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?

Check it doesn't have a TPO on it.
Warn her again (letter before action) that she needs to cut back the branches over your garden significantly (Back to within x feet of the boundary) once the nesting season is over (give dates), or you'll take further action.

You don't need to specify what that further action might be - might be complaint to LA, getting a tree bod in to cut it back and sending her the bill... thats up to you.

If you can, id include information from your LA about whose responsibility it is to maintain trees.

I don't think it's an argument about the impact on you or your garden though, OP. It's an argument about who is going to pay the tree surgeon.

It's just a waste of energy trying to argue about the geometry of the garden or how big is too big. It's just about who is prepared to pay for it, or who can force the other to pay for it.

Of course they would! I recently had a tree surgeon out to clip back neighbours tree that was creeping across my bedroom windows and blocking out light and just generally didn’t look good either. In fact he had to assure me that there was nothing to worry about and it was all legal! Also, clipping back a tree via a professional wh knows what they’re doing will not harm it so not sure why so many people getting hysterical about this either.

Well in UK, OP can’t force the neighbour to pay for it so she will have to.

Neighbour only pays if any damage has been caused due to any overhang.

The message I was replying to said lop off every overhanging branch. Of course a tree surgeon will do normal maintenance. But they wouldn’t basically cut the branches off a 20m tree down the middle (doh)

If you only bought five years ago, the tree was pretty much the same size then that it is now. Did you not notice the 65' tree overhanging the garden when you viewed?

Or did you assume you'd buy and be able to kick up a fuss afterwards and have it removed? That's unreasonable.

Well obviously not because as you will know it is an offence to disturb any nests during nesting season.

But should we responsibly plant and maintain trees in a way that slots in with our net zero? Yes. We cannot facilitate trees to maturity in places planted by genuine idiots 40years ago. You don’t need any consents to plant trees and they cause the same, if not more disruption than a building.

Depends massively on the species of tree and whether it is young, in its prime, at the end of its life, and how it has been maintained - some will grow enormously in that time, some barely at all!

So a sweet chestnut (which might be what OP's neighbour has) might grow pretty rapidly in its youth - first 50 - 100 years, and then barely anything for the next 600+. 1 to 2 feet (up and out) wouldn't be unrealistic, so a healthy sweet chestnut could have added 10ft to height and width in 5 years. That is not insignificant!

We don't do anything much with leaves, the wind (or we) blow them to the side of the garden under bushes where they mulch themselves.

Our small garden has several trees around it including a huge oak just the other side of our back fence that's taller than the house. We love them. We get parakeets in one (South London) plus the usual British birds. The trees provide an element of privacy as the terrace is all very narrow 3-storey houses. They also prevent it all getting unbearably hot in Summer, and muffle the noise. Urban trees are a really great way to cool the air on hot days and improve air quality generally.
If it's bothering you that much then get the branches that overhang your garden trimmed back, but it was there before you bought the house, and foreseeable that it would continue to grow.
In the UK, healthy mature trees actually add value to your home, so I'd consider that before hacking away at one that someone else has conveniently planted for you. I think it's easier to just learn to love the tree.

100% that’s the case in our garden too. But I love trees so I work with it 😃

Yes, I saw the tree (Sycamore BTW). I also saw a fence, which, silly me, I assumed actually meant something. What I didn’t expect was that five years later, the branches would be reaching six metres into our eight-metre garden, I’d be offered a leaf blower like it was some kind of peace treaty, and strangers online would accuse me of buying the house just to launch a sneaky campaign to get the tree removed.

Did I plan to kick up a fuss after buying?
No. I planned to enjoy a bit of garden like a normal person, not run a risk assessment every time the high wind picks up.

This isn’t about hating trees or demanding blazing sun. It’s about a very obvious, very intrusive overhang that takes up most of the space. But unless I start posting aerial shots with measurements, I guess I’ll keep getting told it’s just “a few leaves.”

It’s not black and white. But a bit of trimming and a little respect for boundaries shouldn’t really be that controversial, should it?

YABVU, OP. The overhang is ENTIRELY your responsibility. If you don’t like it, you get it cut back as far as the boundary. You don’t spend all this time and energy moaning about it.

Thanks! Constructive advice. We’ve already checked, and there’s no TPO on it (surprise!).
I like the idea of a calm final letter once nesting season’s done, no threats, just facts and a little gentle legal breeze through the branches, so to speak. I’ll also check our LA’s wording on tree maintenance responsibilities, it might help shut down the “just accept it, it’s nature” crowd.

Appreciate this — nice to feel a little less like I’m shouting into the foliage 🌳😅

It does overhang which I will take care of by employing a tree surgeon - wrong time of the year for it now, but I've already contacted someone and got booked in.

No, no damage whatsoever caused.

My point was the leaves as the damaged fence was mentioned for about one sentence in the OP, but it was all leaves leaves leaves leaves. In reality no amount of trimming or reducing will help with this, unless the tree is shortened down to fence height hence killing the tree. So I'm perplexed as to what the OP's neighbour is to do about the leaves, apart from removing the tree.

Same goes for my tree, when I get the tree surgeon over to do the agreed 30% crown reduction. My neighbour will still get leaves blown over. It's leaves. They get blown all over.

If the tree has no TPO on it, then you can absolutely get it cut back to your fenceline but you must do it or get it done without damaging the health of the tree. The tree owners are not by default required to cover the cost of the cutting back but if their management of their tree has caused damage to your property, then you may be able to claim repair costs from them. I have been living with and surrounded by trees with and without TPO's for over 30 years. https://www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes/high-hedges-trees-and-boundaries#:~:text=You%20can%20trim%20branches%20or,court%20for%20damaging%20their%20property.

Then your circumstances are NOT the same.

@Buddhabuns

Ok whatever, we're going round in circles.

Your only options are:

Trim whatever overhangs, it's your absolute right, offer the cuttings back to your neighbour.
Ask her nicely to reduce the tree, be prepared she is within her right to say no.
Unless the tree is unsafe or causing damage (I call bullshit on the damaged fence btw - or she could just agree to replace the fence panel every year and do nothing about the tree if it's safe) , she has zero obligation to do anything to the tree.
If fence is indeed damaged, ask her to replace it. She could claim it wasn't caused by the tree - and could be hard to prove one way or the other.

To note, Council can't help you and they have no right to compel her to do anything to her tree unless her tree is unsafe.

Hope this helps

I call bullshit on your "cant tell if a tree has damaged a fence" My garden is surrounded by six other gardens and there is very clear evidence on the older fences that the trees growing close to them have damaged the fences in various ways.... mainly either root thrust or where a branch has rubbed on the top of the fence and broken it. I have lived here for over 30 years and in that time, have been able to see the damage occurring. In my case both the trees and the fences belong to my neighbours so I don't care.

Every time someone posts about being overlooked and someone else suggests a row of fast-growing trees on the boundary, they should be forced to read threads like this.

They absolutely will. A few doors down is a leylandii that must be nearly 100 foot tall, right on the boundary of 2 gardens. The branches on one side are completely missing, cut back to the trunk. It looks awful but presumably the neighbour it encroached upon wanted the overhanging branches gone.

It’s entirely legal to remove overhanging branches and encroaching roots, so no reason tree surgeons won’t do it.

I don’t understand why you just don’t chop what’s growing over. You legally can you just have to offer her the branches back. You don’t need a chat or a letter or whatever just chop chop would you like them?

I’d just book a tree surgeon and tell her you’re paying to have all the over hanging branches off your side and she may want to pay for her side of the tree too to be trimmed too so it’s not off balanced.

Any pics OP? You might get more sympathy, I appreciate how annoying it must be and I’m a tree lover

Many single trees in gardens don’t actually have any nests in them. The percentages are actually quite low. I’ve quite a large garden with quite a few mature trees and currently have no nests at all in any of my trees. This isn’t uncommon. I do have nests in my mixed hedges though.

Yeah I absolutely agree with you. I was just thinking that it's difficult to tell which root was the culprit. For a while I was heartbroken thinking that roots from my favourite tree were ruining my patio - but it turned out after much sleuthing that it actually was a completely different tree much further down the garden - I removed that one with no regrets! But for a while I thought the wrong tree was the culprit.