My neighbours Holly tree...advice please!

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

My neighbour has a holly tree, which whilst it looks beautiful - is a menace in my fledgling garden. 12 years of living here, and having stood on far too many holly leaves barefoot to remember, I've finally had enough.

So I need a tree surgeon to essentially cut the tree in half by removing anything overhanging my garden. I'm guessing at it being around 4m high. What kind of figures does this sort of thing cost? Im in NW England if it helps.

I'm not sure you can just go ahead with this without talking to your neighbour first.

Is is worth having a talk with them first?

You can trim the overhang, can be prickly and painful, but holly chops down in to small bits.

As far as I know you can only cut the overhang to as far as the boundary. It doesn't actually looks like it overhangs too much on your side. It's probably the height that's the issue, is it?

We have one of these too. I chop off bits that overhang as far as I can reach which is quite high as our garden is higher than theirs. Tree surgeons are pretty expensive. Ours would probably charge about £150 for that.

Speak to your neighbour first, perhaps you can come to an amicable resolution.

If you main complaint is that you keep standing on fallen leaves then can't you just put something on your feet?

I contemplated including in my OP... but decided not to, but the relationship between us broke down. After 9 years of harrassment from the woman, it ended in me ringing police who warned her off. We haven't spoken since, and I'm more than content to keep it that way. She is drunk a lot. Probably explains a lot.

Anyway, the overhang is what I want to cut. £150 sounds reasonable. I'll search for local tree surgeons with a bit less concern for the bank balance now!

@ThisMustBeMyDream our tree surgeon is pretty cheap but that doesn’t involve chopping the whole tree down so that would be my guesstimate from the work he has done for us over the years. Ours is usually a bit cheaper too as we keep the waste and dispose ourselves. This is our neighbours holly tree. I’m surprised she lets such a large tree grow so close to her house. I stand on that wall and lop bits off.

The right side of the red line all over hangs!

Did you take the photo from the neighbours garden?

It really looks like the right hand side of the tree doesn't overhang your garden

It's from my garden! Why would I trespass in to the neighbours for a picture which would not show the overhang in to my garden?!

Think it might look worse if you start hacking away at the shape. As with most things, I would try and work around it. Grow a rambling rose through it and wear shoes in the garden.

I think (but not 100% sure) that while you can cut off the overhang, you can't significantly change the shape of the tree? Words to that effect?

Worth looking up anyway,

Legally, you have to offer her the off-cuts as they are her property.
Write a note, tell her if there’s no response before it’s done, the tree surgeon will remove the debris.

Only on mumsnet would someone take a simple question asked in the gardening section to accuse you if lying about your problem. Bloody hell.
Here are two pictures taken right now.
In MY garden.
Stood in my border. So you can clear up your confusion.

I'm not sure where the dissenters came from OP. The tree clearly hangs over your boundary!

Are you friendly with the other neighbours?
It looks as if only a quarter of the tree is in the original garden.

I have children. And a paddling pool. Shoes not practical all the time.

Is the tree in the garden to your left or the garden behind yours? If it is to the left then you could talk to the neighbour at the bottom and go halves on the tree surgeon.

You are supposed to offer all the bits you cut off back to the owner.

I know the legality, don't worry. I just didn't know what kind of cost it would be. £200-300 is doable. £1000 would not. I had no idea what these kind of things cost, which is why I asked.

You ought to try and speak to her or get the gardener to as it might make the tree unstable as its going to be heavier on one side if you cut it in half and that could cause problems. I would just get a gardener in.

It is the neighbour to the left. Neighbour at the bottom are elderly, and their garden is out of control. They occasionally have it cleared, but it quickly grows back (and in to my garden!). They wouldn't want to have the cost or hassle I'm certain.

I always keep my trees well cut back so I dont have any problems like this ...tell your neighbour to do it or you will get someone to do it...looks like you have young children, tell the neighbour it's not on with them in the garden standing on the prickles