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Original poster

Huge tree in neighbours garden putting our garden in shade

119 replies

LillyLeaf · 30/05/2021 15:55

Just wandering people's thoughts on this. We recently moved and have a lovely garden which is mostly in shade from about 1pm onwards due to the neighbours enormous tree that is right next to our wall, if it wasn't so big we would have sun for the rest of the day. The tree overhangs our garden a lot which doesn't help either. I'm all for trees in the garden but this one is massive, bigger than a house. I'm hoping to grow fruit and veg next year but not sure I can with it being so shaded. We had big trees in our previous garden that we got a tree surgeon to prune so they never got too big.

My question is would it be rude to ask them to cut it back a bit (quite a bit actually) or even pay halves for a tree surgeon. Is this rude? They are not next door neighbours but their garden is at the end of ours.

What would you do?

OP posts:
LIZS · 30/05/2021 17:42

You are probably too late for this summer now and it may be subject to a tpo or in a conservation area which requires pp. we have neighbours who complain about one of our trees overshadowing a gazebo and wanting it felled, but they chose the site for it knowing it was there! Why not ask how often the tree is maintained, maybe it is die a prune, and go from there.

EastWestWhosBest · 30/05/2021 17:47

@VanillaSpiceCandle

I’m all for trees and really love the magnolia next door. However the garden behind us has an enormous, out of control ash which isn’t pruned, shaped or cared for which throws the back patio into shade when it should be sunny also dropping so many leaves it affects my plants in the border. I imagine all the posters who are saying the tree was there first and how offended they’d be have made sure their trees don’t affect the sunlight in their gardens. Just ruins it for their neighbours. Trees are important and should be shaped and looked after not left to grow into a massive mess.
My garden is completely shaded by the trees in my garden. I knew that was the case when I bought the house.
Georgyporky · 30/05/2021 17:51

If you removed the overhang, would the rest of the tree still leave your garden in shadow?

EastWestWhosBest · 30/05/2021 17:54

My garden. It’s full of trees and there is much shade.

It doesn’t make it impossible to grow anything, ugly or gloomy.

OldTinHat · 30/05/2021 17:58

This is exactly the problem I have OP. Massive tree (a bastardy leylandii) and spreads halfway across my garden and is taller than the three storey block of flats at the back of me. I've cut it back as far as I can and I'm actually now very cross because I splashed out £90 last year on an electric hedge cutter thing and said neighbour asked to borrow it and I cheerfully let him! I wouldn't have spent £90 if it wasn't for his feckin' tree! I wish I'd not realised this! I've been told copper nails are a solution - but make sure there isn't a TPO on it...

Harrison234 · 30/05/2021 18:00

Think instead of all the nasties that trees absorb and all the nice oxygen they give out in return. They are natural air scrubbers. Cutting mature trees down should be a criminal offence unless it's a danger to body and buildings. For a few carrots? Nah.

Viggohytten · 30/05/2021 18:02

I have sympathy for you, but our lives are short. The tree could live for generations. You knew the tree was there 🤷‍♀️

Huge tree in neighbours garden putting our garden in shade
greyinganddecaying · 30/05/2021 18:11

I feel your pain OP. My otherwise lovely neighbours have a row of leylandii (?) trees which were only 7ft when I moved in, but are now 12+ft, really blocking the evening sun.

I don't actually want them gone completely, but I'd like them shortening

sagegreentree · 30/05/2021 18:26

We did have a massive leylandi in our garden that was there when we moved in. Twice the height of the house.

A couple of years in the back neighbour asked if we would consider chopping it down as it made their soil shit and blocked their light.

They offered to pay half so down it went.

It was a shame but I also felt much safer without it there as it creaked badly in the wind.

We replaced it with a couple of acers.

Ask politely and offer to pay half. If you're not offering to pay I wouldn't ask!

prsphne · 30/05/2021 18:49

We had similar in our garden, we paid the full cost and neighbour was happy. We could tell that the tree had been pollarded before so we figured they would be amenable to it.

It would have been fine if they’d said no and we would have lived with it.

Purplewithred · 30/05/2021 18:57

I had the opposite problem - neighbour has a beautiful acer on our border; lovely natural shape, a bit more than half of the canopy is on his side the rest on mine. Last year he had his side trimmed to an umbrella shape. In my view this is an abomination on a whole acer, but now my side is the natural shape and his is an overgrown curve. I gritted my teeth and said when he got his done again this spring I'd do mine too, but he hasn't done his (and his garden is badly neglected). Infuriating.

Original poster
LillyLeaf · 30/05/2021 20:15

Wow, thanks for the comments. I think some people have made some huge assumptions about me being a tree hating, tree massacring wildlife killer. I’m not.

Yes obviously the tree was there when we viewed the house in November when it was completely bare and we didn’t quite apricate how the over hang would cast so much shade. The neighbours garden has several huge trees which actually were a selling point for us as it looks like a forest at the end of our garden. We knew we would get some shade from these trees in the afternoon/evening but also some sun popping between, which is fine. This tree closest to us seems to cast most of the shade from much earlier in the day.

I never said anything about wanting the tree cut down and I’m not about to start hacking at the branches. I also wouldn’t want to cut it back to be level with the wall because that would be nearly half the tree as the trunk is right next to the wall. It just needs a bit of a prune and opening up to let through some light. I was thinking maybe even a tenth of the branches cut back would help. Obviously, I wouldn’t want to disturb any wildlife or nests.

I am wondering if most if not all their trees have a preservation order as they are so huge. I probably won’t ask them, was just wondering that other people thought or experienced.

OP posts:
NewHouseNewMe · 30/05/2021 20:32

I am wondering if most if not all their trees have a preservation order as they are so huge.
The easiest (but not foolproof) way to find out is to search historic planning applications for the house. Someone will have attempted to prune it in the past 40 years and it'll show up if there's a TPO.

Chumleymouse · 30/05/2021 21:02

There no harm in going round and asking his views on your problem ?

You never know he might want them reduced a bit but maybe can’t afford it ? If you don’t ask you’ll never know.

When we bought our current house, the first thing one of the neighbours said to me was could we cut the big cedar down, it was about 4 meters from their house and twice as tall as it. It didn’t annoy me in the slightest as it was way too big for were it was, she offered to pay half.

hilarymantlepiece · 30/05/2021 21:05

Ask? They may say no (as I would because I love my trees).
Offering to pay may help?

Bluntness100 · 30/05/2021 21:09

@NewHouseNewMe

I am wondering if most if not all their trees have a preservation order as they are so huge. The easiest (but not foolproof) way to find out is to search historic planning applications for the house. Someone will have attempted to prune it in the past 40 years and it'll show up if there's a TPO.
No it’s not, nearly all councils keep a directory of tpos. They are publicly listed.
Bluntness100 · 30/05/2021 21:11

Op I’ve many trees. If one was causing a neighbour a problem and wanted it pruned back I’d likely be ok with this. However I’d not be ok if you wanted me to pay anything towards it, becayse ultimately if I had wanted it pruned I’d have done it myself. As I haven’t, you can assume I’ve no issue with it, so I’d expect you to pay the full cost if the pruning was solely for your benefit.

When we habe requested rhe same of neighbours we have always offered to pay the full cost.

Bigpaintinglittlepainting · 30/05/2021 21:15

I would ask for it to be thinned as the trunk is on your boundary. I would be prepared to pay for it. But wait until winter as that is the when the job needs doing.

It’s actually better to keep on top of pruning a massive tree, nothing wrong with pruning it at all and anyone who is really into them would expect to do it.

Mojoj · 30/05/2021 21:16

Just cut back the overhang into your garden. I'm all for nature but no-one wants their whole garden shaded.

LIZS · 30/05/2021 21:44

The council website may indicate which trees have a tpo.

goingtotown · 30/05/2021 23:35

No harm in asking the neighbour they may be happy to pay half. A tree surgeon will cost ££££££££’s

Emmelina · 31/05/2021 00:39

One of ours is overgrown. We’re very happy to get it cut back, but the tree surgeon won’t touch it at the moment because there’s a nest in there and it’s not legal to disturb nesting birds. I’m not sure if it’s still occupied, he’s coming out to check again for us in a couple of weeks!

UrbanRambler · 31/05/2021 02:33

‘Tree hugger types’. Really.
Sorry but the 90s called and wants you back. What a horrid attitude to people who care about the environment.

@EastWestWhosBest I was not suggesting the tree should be cut down. Large trees in a park - no problem. Large trees in small suburban gardens - problematic. The problem is that some tree huggers treat every tree as a sacred life form, regardless of problems caused by overgrown trees in the wrong setting.

UrbanRambler · 31/05/2021 03:19

OP: "Wow, thanks for the comments. I think some people have made some huge assumptions about me being a tree hating, tree massacring wildlife killer. I’m not."

@LillyLeaf Me neither, but unless people have been in a similar position, they often don't understand how badly an overgrown tree can affect someone's enjoyment of their own garden. It's ludicrous the way some people imply that because the tree was there first, it should be left to grow unchecked, as though all trees are sacred. Those are the types I think of as "tree huggers".

Sunflowergirl1 · 31/05/2021 05:33

Once you start pruning trees you weaken them. Ideally they should only be thinned out. If you cut them back then it risks introducing disease. That is what has happened to one of our trees which we had pruned every few years, the disease took hold but then we couldn't let it grow to full size due to proximity to the house