Our trees blocking neighbour's light

[Toastoftheton]

Interested in hearing people’s thoughts on this, I really want to do what’s right. We’ve just taken on an old family property. It’s the kind of place that looks really nice from the outside, it’s over 250 years old with a big and beautiful garden but needs lots of tlc (and cold hard cash) to be liveable and I’m on maternity.

Next door to us is a block of flats built maybe 20 years ago. In between us and the flats is a small private road that leads to parking for a different development. While I was away a neighbour from the flats came to the door and spoke to my sister who was housesitting. She asked if we ever cut back our trees as they are blocking light to her garden. My sister said she sympathised, but she didn’t own the property so couldn’t answer. Apparently, the neighbour stated something about going to the council, but she was perfectly pleasant, polite and reasonable.

The trees in question pre-date the flats. When the developer applied for planning permission their original designs wanted the trees chopped down because light would be an issue. My family objected to this as they can’t chop down our trees and we needed them for privacy (it previously was a bungalow). This was upheld and the designs changed with the trees included. Consequently, those flats and gardens have always been in the shade.

I went out and had a look and, in fairness, the trees have gotten bigger, and branches are overhanging the private road but don’t go as far as to overhang the flats gardens. We love it as the size of them mean we can barely see the flats and they are beautiful, established trees. However, I totally understand the frustration of not having any sun and I do want to respond to her. Cutting back the trees would increase the light a little but the only way to get full sunlight would be to remove them which we aren’t prepared to do.

Because the garden has a lot of trees, we generally get a tree surgeon out every 2-3 years, but it varies. At the moment we have no need and the call out fee is very expensive but if we are having other bits done, to cut the overhanging branches will only be a hundred or so extra as part of the full package.
I want to propose the following:

The next time we have the tree surgeon out we will ask them to cut the branches overhanging the private road and cut them back a little. We will cover the full cost for this, but it could be years before we have them onsite again.

Or

She is very welcome to pay for a tree surgeon to come and do it and we will grant them access but again only the overhanging branches and we wouldn’t be able to contribute at this time.

I feel guilty as neither proposal is a real solution, she will still have limited light. Do those proposals, limited though they are, sound reasonable? Any tips on how to approach the situation and phrase things as we can’t do much which I’m sure is very frustrating. Is there any hope for good neighbourly relations?

Be careful if she pays. Her tree surgeon might cut a bit more than you bargained for.

the people who own the house that we back onto agreed to us paying for a tree surgeon of their choice and their arranging to do some reduction work on their trees for our benefit. It was so kind of them and the risk to them was minimised because we paid the surgeon after the work was done but had nothing to do with commissioning them or being there onsite. Just an idea.

I agree. The house behind us asked if the could pay to cut back our tree a little we agreed and they basically pollarded it! It’s grown back pretty quickly but I was less than thrilled at the time.

The gardens have always been in the shade. The neighbour knew this when they purchased the flat. I would do nothing. If you agree to a trim - I suspect you will be harassed by her until the trees are chopped down.

I wouldn’t go there. Your setting a precedent and as you say it’s limited to solving the problem and depending on the type of tree might even make things worse when it regrows. Just avoid.

You do your normal tree care in your own time.

Some on MN will say I am being unreasonable and tomorrow will be complaining about the heat on another thread, and the month after virtue signalling about climate change and carbon emissions.

That’s just my twopence

Absolutely! Nothing will satisfy them!

I think option 1 makes sense and doesn't give the neighbour any control, just a feeling of being heard. Option two would be a can of worms in my opinion. When you have the conversation I'd let her know when you think it'll happen though as a timeframe may help. If it's always been in shade then they've bought the flat knowing that full well so it's not as though it's just happened. So you'd be doing it as a courtesy. Our neighbours across the street did the same with the council who came out and told them they weren't in the habit of cutting down trees! So I wouldn't worry about that.

I agree with option 1 - you can explain to her that you will be maintaining the trees by cutting them back but maybe if you also explain the back story about the trees being considered and agreed to remain in the planning during building of the flats before she bought her flat! It shows they are permanent and it was ‘officially’ discussed

Explain the planning situation to the neighbour. You should crop any overhanging branches and keep them in good order.

But do not cut more than you think is reasonable and do NOT let their tree surgeon do it!

@Toastoftheton What species of tree are they?

There may be laws regarding the removal of these trees. I would double check before you agree to anything. Some trees have protected status. If this is the case, then there's really nothing she can do about it.

If the trees have grown so that her garden is more in the shade than when she purchased her property I think both of your solutions are fair. Just cutting the new branches a bit (back to when she moved in) might make a huge difference.

My limited understanding is that you might be made to cut back trees planted outside an exisiting window etc, but not if the trees were there before the flats were build! Do the trees have TPO's on them? What type of tree are they? I would choose option 1.

She’s perfectly entitled to cut the overhanging bits herself without a tree surgeon.

I think I'd cut back anything overhanging outside of your property. That's reasonable to me, to keep your trees inside of your own boundaries. And you don't want the council to come out one day and start butchering the overhang.
I would be surprised if anyone could force you to do more anyway, since you own the house and land and presumably the trees are not a danger.

I think it's fair and reasonable that you cut the tree back a bit. I'd bring that forward so it's not in 2-3 years time. I also think explaining the planning discussion to her would be helpful if she isn't aware of it.

Don't let her pay, as she will inevitably want to control how much gets chopped.

No she isn’t. They overhang onto a private road!

Who owns the private road?

I think you are being unreasonable and a bit mean. I have big trees in my garden and I pay a tree surgeon to come and check them and do work to them every few years. I've paid thousands of pounds to my tree surgeon. I consider how my trees effect my neighbours. I'd feel like a right shit if my trees cost my neighbours money. Depending on how shady your neighbours garden is I would feel bad that it was my trees that was the problem.

I don't like the argument that the trees were there first as the trees will have grown a lot in the meantime.

I don't know what type of trees they are and I think that might make a difference, if they are leylandii then your are being very very very very unreasonable but if they are oak then not so much!

There were some massive leylandii in my garden when I moved in. I chopped them all down and planted some beautiful native trees that were much better suited to a garden.

For info we had a situation where a nice neighbour gently badgered us into getting a tree near the boundary cut back. I had it done pretty radically to be nice BUT it has grown back vigorously and seems to be bigger than ever now.
But to your question I think getting your own person to cut back overhanging branches at your cost would be the kind thing to do here. Agree letting them at it is risky though that happened to my mother - tricky neighbour let her engage someone to take away overhanging branches and she had it done beautifully, to her satisfaction and at her own cost, so it can be ok..I think they'll take more than you want though so I'd rather pay and be in control personally.

Are there any Laylandii? They should be removed. If the trees are native/deciduous trees I wouldn't prune any more than you normally would

In terms of your trees, other than hugging them regularly because it's good for you, I wouldn't do anything more than trim the overhanging branches (and possibly get the overall canopy reduced and/or thinned out by about 10% if need be). Your neighbour is the one and only person who has raised the trees as an issue, and purely because they want more light in their garden. Obviously there's no harm in them asking the question, but equally you aren't under any obligation to take any action because of it.

Will cutting just the branches over the road improve anything for them? Also having used tree surgeons, they rarely suggest cutting branches as you describe, they suggest thinning out (or ours did anyway). Cutting branches (like pollarding) weakens the tree and can end up with rot and disease which is exactly what happened to some of hours which had been done prior to us buying the place. I would honestly suggest leaving it and only having the tree surgeon do what they suggest to maximise the tree and it's life

If they are leylandii or similar they they are awful trees and really should be completely removed. They have no place around housing. If they are normal deciduous native trees then I wouldn’t do anything other than apply for a TPO

Sorry but I think you’re being a bit selfish in not getting the trees cut back immediately. I think you should consult a tree surgeon as to the best way to proceed to try to help your neighbours situation a little while still maintaining privacy