Bought a small holding the owners are chopping down the trees.

[justasking111]

Not exchanged yet but the owners offspring are now chopping down the trees presumably for firewood to sell. Do friends have any rights before exchange or could all the trees be gone before they buy it?

Are they being unreasonable to be upset or is it fair practice before exchange?

Doesn't matter if you pull out of not, a small holding will always sell as there are always lots of folk looking for somewhere they can live and stable their horse.

Agree with others. Prior to exchange there is no contract in place and therefore the buyers have no rights. The only options are to pull out of the deal completely, insist on a reduction in price or accept that the trees are gone along with anything else the sellers offspring might decide to get rid of prior to exchange.

They need to pull out of the sale.

We bought our farm 10 years ago and it was a nightmare of the kind you describe. I won’t go into details but we lost thousands and we’re still dealing with the damage to the property and debt collectors were looking for the previous owners for years.

We were inexperienced buyers at the time so we live and learn, but I wish we’d been more clued up and not bought the place.

Are there any Tree Preservation Orders on those trees? If there are, chopping them down would be illegal and you could shop them to the council.

But otherwise, prior to exchange, a prospective buyer has no legal rights to stop the legal owner doing what they want on their property. Their only power is to walk away.

Are the trees listed in any way in the sales documentation? Do they form part of the price of the land? Is the value of the land being reduced by the felling?

Do you have a solicitor or estate agent?

You either pull out completely or you offer them less.

If I bought a house with a pool and then they removed the pool, I would pay less of pull out.

Mature trees cost a lot and take years to grow and so you’d absolutely be within h your rights to pull out or refuse to pay the full price.

I'd get in contact with their solicitor sharpest and say you'll want a big price reduction if the trees arent there. They are obviously motivated by money.

OP says it's been for sale a few years at this point.

Op your friends solitor should have told then what if anything can be done.

If it's nothing but drop the price and/or walk away then that's what they need to do or accept it and work out if they still want the place as it'd left.

You or your friends could contact council's planning or tree officer directly and see if there are any Tree Preservation Orders in place on the property - but if there are not I think you are all stuck.

Depending on the species, it might take a long time for them to grow back, and mature replacements can cost a lot of money. If the trees were part of the appeal, I don't think they would be unreasonable to drop their offer price.

Do the trees have TPOs (tree preservation orders) on them? If so they are acting illegally if doing this without permission from the council. Find out fast - ring Council right NOW to find out if TPOs - as its Friday and their phone lines likely to shut soon for weekend. They can stop the work if the trees are protected.

Why would you assume that?

they are siblings that you have never met and have absolutely no idea about their relationship!

An earlier post said they should not do this to the trees if it would be a breach of contract. Just want to point out that if there has been any paperwork to do with the sale, then that means in a sale of land that there is a contract in place. You need a solicitor to do something now, today to stop this. It sounds awful to cut down an orchard or other trees.

Their solicitor told them her clients asked them to cease this activity

They ignored. That is their response ie go jump

No TPOs unfortunately. The daft thing is that the house is nothing special. Kitchen, bathroom date back to the seventies. There's damp, fixable eventually. It's not insulated very well. Friends already have a lovely home but they want to grow their own food. Have more livestock so they need more room around them.

I think that's why it didn't sell for years to be honest.

Ah that makes sense.

So the one sibling lives there and has been told he'll have to sell the property for the others to get their inheritence but because he doesn't want to sell he's ruining it for potential buyers.

Yes it makes sense now.

I suspect he's going to make no end of trouble for you. (friends).

Why is that “daft”

I am confused!

If they are felling a significant quantity then they probably need a felling licence. From memory anything more than 5 cubic meters a quarter, and it is considered personal use, so you can't sell all of it (about half i think).

Licences are operated by the Forestry Comission, you could try and see if there is a system for reporting it.

Actually we know the family, the parents at least. The offspring, well two of them went to university and never returned. The third remained and never left the area.

So again

absolutely no idea about the relationships between the siblings at ALL
But suspect one is doing this without the other having any knowledge?

Quite a leap

Contact the solicitor and tell them that you’re not going to proceed with the Sale if they remove all the trees.

Why would you worry? If it’s your friend buying the house, surely it’s for them to worry?

One has lived overseas for 40 years. Never returned to visit. The father wasn't a good man to his children.

__

Some of us care about our surroundings. The loss of flora and fauna. Trees are an important part of the whole picture in nature.

Doesn't matter. It still burns so is good for firewood. If they are trying to get as much from the land as possible before it's sold I'd bet they cut these down too

@justasking111 I would not touch this property with a bargepole after your posts about the selling family. I very much doubt the incumbent will leave the property and its new owners alone after a sale.