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Property/DIY

Want to remove trees on our boundary line and afraid of neighbour dispute

37 replies

makemineabacardi · 26/04/2013 15:29

I'll try to explain this as best I can. We have a large rear garden (about 130ft) which is very narrow, and at the end by our house is a row of horrible conifers, about 8 in total, that were planted too close together by previous owners, they are about 6-7ft in height and the row is about 30ft in length or so. Most of the growth is totally dead on our side due to lack of light and over enthusiastic cutting by the previous owners.

Due to their location the conifers block out the majority of light to the patio section of our garden and because they're quite wide, take up space widthwise too, so after a lot of thought I'm planning to get them cut down, and replaced possibly with a fence.

The conifers do not form the boundary with our neighbours, the boundary is made by a chainlink fence which lies behind the trunks of the trees. The trunks of the conifers themselves grow solely on our side.

However - our neighbours, who we have a 'live and let live' relationship with are very fond of the fact that these conifers give them almost total privacy (they have no neighbours on their other side). The conifers don't take up much of their space so from their point of view (if I were them) I'd be annoyed if they were taken down. I havn't discussed my plan with them and to be honest I'm afraid to as I'm expecting them to get the hump.

My husband won't go to talk to them (he's better at these things than I am) and thinks we might upset them unnecessarily by taking the conifers down. On the other hand, I hate having these half-dead trees taking up space and light in our garden when they belong to us and we have the power to remove them.

I'm rambling, but any advice?

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lljkk · 27/04/2013 09:18

Oh, and poplars, if you want fast growing deciduous trees. We put holly in our hedge, too, at lower levels.

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georgedawes · 27/04/2013 09:29

Let's hope the OP's neighbour isn't like surviving! For what it's worth surviving, we really don't need to visualise it. They were your neighbours trees and they really can do what they want with them.

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DENMAN03 · 27/04/2013 22:35

They may actually be pleased once its done. When I moved into my house I had a massive magnolia tree which basically took up the whole garden. I mentioned to my neighbour I planned to take it down and I had a look of horror and the tale of how it had been there 70 years! Well sorry but you try and live with it!! Anyway, I had it taken down and now she tells me how much she likes the fact that her garden is now sunny.

Dont let your neighbours dictate your life. If they want trees then let them plant their own!

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KindleMum · 28/04/2013 10:14

We bit the bullet and told our new neighbours yesterday that we will be taking down our conifer. They said they were sorry about it, but that they appreciated that it was our decision to make and that they understood our concerns about its proximity to the house and the effect on insurance premiums etc. They even said that they will allow the tree fellers access to their side of the wall if they're given notice. They couldn't have been nicer about really, despite the fact that they'd prefer the tree to stay.

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lljkk · 28/04/2013 10:47

Good to hear; MN sometimes makes you false expect the worst of people.

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makemineabacardi · 28/04/2013 20:25

Good to hear it went ok with our neighbours Kindle

I havn't yet approached ours and won't do for the time being - I'm actually struggling to get anyone out to quote me for removing the conifers (2 non-attendee tree surgeons in the past few days!) . It does bother me that the neighbours may 'hate' us for removing them, due to the direction of our gardens (north-facing) the neighbours won't get any more light than they do now and like I say, I they will probably have a bit less privacy.

But I'm resolved now to get it done. DD (who is 2) fell over in the garden today and caught herself on the lower branches of the conifers - those things are surprisingly sharp!

Now if only I can get someone in the quote me for the work...

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makemineabacardi · 28/04/2013 20:26

*to, no the. Doh.

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IdesOfMarch · 30/04/2013 15:47

Bacardi - I found a great tree surgeon/tree felling company (which we then used to get rid of our ghastly conifers) via the RHS website. The compnay was extremely reliable and highly professional, and their quote was extraordinarily reasonable.

I only got one quote as a colleague at work had recently got seven (!) quotes for similar work; our quote was about 30% less than his cheapest, so I was very happy with them. I'd certainly use an RHS-approved company in future, having done this.

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makemineabacardi · 09/07/2013 13:48

A very very late update on this - conifers are now gone! Had a new patio put in and a replacement fence where the conifers used to be, which was finished last week. I'm very happy, garden is wider, brighter and nicer

Neighbours oth are not happy and are now not speaking to us. Not entirely sure why as the builders did a grand job but it might have something to do with the fact that there was a week or so between the conifers coming down and the fence going up, which co-incided with female neighbour's birthday - prevented her from having one of her large and extravagent parties I think. Either way I no longer care

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MummytoMog · 09/07/2013 15:18

I'd have been a bit narked off about the fence being down for a week, but then our fence was down for two weeks, and I spent the whole of it chasing my toddlers and chickens out of next door's garden....

Loathe conifers though, I've asked our neighbours repeatedly if I can take the ones in the middle of our frontage down (it's a semi) and keep getting brushed off. They're exactly as you describe, brown, manky, block the light into our front windows etc etc. I've offered to replace them with a fence/hedge of their choice but never get a straight answer.

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makemineabacardi · 09/07/2013 15:36

Well the boundary fence itself was still there - but it's chainlink and 4ft high so doesn't give the same privacy. Couldn't have been done any quicker really.

Shame about your neighbour's conifers though - who owns them?

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AmurLeopard · 02/10/2013 09:09

I'd just like to ask 'Survivingspring' how you can say that you hate your neighbours (a bit strong!) and that they have been selfish for something that they have done to their own property? The trees are theirs, and if you want tall trees to add privacy your property you could plant some yourself. Trees can cost a lot to maintain, especially ones like leylandii that are meant to be cut two or three times a year. Perhaps they couldn't afford to keep doing this. Try putting yourself in their shoes. It's actually quite selfish of you to expect your neighbours to keep trees they don't want and pay for their upkeep rather than put some in on your own side. It would be a shame to ruin your relationship with your neighbours because of something they felt they wanted / needed to do with their own trees that you were unhappy with.