Neighbours tree trunk crossing boundary

[sheeplikessleep]

Our neighbour has a beech tree which is about twice the height of our house, it’s massive.

It doesn’t have a TPO on it. But the trunk is pushing against our fence and causing it to bow. Paving slabs are also being lifted (we moved in 3 years ago and looking to renovate our garden now and re landscape).

We’ve spoken to them and they don’t want to take it down. They’ve got someone in to remove the ivy but that’s it. The trunk leans into our garden about half way up.

I know we can trim anything that overhangs in our garden, but what if we did that and it would essentially cut the trunk in half?

I don’t want to cause friction, but I’d prefer a smaller tree that gives privacy and isn’t so overbearing. I’m not looking for advice on how to handle with them, I’m more looking for information on legal standpoint.

Thanks

That’s what I mean. It essentially means about a quarter of our garden we can’t renovate / grow under and just continue to see really old slabs being lifted?

But legally can they continue to grow a tree which I encroaching someone’s else land? (We aren’t in conservation area, no TPO on it).

It’s my understanding that if the neighbour’s tree is causing damage to your paving or other aspects of your garden, they may be liable for the cost of making it good, at least for damage that happens after they’ve been notified their tree is causing problems. However, it would be a very expensive route to go down and you would need more specialist advice than a random MNer. If you have free legal advice with your home insurance they may be able to tell you more though I doubt it will be what you really want to hear.

But generally, however unfair you find it, legally trees are allowed to grow in gardens in the UK and there is little neighbours can do to insist the owner addresses any negative impacts. It’s better to try and focus on the positive aspects of having a nice tree around and try and let the annoyances go.

If you get on OK with your neighbours perhaps you could get a tree surgeon round and get a good professional opinion on what can be done to keep the tree whilst also keeping it in check. Also maybe a tree surgeon would have useful info on the legalities for both you and your neighbours.

I would imagine that your neighbours would be more amenable to ideas if they are involved.

I also imagine that if you somehow manage to legally get them to cut it down / remove all of it from your plot that you will irreversiblly damage your relationship with them (and probably the tree and immediate environment to boot).

You bought the house knowing it was there. It can't have grown much in the interim as beeches grow quite slowly. They do get very big though so there may need to be a plan in place for the future - perhaps something else to discuss with a tree surgeon.

As much as we do need trees, I'm surrounded by them myself but it's a shame a bit of research isn't done beforehand when tree planting, some trees just aren't suitable when fully grown for the surroundings they're planted in.

We moved to this property 3 years ago and the growth in that time on 3 Oak trees, which were quite small in trunk size then, will have the fence pushed over in a few years.

Husband seems to think they'll be fine but I'm not willing to chance having to lob them down and would like to move them come autumn time.

There is a good knowledgeable forum called "The garden law forum" that could possibly serve you better for answers.

sometimes trees are not planted but seedlings 'just' grow where a bird or the wind has taken the seed.

just live with the tree. trees are important carbon stores.
maybe ask (and pay!) for a tree suregon visit. lifting the crown and managing paving is possible.

Thankyou that’s super helpful. I shall have a look. I need to find alternatives that I can suggest as a solution to plant which grow to a more manageable height and I’m happy to fund it so the trees suit the size of what is essentially a back to back housing estate from the 60s … big plot sizes but I’m not on the edge of rural fields.

All I can say is nature doesn't do boundaries

It’s not the crown that bothers me so much, the trunk is pushing our fence and it is now very bowed and looks rubbish. And it’s lifting old paving slabs underneath.

True! Honestly we are surrounded by trees and we get hedgehogs etc in our garden, it’s so green out there. It’s the fact it is pushing on the fence that bothers me that I just wish it was smaller and not pushing down the fence!

Your fence panels can go up to either side of the tree trunk without losing any of your plot.
How about redesigning your landscaping plans to include and highlight your amazing mature beech? I.e. fewer paving slabs or none, path goes in different direction, moss and water feature, shade plants etc.
Please don’t press to have the beech cut down, you could find another house to move to with the ever popular low maintenance empty back garden instead.

This.

Just fence around it,

Who cares if you lose a few inches of 'your' land. The tree has more need of it than you,

I agree with you OP. Trees are lovely, and important for the environment, but the there should be more emphasis on property owners to ensure that the trees that grow in their property are suited to the plot and take more responsibility for maintenance.
We’re in an area of terraced houses with small gardens. A neighbour has a tree that casts heavy shade on our garden through the summer - there’s no incentive for them to trim it as it doesn’t cast any shade on theirs. It wasn’t visible to us when we bought the house so we didn’t know it was there. Like many of the gardens around us, ours has a fruit tree that needs minimum maintenance to stay a reasonable size, and still provides for wildlife. But the bigger tree growing over it could kill it. The big tree is growing 1 m away from the wall of another house and I wonder what it is doing to their foundations.
Anyway OP, whatever you do, don’t build a fence round it, as you’ll find in a few years the other side laying claim to that land. Build the fence up to either side of the tree, and make a flexible marker if necessary that can be moved as the tree grows (like wire & metal posts rather than wooden fence panels)

Thankyou, that’s helpful. I think the beech has just been left to grow and grow and grow. Why it wasn’t planted further in rather than right next to an adjoining fence is crazy. Or even planted somewhere other than the bottom of someone’s garden. I love trees and plants and doing my damndest to keep ours as green as it is, but it is just too big for the space.

I agree.

It should be illegal to remove trees purely for aesthetics.
Wildlife should have priority.

I’d rather have a lovely mature tree and work around it.

It isn’t about aesthetics or making landscaping easier. It’s about not knocking over the fence and lifting up paving slabs.

Not sure this is true. If you buy a huge tree and stick it right on the boundary?

You can ask your LA to look into it for you, costs a couple of hundred.

You could rebuild the fence round it and cut/re-position the paving slabs to accommodate it.

It is aesthetics.

Well that’s above and beyond isn’t it. £££££

It's a huge amount cheaper than legal costs and tree removal

So reduce my garden size which neighbour gains?

It's about damage done to your property and land now and future damage.

The neighbours whether it's the current people or people before them have not curtailed the trees growth to curtail it so that it is not a nuisance to the neighbouring property.

The tree huggers don't have to live next door to it. Besides, they can always plant a young beech in its place in a more suitable place.

I'd get legal advice as the tree is spoiling the enjoyment of your property.

Trees are the lungs of the earth. We need them. Cut your fence around the trunk and enjoy the shade and clean air.

Numerous people have suggested that you use an alternative to a solid row of paving slabs and fence either side of the trunk but you appear to be ignoring any other suggestion because you’re fixated on removing the tree.

If you keep working against nature rather than with it, all that will happen is that you’ll keep buying new paving slabs. It’s perfectly possible to landscape around a tree.