Leylandii hedge on HA property grown to about 20m and totally shading garden.

[GrabbyGabby]

We have a house with gardens backing onto the gardens of a parallel street. The lay out is odd. At one point it looks like there has been a lane between the gardens, but this has now been incorporated into one garden of the houses opposite.

This house now has a T shaped garden, with the top of the T long and narrow and running along the back gardens of our street.

At some point this long strip has been planted with leylandii. When we moved in they were not so bad, provided a bit of privacy from the opposite houses. But now they have grown to about 20 ft and shade our garden for much of the year. All our grass has died.

We also want to build a garden office, pretty much underneath the trees, but i am worried about the damage these untended trees could do.

After some slething on the land registry i found out the house is owned by a housing authority. I have contacted them several times, but have had zero response. Any suggestions on what to do next?

Contact the planning department of your council? If that's not the right place to contact, they will tell you who to contact.

There are nuisance trees that can be required to be reduced in size. I would look at your council web site and see who you should contact there. HA must surely have a suitable contact! Keep trying.

Poison the trees, you can google how to do it.

@KingsHeath53 Then you have to look at brown dead leylandii that still shade the garden! Don’t be so stupid!

they’d fall down eventually!

Radical idea...knock on the door of the house and speak to them?

We had shit leylandii planted in our HA garden when we moved in, we eventually saved up enough money to have them removed but I understood it was difficult for the neighbours, we hated them too!

Yup, we've just done similar after moving in a month ago, the neighbour who the trees backed onto could not have been happier, for 25 years her garden had minimal sunshine and we quickly decided cut them down rather than paying a few hundred quid every year for them to be trimmed.

Look at Hedging laws, in Scotland, 3 plants or more is classed as Hedging and can be enforced to be maintained to 2m.

Thinking you must have missed the bit about the house being owned by a housing authority. The tenant will have no say over whether the trees are cut or not.

Had a look on our council pages. We have to pay £677 to make a complaint.

The HA will probably say the garden is the responsibility of the tenant. Who are the HA?

The tenant maintains the garden I think so they need to cut them down/trim them

What? Why?

www.leylandii.com/leylandii-law/#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20laws%20on,to%20trim%20your%20Leylandii%20hedge.

Err no, re read my post. We saved and had them cut down. HAs don't do general maintenence like in private rental.

It is the responsibility of the HA tenant to maintain their gardens including hedges etc

This. The council will not be able to do anything.

The £677 mentioned refers to making a complaint about high hedges under the 2003 Anti Social Behaviour Act.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council

It’s very much a last resort and can take months to resolve. Councils generally charge people to do one.

You need to speak to the tenant directly, explain the impact and ask them to reduce the trees. They might be more amenable if you offer to contribute. I would suggest not going in all guns blazing demanding they cut the trees down but approach it calmly.

We have similar here; a neighbour 2 houses along has a row of leylandii along the edge of the property, they’re 50-60ft tall & place all of the gardens in our terrace into shade from dawn until around 11am.

Our neighbour is desperate for help to remove them & has tried to get help from the council (it’s a council house), but they say tenants are responsible for gardens, so they won’t offer any help. Even though they were already at that height when she moved in.

At a quote of around £20k remove them (20 trees at a grand a pop, and that quote was from 5 years ago) it’s simply unaffordable. Add the fact that any removal of trees needs planning permission (due to our town’s heritage status) and the costs that entails, the bloody leylandii are here to stay.

A lot of posters are misinformed.

We are in a similar position. The HA in our case accept the trees need to go but are doing nothing about it. We’ve waited over a year now and yet apparently the trees are “not a priority.” I spoke to the council but because it’s HA land, they say there’s nothing they can do. It’s infuriating. Meanwhile we have very little light.

Find out where the housing association office is based is and go and see them. Or telephone rather than email.

Once they have accepted they Leylandi need to go. Get the work done and send the invoice

Where are you located? That is a lot of work but we paid £475 for seven 14 foot trees to be removed and chipped, £20K does seem on the high side.

My understanding is that general maintenance is the tenants responsibility but major works that involve tree surgeons rests with the HA.

The tenant is elderly and vulnerable, so we have no traction there.

Happy to pay to have them chopped, just need permissions and access

Having worked for an HA for many years I would imagine that if you speak to the maintenance department of the HA, tell them you will pay and get it sorted they will happily give permission.

Ask the neighbours if you can get a tree surgeon in, at your expense.