Neighbours fallen tree has trapped me and my neighbour in our homes

[FinanceHo]

The drive we share is completely blocked by this behemoth tree-

neighbour has said they rent and the clear up is nothing to do with them

i I can’t get to work

any advice

I’m fairly certain if I got a friend the drag the tree off into the main road it would get shifted fairly soon.

anyone had similar

And what should OP do while they’re splitting their sides laughing because they know that email means diddly squat ? If the tree was healthy and the weather responsible for the fall, then neither they nor the landlord are responsible for removing or repairing anything other than on the landlords’ own property. Their responsibility is to the tenants renting that property, no-one else. OP has been advised several times what she needs to do - and that’s to contact her own home insurance company and arrange for her own removal/repairs.

I would try The Council and say that its blocking an emergency access

There may well be landlord licensing in your area and it might be a stick to beat the owner with

I'm never sure why people post these dilemma threads, because no matter what anyone suggests, they dismiss it, and poo-poo it as no good/can't do that/this idea will never work/can't afford to do that/don't have family nearby/can't possibly post photos, etc etc etc.

What do you want people to say @FinanceHo ???

And if you'd read all the posts, OP has clarified that it would have to be a friend with a 4X4 but that there's nowhere to drag it to anyway.

The tree was on private land, it’s not the council’s responsibility and OP would likely be prosecuted if she were to just dump the tree off her land.

Check things out with your insurance company. As long as the tree was healthy it will sadly be down to you to clear up what is on your property as its classed as an act of god. If the tree was diseased and it was known, or should have been known it was diseased the responsibility would ordinarily lie with the landlord.

It suck tbh as it seems unfair on innocent parties affected who then have to organise things and may have to pay an excess. One of my neighbours has two trees as close to the boundary with us as they can be. If either of them came down, 90% of each tree would end up on our property with one of them likely to go through our property roof. The main onus for sorting things out if they did come down as an act of god would fall to us and not our neighbour.

This is an amazingly stressful situation if the OP cannot afford a tree surgeon herself.

If the fallen tree is spilling onto the highway at all you can phone the councils emergency tree felling dept to clear it. Or if its blocking access to cars getting onto the highway you could try the fire dept as an access emergency.

Posting on local network or facebook for someone with a chainsaw and free firewood it a good idea but be sure to get the neighbours agreement.You need to cover yourself from any possible claim of disposing of wood that does not belong to you. Any money you have to pay out you could pursue the agent/LL in court for it.

Doesn’t matter what landlord licensing says, the actual law says that if the tree was healthy and the fall was caused by bad weather, it’s an Act of God and the landlord is not responsible to anyone other than his tenants.

I do agree with posting on Facebook as free firewood. Someone will snap that up in times like these. Wood burners are a significant heat source for us during the winter, it’s why we have a whole wood shed of free wood. We’ve never bought firewood. Technically, if it falls on your property, the wood belongs to you and you can do what you want with it.

It's because of stuff like this that I would never buy a house with huge trees within 30 yards of the house. Some insurances won't even cover any damage or issues caused by large trees near the house, so the OP may well find that there is nothing she can do anyway when it comes to claiming on insurance. And the person who owns the tree won't do anything, because it's not affecting them.

You were lucky. I work for an LA and we won't issue and enforcement notice for that it's a civil matter between the property owners. We can't progress it any further where I am.

No the wood doesn’t belong to OP just because the tree fell in her garden. Legally it’s still the property of the tree owner and she can’t post it as free firewood without their express permission or she could find herself in court. If the tree was healthy and weather solely responsible for the fall, then the neighbour isn’t responsible for the removal of any part of the tree other than on his own property. The removal of the tree and repair of any damage is between OP and her home insurers.

The poster is satirising the people who are making light of this and saying OP should just climb over the tree.

It’s not making fun of OP’s situation.

OP hasn’t ’poo-pood’ ideas, she has thanked people for some really good ideas which she will follow up on.

And she has secured a lift to work with a colleague in the meantime.

What more do you want her to do?

It seems people won’t be satisfied until OP reinvents herself as a Lumber Jill.

Please don't load up photos!!! It's easy to find out the location of a photo via google!! Serious Outing!!

Edit - apologies if anyone else has said the above. I'm in a rush and haven't time to read all the posts. I just felt I needed to get that in.

All OP needs to do is to contact her home insurance and tell them a neighbours’ tree has fallen on her land. They will advise her of the next steps. She’s been advised to do this numerous times.

I agree that seems sensible, and that’s probably what OP will do.

Athough if she hasn’t been in the property long and is on minimum wage, it’s possible she doesn’t have home insurance. I hope she does.

Bring back the old Mumsnet when people were supportive and had common sense. Some of the comments beggar belief.

OP I hope you get it all sorted soon.

Yes. Something similar happened to us and if I remember rightly our home insurance advised that the wood is still technically the property of the tree owner, but that once each party has agreed to remove their part of the tree for disposal, permission is implied. We have a wood burner and wanted to save some logs for burning but that fell outside the removal/disposal agreement and we had to get the owners’ express permission - which wasn’t a problem for us.

It's been like this for years. I started a similar thread when a tree fell in front of my front gate and got the same response as OP. Instead of waiting until it was light to get at the tree myself with a chainsaw I had ordered, I should have been outside in the dark, with a ladder and a pair of kitchen scissors, according to one poster

There were also suggestions of sending DD crawling through rose bushes and trespassing onto neighbouring properties so she didn't miss a morning of school while I dismantled the tree during daylight hours.

Oh Lord, so do I. Could prove very expensive otherwise. I hope there’s not too much damage once the tree is removed.

As the renters for the homeowners contact details and/ orcontact your own insurance company and hand the problem to them.

If you do not have the landlords details, look on the land registry for details of the owner for that address (will cost £7). Keep a record of all expenses, actions you have had to take and claim from the owner.

Who, if he knows the law, will tell OP that she should pass on these expenses to her home insurers, who she should be contacting as soon as possible.

Although OP may herself be a tenant. In which case, would her landlord be responsible?

If you’re still stuck then contact 101. You’re not allowed to obstruct someone’s access to the public highway. The police will contact the landlord.
That being said, their tenancy probably stipulates they’re responsible for managing the garden. You’ll probably find they have rent arrears because there’s no reasonable person would decline to contact their LL over this.