Neighbour planted tree close to the house

[Ohnoohnoohnonononono]

My dad’s neighbour has planted a young silver birch tree close to the corner of his house. My dad is concerned that this tree is going to grow really big (Google says up to 30m!) and will:

1. Potentially affect the foundations of the house
2. Almost certainly increase his insurance premiums as he has just found out he has to declare it
3. Block out the light to the back of the house/garden

He hasn’t yet spoken to the neighbour about it but will. Does anyone here have any advice or experience please?

A silver birch won't affect the foundations of a house as they're shallow rooting. I have one that's around 15m and it's slender with a relatively sparse crown. It doesn't move in the wind and hasn't caused any problems, but mine doesn't have any creepers around the trunk.

Your dad can't make the neighbours do anything and starting a legal dispute would mean he has to declare that if the house was sold

There's a massive silver birch at the end of my garden (not on my property though, small wooded area). It is huge, sways around a lot and there's a few branches that look like they're on the verge of snapping and breaking off onto my shed. I reckon the tree is many, many years old though and I'm sure 5 years ago it didn't look as close to breaking as it does now

@SatsumasOrClementines your insurance wouldn't be invalidated but it might cost another £15 a year in premiums. Honestly the misinformation on this thread

@StylishMummy I was thinking more of “if I didn’t update the insurance company that there was a tree there/when it reached 5m.”

But, I seem to have missed the beginning off my post, so I see the confusion!

Sometimes people plant things and they have no idea how large they will grow. When we bought our house, we dug a whole load of Leylandeii (excuse spelling) out of our garden. We are convinced the people before us had no clue as to how big these things got. Another neighbour also planted Leylandii thinking they would only grow to the size of a hedge, it didn't. They did get it removed. Fortunately no one else round here has many trees and what there are does not seem to be a problem. I think if your dad is concerned you do need to speak to the neighbours, but try and keep it as polite as possible. I knew nothing about silver birch, so this thread has been interesting.

Thanks everyone. I’m sending him the link to this thread.

Shallow rooted trees like Silver Birch develop an extensive root system that seek out water wherever they can and can cause problems with drainage systems, ingress into pipes etc.

Also, if the land is predominantly clay (particularly in the SE) you could have issues with soil desiccation and settlement as the tree is very close. The general rule of thumb is to plant trees as far away from property as its maximum predicted height to prevent any problems.

I would use the advice on this site.

backyardables.com/how-to-kill-a-tree-without-anyone-knowing/

Silver birches are lovely. They're pretty, they attract wildlife, they don't cast much shade and give a nice dappled sunshine effect.
We had one in our front garden, probably 10ft from the front of the house. Was taller than the house and a truly beautiful sight. Never caused any problems. It's easy enough to just keep a check on its health. And not allowing things like ivy to choke it to death helps!

I have 10 silver birch. Next door both sides also have about the same. They are about 30m tall and form woodland at the ends of our gardens. They are lovely trees as they don’t completely shade the garden. The leaves are small and light and just blow away in the autumn. Would never ever consider them to be a nuisance or damage causing!

Meemaw is correct I used to do this stuff for insurers.

It wil have to be very carefully managed if it stays in. This is easy enough if the try is kept small. There are species of dwarf betula so it's worth asking if this is what's been planted as these won't cause an issue as they are limited in their height and spread like a native traditional silver birch would.

Along with incredibly noisy neighbours (I've been on another thread about this) we also have this problem with a neighbours tree too. It is stressing me out as the neighbours before them refused to do anything about it and these neighbours don't appear to have any intention of doing any garden or house maintenance at all. Honestly, I can't believe how unlucky we seem to be. This is a nice area with lots of trees and the rest of the neighbours have them cut back routinely but the owners of this tree don't do a thing. We honestly didn't think we would ever move but living here is just getting too difficult.

Meant to say OP, it would be best if your dad raised his concerns now, while the tree is young. It does look close to his house. Maybe he could ask a tree expert for advice. These types of situations cause a lot of stress and worry. I hope he is able to get this sorted.