Help tree roots found and no idea what to do.

[GardenerIamNot]

Im a clueless first time buyer. Bought a new build 3.5 years ago from big chain house builder. I don’t have a guide on what’s included in my warranty. I’ve had quite a few issues with the house since moving in some things seem to be covered some not.

Returned off holiday yesterday so decided to cut the grass (last cut 3 weeks ago) and dig out the weeds in my absolutely awful lawn that housebuilder provided.

I noticed what I thought was weeds are actually trees sprouting with roots coming from the garden behind mine. House behind mine is very old with absolutely massive mature trees. They are sprouting a good 6 metres into my garden and are actually only a few meters away from my house. There are 9 small trees in total that have sprouted up in the last 3 weeks since cutting the lawn. I did notice last time my lawn was getting quite sparse in areas and the soil was cracking so I put down some grass seed and gave it a good water. None of the new seed has taken but roots have appeared throughthecracked soil.

The owner of the house the trees belong to is a very elderly lady who has carers coming in every day.

Who do I contact about this? Is this now my issue rather than the neighbour who owns the massive trees?

I have absolutely no idea what to do.

I'm not really sure what you're saying? Have you found nine saplings? If so just cut them down or dig them out. It's fine,

Or have you found shallow roots from thr main trees?

To give a clue, if it's saplings, they are very common, I'm constantly having to remove chestnut and ash tree saplings from my garden. The seeds basically germinate and trees grow. They shoot up.

If it's roots that's different but as the trees are mature it's unlikely they will spread further.

Are they roots or self seeded saplings? Post a pic to id them. Ash and sycamore can be particularly prone to self seed. You can easily dig them out while small or just keep mowing them down.

I will add pictures. 1st picture is before cutting grass. 2nd picture is the root that was left after cutting.

Your neighbours tree roots are trespassing on your property, so you are entitled to chop them off at the boundary. If you dig them up, you need to offer them back to your neighbour as they are her property. You can also do the same with any branches that intrude over your fence from next door.
Get the axe out!

Don't get the axe put op, that's ludicrous, it will kill the trees, and they will damage property when they come down,

These are shallow rooted trees, that's why you can see them,,,but the roots are not close to your property? As long as they are not endangering the property, then other than the sight of them you have no issue here.

It might sound ludicrous to you bluntness, but it is what the law allows you to do. Have a look at the garden law site.

The law might allow you to do it, but it will kill the trees, and the trees may cause damage, even injury or death when they come down, depending on what they hit, they may hit that old ladies house and literally cause her death.

So yes it's ludicrous to kill large mature trees with no thought as to the consequences of where they will come down.

Try hard to think this through. Like really hard, reach deep.

Ffs.

I’m not sure the law does allow you to go hacking at tree roots, especially large established trees which may have a TPO on them. Trees become unstable and dangerous if you hack at their roots. It sounds like a bad idea

We love on a tree lined street. One of our neighbours had a nightmare with one of the trees in the street as its roots had spread right under their front garden and were undermining their foundations. Their house insurance sorted it all out for them - paid to dig up their front driveway and garden, installed a root barrier thing (not sure of the correct term) and then sorted garden and driveway again, as well as repairing damage to foundations. I'd get a professional in to have a look so you know what you're dealing with. Contact house insurance provider and they may have an approved contractor they can send out?

*live on! (Though we do love it too)

Thanks for the responses.

These shallow roots that have popped up, 2 in particular are very close to the house. I did get the trowel out and uncovered one and it’s does run under my patio how far I don’t know. Patio is directly in front of house so I am concerned.

I really don’t want to go digging up these roots myself as the tree is absolutely huge, taller than my house. My garden is small front to back If it were to fall this way it could cause a lot of damage.

The house ours backs onto has a huge amount of land with many trees. 12 new build houses back onto it in a L shape. I’m going to see if any other property’s have the same issues as us. I do know the house developer recently took down some trees a few houses up on old ladies side.

The root barrier system sounds good, I would be all for that as I really don’t want the trees to be chopped down. I love seeing all the wildlife in it.

I have contacted house builder, not holding out much hope. Will give my insurance company a call.

Firstly the house will have very deep foundations if it's a new build, and if the trees are the type to take water from deep down, the foundations will be even deeper, as they predate the house. So don't worry about the house. Only very old houses with no foundations would have to worry about tree roots.
Secondly regarding root trespass, yes you have the right to remove a trespass, but if you damage the trees as a whole in the process then you would be liable for that. So if you kill the tree purely from your side you'd be in as much trouble as if you killed their tree by any other means.
Your council would have a tree expert, so if you are concerned they will help out. However due to trees being relatively lacking in urban areas and what with diversity and heat/water issues they would want to protect trees where realistic.

We had exactly this problem. Our insurance company sorted it out.
It is very important to get an expert to inspect the roots and your property.
In our case, the neighbours tree roots had damaged our ( very old) foundations and a lot of work was needed.

Interesting what @endofthelinefinally said about the insurance company sorting it out. I would have thought they would only do it if the roots are causing subsidence.

In some ways you have been lucky in that you now know about it. These are clearly tree roots and whilst they are from mature and presumably delightful trees, they are now within your boundary and have every potential to keep going until they hit your foundations. Even without reaching the foundations, they can (depending in the soil) dry it out and cause heaven which in turn can cause cracks on your house structure.

Sadly I think you will need some professional advice. They will need to establish how far the roots are inside your property, and it may be they are not likely to transgress further. However, if they are likely to then you will need to decide what to do. If the house owner with the trees agrees they may reduce the tree size but this isn't easy as pollarded trees look awful and tend to start being susceptible to disease. Professional tree surgeons tend to thin trees that chop them in size

Good luck. I don't think the house warranty will be of any use, or the house insurance

Hope it isn't a poplar - they shouldn't be within 70 ft of house (RHS advice) they grow lots of little poplars & spread like bamboo & grow up to 30ft a year - tree barriers aren't cheap & different types are more/less effective than others

Again thank you so much for the responses.

I’ve looked on our council website and there is a tree specialist from the council, I’ve contacted him to ask some advice.

I’ve spoken to the property owners who had the trees removed from behind their garden and that was actually a boundary issue and nothing to do with the trees themselves.

I’ve had a walk around the area today and can see some houses that also back onto the same house have far larger trees behind their houses than me. They all appear to be the same trees.

I’m going to add a picture, can anyone ID it for me?

@GardenerIamNot : from your first pic yesterday, it looks like a Beech tree to me.

Firstly the house will have very deep foundations if it's a new build

Huh? How so?

Even without reaching the foundations, they can (depending in the soil) dry it out and cause heaven which in turn can cause cracks on your house structure.

It can also do the opposite when removed. The water remains in the land, causing it to swell and also displacing rhe property..

Op, you're doing the right thing getting professional advice. Mature trees and their roots aren't something to be messed with.

"sackrifice

Firstly the house will have very deep foundations if it's a new build

Huh? How so?"
That's just modern building regulations. Unless built on rock, the foundations must go down to stable ground that won't move over time.
In normal clay soil with no trees around that would be a metre as standard, but if nearby trees were likely to cause an issue the foundations would simply go deeper and could even be piled foundation several metres deep in extreme cases.
Basically the foundation depth is determined by the surrounding conditions, rather than the old way of digging a shallow trench and then starting to build!
In any case, all the OP needs to know is the house will be designed to handle the trees as it was built recently and the trees were already there.
Hope that helps.

That's just modern building regulations. Unless built on rock, the foundations must go down to stable ground that won't move over time.

I know, you said very deep, not 'as deep as they need to be'. If this was the case, there would be no subsidence right?

In normal clay soil with no trees around that would be a metre as standard, but if nearby trees were likely to cause an issue the foundations would simply go deeper and could even be piled foundation several metres deep in extreme cases.

A metre isn't 'very deep'.

Basically the foundation depth is determined by the surrounding conditions, rather than the old way of digging a shallow trench and then starting to build!

I know, I was a civil engineer for most of my career. I used to design piled foundations.

In any case, all the OP needs to know is the house will be designed to handle the trees as it was built recently and the trees were already there.

Perhaps you should refrain from saying that the foundations must be 'very deep' then. If all new houses were built with 'very deep' foundations, then there would not be the issues that new housing has with flood plains etc. You can't say that all houses have very deep foundations, everyone in the industry knows that new houses are not built to anywhere near the standard of old houses.

Hope that helps. Obviously you think you know what you are talking about, but that is not the case.

I'm sorry, i was helping the original poster not trying to satisfy a nostalgic engineer with a chip on their shoulder.
If you're the biggest expert on the thread then feel free to provide some constructive help to the original poster, and you might teach us all something useful

Just popping back to say that our house was cracking and moving, that is why we had to get our insurers involved. This may well not be the case for the OP.

I'm sorry, i was helping the original poster not trying to satisfy a nostalgic engineer with a chip on their shoulder.

No you made a completely unsubstantiated statement that is complete bollocks. How would it 'help' the OP if it was found that she didn't in fact have 'deep foundations' like the man on the internet said?