Cost of fighting tree problem

[strawberry12345]

Hi

I have been chasing a housing association to cut down a tree that is inches away from my property (on the other side of a wall) for four years. It is severely encroaching on my property.

Over this time they have agreed to have it removed but it never happens and I need to take legal advice as to how to get them to remove it.

does anyone have any idea of how much this will cost please? Photo attached.

TIA

They aren't legally required to cut down the tree unless it's causing damage to her property.

@MoistVonL @YYURYYUCICYYUR4ME @PrincessofWells @minnienono
thank you all so much
i will write to my local MP and Housing Omani hadn’t thought of that. Brilliant suggestions thanks so much

My MP is Corbyn who has a reputation for being responsive on local issues

Mumsnet at its finest - I have next steps at least 🙏

Have you thought about getting a roofer up there to see if the tree is causing any damage - lifting tiles, blocking the gutter etc?

Ombudsman not Omani not sure where that came from! @MooseBeTimeForSnow great idea thank you

We had a similar problem. I bought an electric chain saw for about £120. I simply cut off every branch that was close to me house and returned them all to the owner of the tree I mean I threw them back to their side of the fence Problem solved in a few hours

You can't cut the tree down. You can cut down what's overhanging now there is no tpo.

And the neighbour would be quite entitled to throw them straight back. Fly tipping is an offence.

I understand that it is legal to cut off any branches that overhang the boundary into my land but the branches still belong to the person who owns the land the tree is on. That is why I suggested returning them. Obviously if the owner does not want them I'd take them to my local recycling centre

You offer the offcuts back to the owner, they don't have to accept them.
Just throwing them over the fence is fly tipping.

I would give them one last chance saying you can’t afford to get it done professionally so if you have to do it yourself it will be a mess and the tree may suffer unnecessarily.

if you do it yourself then throw the branches back over the fence. I would not care in the slightest that it is fly tipping if you have been asking them for years!

just reply to their complaints and say “oh yes I’m planning clear up the mess, I know you are not worried about the timetable as it took you x years to sort out the TPO and x years have elapsed since then. So I expect you won’t be worrying about a few branches sitting there for a few years will you? As that would be totally illogical.”

I have this too from a neighbour's garden. They refuse to pay for it which enrages me. They have several very large beech trees which massively overhang our garden and create shade and moss. What is the legal situation ? They are happy for us to pay to have them cut but will not do it themselves.

It isn't fly tipping to put them back over the fence. It is perfectly legal. The branches belong to the owner of the trees so let them deal with it.

The legal position is that they don't have tocut them back unless they are causing damage to your property. You can cut them back to your boundary and you have to offer them the branches back. It is fly tipping to chuck them over tge fence and they can take action against you if you do - they will win. You also can't do any damage legally to their trees - and if you do there's a risk you'll destabilise the tree which could come down and damage your property and theirs, and you'd be responsible for that.

Not true. You have to offer them back, they can refuse. You can't just lob them back over into their garden https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/types/trees/the-law
compassgm.co.uk/can-i-throw-neighbours-tree-branches-back-in-their-garden/

So not only do I have to pay to have the branches lopped I also have to pay to dispose of them. Great.

No you do not dispose of them, you have to give them back to the owner.

Have a bonfire, or if they are substantial advertise them on FB as free firewood.

No, you have to offer them back. They don't have to take them.

Before you do anything to the tree, I would double check with the Council that the TPO has been removed.

It's very unusual for a TPO to be removed - usually only if the tree is in a poor state of health. Even then the requirement is usually to replace with a new tree which would also be TPOd.
There are massive fines for carrying out unauthorised works to TPO trees.

I looked into this and you can only make a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman if you are a tenant…

Be careful if it is felled.
There is a risk of 'heave'.

This. Why don't you just maintain the tree so it doesn't encroach on your house?

You have to offer them back because, as you say, they are their property. But if they refuse them, then it is up to you to dispose of them. You can't just dump them on the neighbour's property.

I have been very worried about his but two of my neighbours had their identical nuisance trees part of the same row, felled and no heave issues resulted

Because it will be very costly and ideally it needs to be cut down which I can’t just do as it doesn’t belong to me