so we had to get permission even to thin it, which was allowed.
However it would have cost several hundred ££ and although we offered to split, he didn’t want to pay. so it didn’t happen.
The tree was there when he bought the house not that long ago, so IMO he should have realised the implications.
One of the things he objected to was the noise of squirrels in autumn, dropping beechmast (nut) shells on his decking. Not much we could do about that!

If our neighbours' trees overhang our fences too much I trim them (obviously not between March and September because birds). I don't ask permission because I dont have to. But mostly I just enjoy them.

You could replace your fence panel with one that has a cut out to allow for the roots.

No need to over dramatise it.