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?

It’s still their property, they can do what they want. It’s a bit shitty as it was offered with the trees in place but nothing your friend can do about it. At the end of the day, your friend could still walk away with no penalty.

What absolute bullshit.

Who are these people cutting down all these trees again?

Oh, they're country folk.

I would ask my solicitor to ask their solicitor for clarity on the situation - so much more useful than speculation on Mumsnet!

I think the idea of another visit is good too.

Solicitor should make it very clear that the sale is at serious risk because of this.

Are they cutting them for boxwood or something worth considerable amounts when sold?

Anyone can take out a TPO on trees, they don’t have to own them @justasking111 contact the Local Authority.
They will send out an emergency prevention/protection order, so the current owner (and their children) will have to cease all tree removal immediately until an inspector gets out to see the trees.

TPOs are indefinite, so the new owners will have to get permission to remove the trees if they are diseased. In some cases they will need permission to trim the trees, although this is usually granted.

Worryingly, anyone can also take out planning permission on a property they don’t own. They obviously cannot do or build anything on that land but nonetheless it bothers me!

Tell them through your solicitor you understood the trees were part of the sale-, or talk to them yourself and say you will withdraw from the sale.

It seems to me that the last sibling was left behind as the carer and ‘believed’ (wrongly as it turned out) would continue to live in the property.

POA probably held by all siblings allowed two of the siblings to decide to sell overruling the one who has undertaken all caring responsibility who is now aggrieved and taking vengeance to block the sale.

The solicitor should find out who the vendors are ie whether all the holders of the POA or just one or two overruling and acting with out overall consent.

It looks a mess. The solicitor conveyancer has not undertaken professional due diligence to establish whether the property can be sold.

I would speak to both the estate agent and solicitor, if no response then I’d be pulling out as it sounds like the trees were an important/desirable part of the land and sounds like the family won’t be easy to deal with. Even though it’s their right to do it, it’s normal to want to buy something that is in the same state as when you viewed/offered on it. I would not be very pleased if the owner of a house I’d offered on replace all their double glazing with single glazing for example, even though they’re allowed to do it

If the value is degraded in your opinion, then you can adjust the offer you made till you re satisfied. This might mean walking away, which is better than being very unhappy with what you bought.

I wouldn't have any more to do with these people.

There are licenses required if you cut more than a certain area of woodland

The vendor could be in all manner of trouble which the buyers may inherit

Pull out and report the matter to the Forestry Commission

It's the sort of idiot behaviour farmers and others of that ilk are all to prone to getting up to

You need a felling licence to chop down any large trees. They could report to forestry commission or Welsh/Scottish equivalents

Was the property advertised in the details as having an orchard? If so your solicitor should act upon this fact surely? As obviously there’s just a bit of land now and no trees if they’re chopping them all down. I’d be absolutely gutted.

If they are paying tree surgeons (team of 2 is £750 to £800 per day), then what it costs them plus time and money to split the logs, plus time and space to season the wood (it being illegal to sell unseasoned firewood) then I can't see how they could make any money out of it with seasoned bulk firewood costing £150 per m2.

The only way selling firewood is profitable is if you are already getting paid to remove say ash die back trees and the owners don't want the wood. Even then there's very little money in it.

They are, but nothing has been sold yet. There isn't even an agreed contract to sell or buy, specifying what is and what isn't for sale. But the OP ought to phone the sellers and say no trees, no sale, if that's what they want.

In their position I would pull out of the sale.
It would never have occurred to me that the trees were not a part of the land I was buying.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tree-felling-getting-permission/tree-felling-getting-permission

Says it all really...............

SYour friends need to pull out … I’m assuming they’re cutting the trees and leaving stumps which will be a pain to remove… then the roots will rot and cause land to sink !

maybe solicitor hasn’t passed on the message… your friends could go and ask them to stop themselves?… and let them know they want the trees!

Id tell solicitors to tell them I wint be buying if they chop down another tree ...

In Scotland you couldn’t do this even before exchange as the agreement to purchas is based on all garden contents so you would not be able to remove mature plants etc but our offers are made and accepted legally not just via estate agents etc. if this happened there then they would be breaching the sale agreement and the buyer would pull out but you can do that in England since nothing legal has happened yet. But obviously the sellers don’t really expect that to happen as it’s not explicit at time of purchase. I would tell them to withdraw offer now. Chances are they will then re-negotiate. There’s no option to do nothing though. They’ll just carry on felling trees

Is it sold through an estate agent and are they aware? They stand to lose out also as a result of this, may have some influence with the sellers and might inform the non-local joint owners who then may be able to stop the felling if against their wishes? I still wouldn’t buy it, but it might save some trees.

Is the land within a conservation area?
If it is, then you require planning permission to do anything to trees over a certain height (I can’t remember the exact height, but it’s not that tall).

I can't imagine still buying the place, even with reduced asking price/offer

Having looked at if a bit more, the suggestion is that if trees are felled illegally the new owner can still be made to replant them so the buyer is taking on a potential liability unless the vendor can demonstrate the appropriate consents to fell