Legal remedy for subsidence?

[TreeHelp]

(Posting over here as advised in AIBU)

Our house is being affected by subsidence caused by a neighbour’s trees - 2 large lime trees at the bottom of her garden. We’ve had cracks in walls, doors slipping in frames for about 12 months now, all reported to insurance company. The structural engineer, arbocultural report, and soil/root samples all concluded that the lime trees were causing the damage.

They wrote to the neighbour about 6 months ago to request removal of the tree, and regularly since then. She has not responded save to acknowledge receipt of the first letter.

Now the insurance company wish to close the claim, and have proposed using Geotherm to inject ground stabilisers underneath our foundations. It also transpired that this neighbour’s trees caused a problem to another house on our street back in 2012 and she was issued with a legal notice of nuisance back then (we have a copy of this).

I just feel so angry and powerless. Her trees are causing massive damage to at least two houses, and she can simply ignore the letters from the insurance company and gets away Scot free.

Do we have any legal remedy? Anyone any advice? The loss adjusters suggested that there would be no point pursuing legal damages as even if damages were awarded, it would be v hard to enforce payment. I really just want the trees removed but failing that I want to be able to do something

Yes, you can sue her to reclaim all costs, possibly via her house insurance. Your own house insurance company may assist with this.

THe loss adjusters seemed to think that even if we were awarded damages, we would be unlikely to see any money without getting bailiffs involved - she’s an elderly woman living alone as far as I know. They also thought that it would cost hundreds of thousands to pursue the case

We had a similar situation but not as serious - minor cracks and movement but no underpinning needed. No tree roots were detected as the cause but some of neighbours' trees were deemed too close to the house and the insurance company (or whoever) wrote to the neighbours saying they wanted to remove the trees. Neighbours didn't engage despite repeated attempts to contact then. In the end our company sought legal advice and arranged for the trees to be removed without the neighbours permission. Can you ask your company if they would consider that?

By the way, they monitored our cracks for a year before deciding what, if any action to take about repairs. I would have thought that if removing the trees was a possibility, they might wait until the ground had stabilised after the tree removal before underpinning (the roots no longer drawing water out of the ground so it won't dry out as much). I'm no expert though.

Wouldn’t cost hundreds of thousands and she might be covered under her house insurance so they’ll pay out not her. Speak to your insurance company to see if you’ve got legal cover.

Or, just pay someone to do the work without her permission. And she can try to sue you.

Finally, if you’ve a mortgage they may help as the house is a going concern for them too.

Have you spoken to her directly and asked if she's got insurance? You could approach it along the lines of if she's got insurance and would provide their details all future correspondence could be between the insurance companies and she wouldn't keep receiving letters.

You could sue her. If you get a judgment and she's got no money but owns her house you could get a charge over it so you get a payment when the house is sold

You could potentially also seek an injunction to have the tree cut down or pruned

You can sue her for nuisance.

I hve spoken to her once, back when all this began when I kncoked on her door and told her what was happening and that she’d be getting a letter from our insurance. She was v standoffish and not friendly.

I know she was advised to inform her insurance company of the legal notice of nuisance back in 2012, but I have no idea if she did or not.

We do have a mortgage, so I guess we need to speak to both our mortgage company and our insurance company to see if there is any legal remedy. The loss adjusters said if there were, they’d be pursuing it on behalf of the insurance company so that didn’t leave me with much hope

I don’t want to put an old woman into financial difficulties, but it does enrage me that she can just ignore this and the massive problems and disruption its causing to our life. I was heavily pregnant when this all began, and have had to deal with cracks, draughts, workmen coming and going for the monitoring, all the while on maternity leave with my newborn. Pretty stressful all told. Our insurance company has even offered to pay for the removal, but she hasn’t responded to that offer.

Does anyone know what sort of solicitor I should be looking for?