Would you buy a house with a Yew Tree with a preservation order in the garden?

[Duckstar]

Looking to buy a new house. Seen a property we like. It has a large Yew Tree with a preservation order on. I wasn't too bothered by it, but speaking to friends today they mentioned Yew Trees are very poisonous. I have 2 small children - one a crawling baby who eats anything he can grab and therefore comments about poisonous berries are worrying. Mentioned to my DM who said she would never buy a property with a tree with a preservation order on. Any experiences of Yew Trees/preservation orders would be useful. Would it put you off buying a house?

I grew up with a Yew tree in the garden. I don't remember it ever being an issue. So no, it wouldn't put me off at all. You will have to keep an eye on the baby I guess, but I'm sure he wouldn't be crawling around on his own in in the garden.

Yes I would. Yew keeps the evil spirits away ;)

Btw, the "berry" is the only part of the plant that doesn't contain the toxin. Although the seed inside does .

Just don't let the children eat it :). Or horses, if you have any.

Preservation orders aren't something to worry about. You'll need permission to prune etc but a tree surgeon will do all that for you. Usually very straightforward. You can only chop it down with permission which is usually only given if it's seriously diseased.

What Peke says. You will need pp to do any work on it,but you don't have to pay for the pp application for trees. (Or didn't last time I enquired).

It would only concern me if the roots were damaging the house.

I wouldn't worry about the poison aspect. Many common garden plants are poisonous if eaten - daffodils, for example.

I wouldn't see it as a problem unless it was too close to the house with a root problem.

I would see it as a positive incentive towards buying the house, it must be a fabulous tree!

I wouldn't worry about the poisonous aspect of it, as others have said, lots of common plants are poisonous.

We have loads of yew trees and have never had a problem. There are tons of poisonous plants found in gardens. Foxgloves for example are commonly found in gardens.

We also have hundreds of trees with TPOs. You need planning permission to do any work to them but its free to make the application and is generally quite straight forward as long as you're sensible about what you want to do.

Our neighbours have a protected yew. It drops berries over the boundary. The only problem is the mess they make, although the pigeons in the tree make far more mess.

Id snap the house up, wouldn't put me off, unless you wanted to develop / extend. I'm sure it's a charming asset to the garden & wildlife

It would only bother me if it cast shade over the house or garden. I wouldn't be bothered if it was on a N or E boundary.

Oh and Daffodils are posionous too

I live in a house with a massive protected yew tree in the garden, so yes I would. I don't think you need to worry about the roots, yew trees a generally very old so any roots should be well settled. I remember hearing that the average yew tree in Britain is 2,000 years old.

In conservation areas ANY tree above a certain size automatically has a TPO on it. Not a big deal, just a bit of paperwork if/when they need pruning. I've had neighbours cut down trees with permission if they are diseased etc. It's not like having a listed house which can be seriously restrictive.

Babies grow up quickly and need supervising in the garden anyway regardless of what trees there are. I certainly wouldn't let it put me off buying a house.

Thanks for all your comments - very helpful. I'm one of life's worriers. We currently have only grass in our garden. We've got a second viewing this weekend so will go in open minded and not thinking the house is a death trap!

Our next door neighbours have one. It's glorious. We have a beautiful weeping willow though so not too jealous :) no TPO but we did have to have a structural survey done for our mortgage company to say the tree wasn't damaging the house. It wasn't. But the loft conversion was and the surveyor didn't notice. Arse.

I really dislike the berries that fall and go all slimy and squishy underneath, so no, I wouldn't want to buy it.

Saying that if the house is nice enough then it might be worth it

I would too as long as you are happy with the situation and health of the tree.

I have a massive Ash and a huge Oak in our (very big) garden, I applied to do some work on them (conservation area), application free. But, the tree officer didn't like my proposals and slapped preservation orders on them both.

Apparently, that is how they come about a lot of the time, the TP officer can't simply refuse a request, and/or isn't allowed to suggest an acceptable alternative so a TPO is dished out.

I would actually like to remove the Ash, belongs in a forest, not in my garden but there is currently no chance of that. I was told it was in rude health..... but that any damage caused by the limbs it tends to shed every now and then was my liability - fabulous.

I have two yew trees (massive) in the back garden and two small DC. It has never been an issue.

I have another Yew to the front and a horse chestnut with a TPO. Again no issues at all with any of it.