Neighbour has cut 5 of my tree's/bushes down!

[Zara290]

So today my neighbour came around and asked if they can cut some of our trees because they have said they block their satellite signal.
I can't remember exactly the words he used but I presumed he meant cut the top off them so I agreed. For context my heads alittle bit all over the place at the moment as I've just lost my dad very suddenly - I mentioned this to him during our conversation.
Anyway I got on with the day, cooking Sunday dinner etc when my husband came in from being in the garden and told me they had cut loads down! I went out and I could of cried, they have cut a combination of 5 tree's and bushes down - completely gone and left it all for us to clean up. He said as he left "right that will do for today, hopefully you will get some fire wood out of that"

I feel really angry and sad, this area is abit overgrown - we've only been here 8 months and the house and garden need alot of work but we are slowly getting there. I hadn't really had chance to decide what we wanted to keep in this area yet but there is alot of established tree's, plants and bushes here and I was looking forward to seeing what we had - well not anymore as they've completely flattened a large area of it and now I've got so much more rubbish to try and deal with now ontop of everything that is going on personally, oh and they don't like us doing fire's so I won't be able to burn it either!

I’d be having a fire if they’ve left it for you to get rid of

Didn't anyone notice they were cutting it all down, where did they dump it, did they come into your garden.

I'm not really sure there's much you can do. There was clearly some miscommunication between you. Did he ask to cut down some of the trees or cut back? From what you're saying, he's not trimmed the trees/bushes but completely removed them? Is that correct? Or have they been cut right back, but will grow again? If you complain, he'll just say that you agreed and from your post, I'm not sure you really know what you agreed too.

I’m assuming they didn’t need a chainsaw or you would have heard it! How big were the trees? I’d just redesign the area and buy more trees. Then not give permission for anyone to come on to your land.

I get that you're disappointed, but if you told him ok and didn't clarify what he planned to cut, I don't think he was in the wrong.

Lesson learned… don’t agree to things when your head’s feeling busy - 99% of things can wait. And don’t let your neighbour cut your trees in future!

Have a bonfire on a cooler day - he doesn’t get to dictate whether you have a bonfire or not.

Sounds like possible miscommunication (maybe not - they could have purposely taken the piss), but leaving all the cuttings for you to dispose of is extremely rude. I've done some pruning of neighbour's trees/shrubs and I wouldn't dream of leaving the mess for them to deal with.

Condolences re your Dad x

I think you might need to be clear that you don't want any more to be done. Might be worth going round and saying we hadn't realised you wanted to cut down rather than trim or that you'd leave us with the branches to clear, that's as much as we're willing to lose from our garden.

While I don't think you need to be softly softly you have enough going on with losing your dad so you could word it differently if it would make you more comfortable. His comment about enough for today makes me think you do need to say something though.

It sounds like you told him it was okay? How did he manage to cut down that much while you were at home and you didn't notice until after?

Burn it close to your fence line

So the garden is quite large, it wraps around the whole house. The area is to the side of the house. I heard some noise but presumed it was him just trimming the tops off, also its an old house, with stone walls so you don't hear alot. I do really feel like he has taken the opportunity to just do what he wants and now I'm left to clean up the mess, not to mention the big gaps that are now there.

Yes I'm concerned he thinks he can just come back round and continue what he started.

Nooo… he needs to come back tomorrow and not cut anything else. He also needs clean up all the debris, and possibly pay for new plants and trees if they haven’t properly been coppiced /won’t grow back.

There’s been a bit of a misunderstanding but no reasonable person would demolish a load of trees for a satellite dish. Was it causing shade or dropping into next door (our previous neighbour had a cherry which they never got any fruit off as it just ended up plopped all over our patio - I wouldn’t have got the saws out though!)

My neighbour has a paddock where the non-maintained trees on the boundary line do now impact my SKY dish. Last time it happened we moved the dish. That can't happen again. Of course I won't go on to my neighbours land to cut their trees, but how can I get them to take it seriously?

Big girl pants on. Go round first thing , tell him that there was a misunderstanding, that you believed he was only going to trim them.
Telk him he does not have your permission to do any more cutting and ask him to clean up the mess that he has made.

PS if there was a Holly tree the wood is really valuable so keep it to sell yourself! We made that mistake once

You gave a casual agreement for him to carry out work and didn’t ask for specifics.

i can’t understand why you would not insist that your husband be there to supervise?

It’s nesting season, you aren’t supposed to be cutting trees down at all now.

I'm sorry that you lost your dad, bless you. 🌷

Do this op.

Common fucking decency would dictate that they got rid of all the crap and off cuttings even if you accept that they only cut back what was agreed (which is questionable).

It sounds like he just wants it tidying up & has taken the chance when you agreed to him cutting back.

Well he cannot put the bushes back! You haven’t been there long and didn’t know what these were. I think it’s now healthier to see this as an opportunity. Stamp your own garden ideas on your plot. You have a bit of a blank canvas now so I’d get creative and do something much better.

Yes to him clearing up though. Saplings are worth nothing.

I had an elderly neighbour do this in a gorgeous corner of my garden including a lilac tree I did actually cry when I saw it. I never spoke to him ever again. He died not long after.

Legally they’re his.
Trying to be pragmatic - you could take a photo of the current tree line / ask him to measure the current tree heights. Go round and say ‘we know the trees in the paddock aren’t a maintenance priority for you but they are for us. We’ve already moved our sky dish to the maximum position we can but we would like to ensure the trees are maintained at their current level (or a bit lower if you agree) as we won’t be able to move it again.’
you might need to be prepared to pay for the service and sensitive to the season (inc nesting season).

Sounds like miscommunication and perhaps the neighbour being opportunistic, but you really needed to clarify. And if it's all unkempt and has been for some time, its not surprising they took it into their own hands