Neighbour says we've cut down his tree

[Nessalina]

After my folks bugging me about it for ages we finally got the massive sycamore tree in our garden cut down. It's been overshadowing the house and dropping sap all over for years, and the neighbours opposite have mentioned a few times that it blocks their light.
A week later the neighbour that we share that border with knocks on the door and says that we've cut down his tree! Our garden ends in a row of scrubby trees (we're not gardeners!), then his fence is behind the trees, and this sycamore is clearly our side of the fence. I asked him to show me what he meant and he pointed out a low broken stone wall that is between our trees and his fence, and said that's the boundary, and the 30cm between the wall and the fence is his. And this one tree is (was) in that space.
Apparently he can now see right across the street and it's a disaster for his view, but the trees left are still house hight, so I don't see it myself...
He's never trimmed or maintained the tree himself (we've had it cut twice before) and in the 10+ years we've been there I've assumed it was ours. After all, it's OUR side of HIS fence.
He said his solicitor has said that if I didn't have an appropriate response then he should really report it to the police as theft. This is bullishit surely?!
What's the worst that can happen here?

[BlackeyedSusan]

Police will have to send in Special Branch.

[seven201]

blackeyed

[Nessalina]

Well apparently the police have very little to do... just come back from holiday to find a note from the police asking us to call them regarding 'neighbours tree being cut down'

[RebootYourEngine]

You did not?! Where do you live because if the police have time to invetsigate a cut down tree then i want to live there.

Have you phoned them?

[Carveitup]

I actually have a bit of sympathy with the neighbour here. My neighbour tried to buy a strip of land from me years ago to widen his garden, as he had built an extension right up to the edge of his own boundary. We couldn't agree on a price so the land still belongs to me and I use it for grazing horses. He asked me to put up a bit of a fence on my own land shortly after we bought the house (just coming up to 12 years ago.....!!) to stop my horse from eating the hedge that was on his land but growing over onto mine. So being a reasonable sort and not wanting to fall out, and having plenty of field left for the horses to graze, I put up a little fence. It was brought to my attention recently that he was planning to claim ownership of the bit of my field that was inside the fence as in his opinion I had not been maintaining it (the farmer tops and harrows my fields but obviously can't get in along the side up against the boundary due to the fence.) So late last year we took the fence down and strimmed the nettles back in order to re-assert ownership of it. This has annoyed him immensely as he has just put his house up for sale and had apparently been planning to state that the bit of my field alongside his house belonged to him. He had even fitted a gate coming out of the garden into my field inside this strip.

You could argue that I had put up a fence where there was no boundary before and therefore waived my right to ownership of the bit of land, but it was done in good faith by me and with devious intentions by my neighbour.

I think unless you know why the fence was put up where it was when it is a foot away from the boundary you can't argue he is being unreasonable. However I agree it would not have seemed unreasonable to cut down a tree (especially a sycamore, which is not the most attractive of trees) on your side of the fence and a bit of dialogue and eating humble pie to restore a good relationship might be in order. Him calling the police is silly. Otoh, it would probably have been sensible to discuss chopping a tree down that stands between you and a neighbour before you did the chopping.

[longdiling]

Have you not got hold of the deeds yet to see if it actually is his land/tree?

[ReggaeShark]

Surely the deeds won't be detailed enough to indicate whether the old wall or the new fence is the boundary?

[Nessalina]

Our solicitors were useless about the deeds, so I've spoken to Barclays and they're sending us a copy. But they'll take 21 days to arrive! Rang policeman and it's his day off, so left a message and I expect he'll call back tomorrow.
The thought never crossed my mind that it wasn't our tree - it's just one of a row of trees that's at the bottom of our garden. Now I look properly, the trunk is maybe set slightly back from the others, but still very much in and amongst. It wasn't him that put up the fence IIRC, the fence has always been there and he replaced it with new boards. He's never come round and said 'oh by the way that sycamore is mine despite the fence placement' even though we've trimmed it twice (from the top down, not just what might have been thought of as overhang).

[Nessalina]

I doubt the deeds will be that clear, so I'm hoping that he hasn't got a leg to stand on to be honest.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

Well if he gets difficult you could try counter-claiming the costs you have incurred maintaining it over the years. I would tell the police that he has seen you pay for work on it in the past and he never told you it was actually his responsibility so you had every reason to believe it was yours.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

Actually I've just read further through the link Mrs Bert put up and it says 10 years if it is land registered since 2003 and the example given is of a boundary in the wrong place, so you may just need a good solicitor

[LIZS]

You can quickly download land registry records for a small fee. Get yours and his to compare boundary lines.

[titchy]

You can get the deeds right now online!

[Nessalina]

Policeman popped round last night. He was very nice and said he just wanted our side of the story. He said the neighbour is alleging criminal damage, but after hearing the tale and seeing the photos said that there doesn't seem to be much to support that. He said I didn't have anything to worry about, and that if he wanted to take it further it would likely be a civil case. I really hope they tick him off for time wasting.
Who steals a tree?!

[Floggingmolly]

I'm surprised they're taking it so lightly, actually. You can no more legally chop down someone's tree than you can knock down their garden shed.
He may well pursue you in the civil courts.

[Nessalina]

He's welcome to do so. It's our tree!