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?

Ok
Trees were a shielding hedge (they gave privacy to the courtyard my and neighbours houses are in) owned by my neighbour and taken down as they were pushing a third neighbour's wall over. No overshadowing to anyone. Normally I dislike Leylandii for all the obvious reasons however these gave shelter to a large number of birds. as soon as the trees were taken down the birds disappeared-no habitat.

Sadly I cannot have mature trees in my garden as it is both very small and rented. I try very hard to provide thickets and bushes and I do have a hedge in my back garden that gives some habitat. Little is over 6ft high so while it creates some shelter it's not as good as a tree.

While the effect of domestic cats is appalling, habitat loss is equally difficult. There's lots of research about the effect of cats, they are killers, no doubt. Harder to assess the impact of nowhere to put your wings at night.

Can I ask why your pear tree was relevant to your neighbour's dog? Did the tree overhang?

Not the point, but pears aren’t toxic to dogs. Sad for your tree!

We had an issue with a neighbour’s tree that littered our garden every autumn, blocked so much light and ruined the garden room (which in fairness was built far too close to the fence by previous owners).

In the end I got some tree surgeon quotes for pollarding and offered to split the cost, and the neighbour decided they would take the whole thing down instead.

If they hadn’t been accommodating, I was going to use the damage to my property as the ‘stick’.

If your fence is being damaged by their tree, it is their responsibility and you can take them to court for damages. Of course you don’t want to do this, but it is worth knowing in case it’s helpful in negotiations.

Practically, I would get a good tree surgeon round and have the tree chopped back to your boundary, including the roots.

In theory, this could kill the tree, if done badly, so use a good company. If the tree does inadvertently die, they could sue you for damages but honestly, who would bother? And unlikely damages from loss of tree would exceed damage to your fence.

@Buddhabuns

"And just to be clear — I’m not some tree-hating villain. A couple of years ago, we cut down our pear tree after our other neighbour let us know pears are toxic to their dog. We really liked that tree, but we weren’t about to be responsible for harming someone’s pet. So down it came — because we’re that kind of neighbour. The considerate ones"

With respect that is absolutely crazy. You completely removed a tree in your garden because pears are toxic to dogs?! How would the neighbour's dog eat the pears?! Does the dog have access to your garden? Couldn't you just trim any branches that overhang?

Again kindly this wasn't a reasonable request from your neighbour, and your response wasn't considerate - it was bonkers. Can you imagine everyone asking their neighbours to completely remove absolutely generic non niche trees because they're supposedly toxic to their pets?! So weird and unreasonable 🤣🤣🤣

Could it be that this situation informed what you're thinking to be a "considerate" response to a neighbour's complaint, and if you're being honest all that you would deem acceptable in your case with your neighbour's tree would be for them to completely remove it?

I'm just wondering...

Especially as pears aren’t toxic to dogs

As a fellow pear tree owner, that's so sad to read. It's so so easy to cut the branches back just a little bit before they fruit. What an unnecessary shame.

You are going to have to go to the council - she’s already demonstrated that it’s the language they understand

Our council charges £800 for the pleasure of lodging a complaint about a tree. It’s a total racket.

The OP is within her rights to chop the branches and roots back to the boundary, and that’s the only sensible course of action here.

Did they pay it? I assume you had forewarned them, as if you had instructed the Tree Surgeon, it was your debt to pay.

At this stage I think it would be productive of you to drop her a message along the lines of;

Dear Neighbour,

Your suggestion to buy a leaf blower is unnecessary. The clearing of leaves in our garden from your tree is not the problem. We will instead proceed to trim the tree branches that overhang on our side and obstruct light and which heavily impact our enjoyment of our property. In line with govt guidance we will return the trimmings to you, if you want these.

The tree roots are visibly damaging our fence. We will consider our options and may have to lodge a complaint to the council. If you have any helpful solutions to offer, we’d be happy to discuss and avoid having to take that step.

...and since your neighbour offered @Buddhabuns you could also point out the harm that leaf blowers cause:

https://www.sherbornelodge.co.uk/leaf-blowers-are-ruining-your-garden-heres-what-to-do-instead/

They are the opposite of environmentally friendly.

I get it — it probably does sound a bit bonkers without context! But the pear tree was seriously productive — we pruned it every year, but it still managed to hurl the occasional rotten pear over the fence. Our neighbour mentioned (very politely) that fermenting pears can be harmful to dogs — not deadly, but enough to cause digestive trouble, especially for their anxious rescue. The tree wasn’t in great shape anyway, so we decided to just deal with it. It felt easier than risking drama or doggy A&E.

That said, I’m not asking my current neighbour to chop hers down! I’ve only ever asked for trimming, since the branches are now stretching across nearly our entire garden. The mess is just the bonus extras. I’m not a witch, I’m not Snow White — just someone trying to enjoy a patch of sunlight without being buried in someone else’s tree.

Thanks so much — this is really helpful. Straightforward, clear, and exactly the kind of message I wish I’d sent months ago instead of dancing around it with leaf blower diplomacy 😅

I’ll definitely use this as a base. It says what needs saying without turning it into World War Tree, which is exactly the tone I’m going for. Appreciate it! 🌳🍂

@Buddhabuns

What I don't understand is why your main point of complaint to her isn't the fence damage (which she could offer to pay for repairs), but it's the leaves.

When it was very windy the other day, I got millions of cherry blossom flowers in my garden - I've no idea where they came from! No pruning or trimming would have helped this.

Also just to say I don't get your constant emotive language of bad witch, snow white whatever, tree hater etc, is there a reason why you keep using such hyperbolic terms? Genuinely asking as I really don't get it.

The pear thing still doesn't make any sense - surely if you just made the tree very short it wouldn't be able to fling (?!) pears over the fence and into the neighbour's garden. The fact that it was diseased and you didn't mind removing it is neither here nor there as initially you used this as an example of how considerate you are.

I asked previously but didn't get a response. Have you tried thinking of your neighbour's perspective? I'll give you my perspective as someone who does have a 100 year old deciduous tree in my garden. I bought this house specifically and almost solely because of this tree. It's what lifts my spirits in the morning. It's my first house ever. It's my first garden ever. My neighbour has complained over falling leaves. Honestly, I'm perplexed. The only way that they won't get leaves falling in their garden, is if the tree is removed as no amount of pruning, unless I shorten it down to 5ft hence killing the tree, will help with falling leaves - especially when it's even the tiniest bit windy. What has amazed me is that they are obviously completely oblivious to the fact that I could in fact love this tree. They have shown me time and again that ALL they care about is leaves in their garden. Because I also am considerate, I will get someone to trim it - but I'll do this only according to the professional's recommendations. My neighbour won't be satisfied as they'll still get leaves.

So this is what pisses me off with the whole discussion about leaves. It's not "being considerate" that you want, if you're being honest. Because being considerate is trimming (you deemed she didn't do enough) and beung gifted a leaf blower (you didn't want one). So what exactly can your neighbour do to prevent leaves, apart from removing the tree?

Terraced housing means you live next to people. You have to compromise. Compromise might mean you ask her to trim the tree more this time round if it doesn't harm the tree. Compromise might mean you use her leaf blower. Compromise ultimately means accepting you'll get leaves, because it's terraced housing, but you've worked with your neighbour to see if you can get fewer leaves.

I said leaves so much

Just to say there is nothing the council can do if the tree isn't dangerous. The council won't make your neighbour do anything just because "leaves". Honestly the amount of people mentioning reporting to council - reporting what?! Leaves?! I despair

Life Is too short to deal with this shit. Cut it down and let her be the one with the problem.

We need every tree. The amount of pollution we have, the air would be unbearable without trees.

Look what the sheffield council did to all of their trees. I appreciate what you are saying but if everyone kept chopping them down here and there, it bloody adds up.

We have a row of trees between us and the neighbours. These trees are homes to birds squirrels and other wildlife. So it's okay to disrupt their homes because it disrupts human homes? I live in an apartment complex and many of us enjoy the trees.

It doesn't need to be pulled down. It can be cut back, pointed. It doesn't need to be destroyed.

Sorry it just really bugs me that people want to destroy things rather than preserve what is around them. Trees have a right to exist just like we do because of the good they provide for many little creatures.

We can only have an opinion if we see a photo.

I think you need to move somewhere with a bigger garden.

Too many overhanging trees in this story 🤣

Is your tree overhanging a large proportion of your neighbour's garden and damaging the fence?

if trees are going to affect existing house foundations and drains then sadly they need removing.....or would you rather the house fell down and the drains were blocked?

Thank you and yes, exactly that!

Okay, @AlpacaMittens since we’re still on trial in the Court of Leaves: our garden is 8 metres wide. Her 20-metre-tall tree has branches stretching 6 metres into it. That’s not a gentle overhang, that’s full-blown arboreal colonisation.

If it were 1, 2, even 3 metres — I wouldn’t even flinch. But 6?! Come on. I don’t own a meadow! It’s just a typical London garden.

This isn’t about hating nature. It’s about the fact that a big chunk of our space is under someone else’s tree, and somehow we’re told to “compromise” — with a leaf blower, no less.

We asked her to cut the overhang two months ago, when the tree was bare and easy to manage. No leaves, no nests — just the right moment. She didn’t. Now it’s in full bloom, swaying like it’s enjoying itself — and we’re still under it.

We didn’t ask her to cut it down. We asked — nicely — for the branches taking over our garden to be trimmed. What we got was a polite brush-off, a few token snips, and the tree equivalent of being handed earplugs when we asked someone to turn their music down.

I’m all for compromise — just not the kind where someone else’s tree moves in and starts rearranging the furniture.
And since we’re big on perspectives: has she ever actually considered ours?

OP I really don't understand why you haven't just cut them yourself. Why ask her to? They aren't bothering her!

I was going to say the same!
so many people have said it’s not the neighbours responsibility, it overhangs your garden so if you want it sorted, sort it!

did you not understand the tree would grow when you looked at the house before buying?