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?

What type of tree are they?

If it’s Leylandi conifers then YABU in my opinion.

Of course, you don’t have to do anything- only over hanging branches can be cut, but to be honest that’s likely to do very little as it sounds like the height is the issue?

If someone else pays, do you care if the trees are cut by a tree surgeon who can do a very good job.

Do you have full sun?

What are you doing in your garden 😜that you need full privacy for? (Joke). I live next door to someone who has a green wall of China- predominantly weeds, conifers and an apple tree they wouldn’t let us take down and now they have a monstrosity of a weed growing up it which has killed it.

She would have to pay the council £500, launch a formal dispute and they’ll assess whether the trees are indeed a problem. You may then be told to cut them or they’ll do it and bill you/add to your council tax. We’ve gone into this in depth.

@Suzi888 They are sycamore trees, not Leylandii.

@Toastoftheton By your own admission, these trees have not been trimmed at all for around 5 years. You are stating that you cannot afford to trim the trees this year, so another year will be 6 years since any reduction in height or spread. If you think it is reasonable to ask your neighbour (who remember has lost her morning sun) to part pay to deal with the trees that you own and are on your property, then crack on, but don't be surprised if she says no.

Obviously I understand that ill-health and you only just moving in has had an effect on the regular tree work over the recent years, but that is exactly why this neighbour has brought it up now. She probably didn't want to trouble the grandparents, but you have just moved in and she took her chance to mention something that has probably been bothering her for a while. Unfortunately your/your grandparents circumstances are not her problem.

@Nerdippy sorry I wasn't clear. I will absolutely pay to have the trees trimmed back and maintained, I've completely agreed with that.

The question was if she wants further reduction i.e. make the tree smaller than it was when the flats were built/ she moved in, then we would prepared to do that because I do sympathise but it will be a big job and not one that benefits us, in fact we love the big bushy tree but I get it is not ideal for her and want to find a compromise.

I do actually know the height of the tree when the flats were built because of the planning discussions and we have pictures etc so the garden was very shaded. To make a big difference it would need to be taken back to smaller than it was but having thought hard about it Im not opposed. But it would be a much bigger job and it's if she wants this option I'm thinking of asking her to contribute the difference. She's under no obligation, in fact I would prefer she said no and in that case we will make the tree good and it ensure its maintained at the original size with no overhang, so back to normal. I hope that makes more sense.

I'm also asking to see if people see any pitfalls in this plan as I got good advice about ensuring our own tree surgeon was used and only instructed by us. Is even offering this opening a can of worms?

I wish you were my neighbour! How reasonable.

I had a stroppy git arrive at the door and complain about my tree sanding his patio for two hours in the evening. No offer to contribute to costs. No thanks when I said I would get a tree surgeon out.

@Toastoftheton Please don’t over commit to this neighbour about getting your trees reduced and/or regular pruning. I appreciate that you want to be accommodating but she bought the flat knowing that there was shade from your trees.

I would certainly not consider a significant reduction for only her benefit if she was not willing to contribute to the cost. There is nothing wrong with you asking her to contribute if it’s significant work that she has asked for. She can refuse, but then so can you.

MN is absolutely batshit when it comes to trees. Some posters think you’re akin to Genghis Khan if you ever prune a tree and scream hysterically about leaving nature alone. Then you get the people who think you’re selfish if you don’t immediately cut the tree down and run to your neighbour’s door with wine and chocolate for hating the temerity to inflict A TREE on them. I’m just surprised that no one has said ‘phone the council and get a TPO on it’ yet.

I think you are being very reasonable about this, given they bought the flat when the tree was in place.
The leylandii here had grown to the point that the house at the back of us, with a smaller garden than ours, had no light by the time we bought the place- the hedge must have been getting on for 10 feet high and they are lower down than us- they couldn't even get grass to grow on their lawn. And the leylandii to the side out front had been planted right on the boundary, so as well as overshadowing next door, they were half on their property. The shrubs were planted either far too close to the house ( so we got no light, and too close to the foundations) or right bang on the line of the drains (which is beyond stupid). The neighbours at the back were delighted when we went round and suggested we'd take the leylandii out- they preferred light to privacy, as we do. Another out back also benefitted even though not directly behind us, and was most thankful.
Next door each side of us have big trees, lots of them. And very high hedges, one privet, which is trimmable, and one leylandii, which would go bare if we trimmed it back to the boundary, which is a nuisance really TBH ( I think lelandii hedges ought to be banned from domestic gardens). But they were here when we came, and the neighbours are lovely people, so we accept things as they are. We did suggest that the ivy needed to come off one tree as it was endangering it in the winter winds, which the owner agreed to and is removing.
Maybe one day the hedges/trees will be removed, but that's not up to us. Luckily the graden is wide enough for it not to be a problem. But I do think that people with large gardens like ours do have to be considerate of those with smaller gardens adjoining us, and not overshadow them.

Hello everyone! Thought I would update as I love an update. It's not as exciting as it might have been, I nearly had a bit of saga but all's well that ends well. This is very, very outing but you were all so helpful.

Basically, we thought there was a safety critical thing in the house that we had to fix. Turns out, it was nowhere near as bad as we thought so saved a tidy sum. Based on this thread we decided to get the trees cut. (It's booked for a couple of weeks from now). We spoke to the resident from the flat who was delighted and herself offered to contribute so it could come down as low as we were prepared for. It was really lovely and positive.

With a month to go we dropped notes into all the flats explaining what happening and giving our contact details. Long lead time as the private road would be affected, we have permission and there's alternative parking/ access.

We then got a call from another resident of the flats who was really upset. She was an upstairs resident and loved the trees, they are bushy and full and go further up so she has a view of just green and it was a key selling point of the flat for her. She said the other upstairs neighbours felt the same and none of them gave consent for this. Obviously, we don't need consent and I'm not sure about the other neighbours, no one else contacted us.

The trees would still be there as maintaining privacy was key for us but they would be taken a fair whack back as it was the only way to make any difference to the downstairs neighbours garden. She would still have a view of trees - different but not radically or so I thought.

Our very wonderful tree surgeon agreed to nip round FOC and talk to both residents to see if there was a way to make everyone happy. It was tense and teary. Our stance on it was we are prepared to cut them to X level or very happy to leave them higher but we don't want to incur additional costs and really don't want to upset anyone. We asked them to come to a compromise and let us know by the Friday just gone.

I honestly expected that they wouldn't agree and it would be horrible. I would have once again turned to the wisdom of mumsnet but was leaning strongly towards cutting them for the downstairs flat.

Well, that didn't happen. They nipped round together with a bottle of wine for me and said they were happy to stick to the original plan and have them cut back. No idea what the downstairs neighbour said but they both seemed content. Had I started a thread it would have been a rather anti-climatic ending.

Anyway, we will have happy, healthy, well-maintained trees and there's a lesson in there about not buying homes based on next doors garden...

Thank you to everyone again!

Thanks for coming back to update. It's always nice when an OP does that. Am glad it all worked out.

That's a brilliant update. It sounds like a great compromise all around. You sound like a nice considerate neighbour.

Thats the sort of happy ending you don't read on MN very often, everyone sounds lovely!

Would look at planting something else that will give you privacy in years to come - eg some birch trees nearer your house. Then once they are bigger remove the worst of the established trees. They will only get bigge and bigger.

Sorry missed the update 😀

You should be cutting back any overhanging branches but apart from that tough really. Trees were there before her. She should have bought elsewhere

Sorry missed the update!