Cut down tree with TPO - help!!

[Expelliarmus88]

Hi
We have just found out there was a tree in our garden that had TPO but we were never informed when buying the house. We did the garden years ago and don't even know if this tree was part of it but there are no trees in our garden anymore. Its come up now we are selling the house - what do we do ??
Thanks a lot!

Try not to stress - although easier said than done, I know. Hopefully your new solicitor will get on top on it 😊🤞

Have you checked the purchase paperwork, when we owned a property with a few TPO, it was detailed. Do you have legal cover on your home insurance? If so it might be worth having a conversation with them. I might be wrong, but I was under the impression it was the homeowners responsibility re TPO, rather than the tree surgeon, however often tree surgeon will advise you when you apply to the county council for permissions. I hope it works out ok and you avoid a fine.

Don’t bloody contact the council or anything whatever you do as this may void being able to get an indemnity policy. Speak to your solicitor first. It should be able to be sorted but try not worry and do nothing and agree nothing until you’ve spoken to your solicitor.

You can lookup the details of TPO's on your local councils online mapping service (at least round here) - may give you some details of where exactly the tree was/how large.
Do you think it had already been cut down before you moved & was missed during conveyancing, or do you think you had it cut down?
Sorry to say but if you did have it cut, you might be facing a fine from the council (rightly so tbh - we do't want people able to just cut down TPO tree without recourse) - you possibly have legal recourse on the tree surgeon but I honestly expect not, & it would have been your responsibility to have knowledge of your own trees & they will just say they did as instructed by you.
Interested in what the solicitor says - i've no idea if indemnity policies or similar exist for such scenarios to allow the sale to proceed. Until clarified, don't approach the council.

Among your local searches paperwork. The solicitor may have summarised any issues arising. Many LA have a trees map online for you to check.

I hope you get the full fine.

Just nasty!!!

So kind @BlodynGwyn

Thanks everyone. I'll wait for solicitors to get back to me. I don't want house sale to fall through so willing to pay fine. Just cannot believe how stupid we were

I’ve noticed you often post unkind or offensive messages. Why is that?

@BlodynGwyn

Op I’d assume it was a sweet chestnut, they can grow to be mammoth trees. Do you recall taking about a chestnut tree? If a tpo was on it, as said, I assume it was signficant so would have been quite big.

I’ll try again. Was there a reason you posted that guff @BlodynGwyn ?

@Fushiadreams there were a lot of of big trees unfortunately but being very clueless about trees in general, I have no idea. I know it sounds cruel to have cut them all down but it was massively overgrown and we needed to level the whole garden after having been burgled the previous year by someone coming through the back.

@BlodynGwyn you could always shoot her instead.

No, you wanted to cut all the trees down. You didn't need to.

I also hope you get fined. Perhaps you'll consider wildlife and habitats more carefully in future.

And that's sarcasm in case that wasn't clear.

You might need to prove you weren't told about the tpo because in the guidelines it says

the defendant has carried out, caused or permitted work listed in section 210 of the Act

So you won't be able to put it all on the tree surgeon because it's on your land and its expected that you should know your own land and your own trees.

Yeah ok then you probably did. Our tree surgeon always checks tpos, I’m surprised yours didnt, but I also assume it’s your responsibility but he may also be liable for carrying out the work

we have a lot of trees, it can be difficult I do understand that, but managing them appropriately is the best way forward as opposed To just felling. If there were so many trees you genuinely can’t remember a chestnut then you may also have other issues as you cannot fell more than 5 cubic metres without permission. So I’d be looking at can they find pictures on line of what it looked like before, even previous sale pictures, do neighbours know,what was done etc? You may have breached the law in more than one way and have issues on your hands.

which could cause rhe sale to fall through until,this is resolved.

this is correct
Searches should have shown tpos, as presumably your buyers' has

A lot of tree surgeons usually just ask owners if TPO,s on trees, know this as just had 4 quotes on a tree, not one mentioned checking just asked me if had.

You levelled the whole garden because of a burglary?
How did that help, we're the burglars hiding behind tree trunks spying on you?
Surely it would have been cheaper, and less drastic, to install a good fence and an alarm.

Oops. You'll not get wrong at this stage - the legal department will want a bullet proof case before prosecution - they can't prove it didn't get blown to bits in a storm and was subsequently removed. Tree officer might be peeved with you, but the legals wont take it on. I deal with TPOs day in day out, a huge percentage are out of date and list trees felled years ago.

@Treecreature what would I advise I do at this stage? Thank you.

You *

There are some very unkind comments on here and I can appreciate that it's my fault and therefore deserve it. But please be kind if able to as my anxiety is through the roof right now.

When you bought the property, you will have been given a kind of map of your property outlining your boundary. On this map will be wiggly circles which represent trees, they will have TPO written on it. If you find this and it hasn't you are covered.