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Our neighbour is coming up to 80 and in his garden has trees around 40ft high.The garden is only small and all the high branches are now hanging over our garden and garage.Our garden is gradually becoming dark.
We have politely mentioned the size of the trees to him over the past couple of years but he refuses point blank to have them trimmed.
We get on very well with him but he can become very angry very quickly.
I think he knows they are a problem but doesn't fancy the big bill to put them right.
I can't really see a way forward unless he moves out shortly.
You have a right to cut back anything that over hangs your garden.
Yep, get chopping away - as long as they don't have a protection order in which case don't. You should be able to check if they have a PTO via council planning site.
You can just crack on a chop anything on your side.
But I would offer to pay for someone to prune the lot win:win
I would need to go up in a cherry picker they are that high.
Presuming conifers, it is possible to cut individual branches from the trunk if you have access to climb up it, it's easier than it looks, just leave 6 inches of branch to use as a ladder.
You might need to put a ladder up fence height to get on it, not sure how you play that with the neighbour, I'd ask if you can trim your side..by going up his tree maybe.
But...it won't do much to let light in, the height is the problem, maybe you ask and trim some then let him get used to trusting you doing it and have another go in a few months, gradually bring him round.
They do look hellish after being topped.
If i did trim some off his trees there is no way he would pay for disposal of the branches.
I am not a tree expert but they are not conifers. The trees have grown into each other and now look a solid mass.
Not sure if it is location dependent but tree surgeons aren't as expensive as you'd think. We have lots of trees under TPO and I got them trimmed a couple of years ago, it wasn't cheap, but it wasn't horrific either.
Maybe talk to him and offer to share the cost of cutting them back? If you go at his trees with a cherry picker and chainsaw you'll only make the situation worse, and the trees will look awful (and might fall over!)
If you want them sorted out, get a quote and offer to pay. That's what we did with the neighbours trees. He had no reason to want them trimmed but we did, so we paid. Such is life.
Move
We have this with a neighbour but we're in a consevation area so you can't cut back any trees without planning permission which she was refused (for trees in her own garden).
She does keep moaning about our trees, but they were here decades before she moved in and will probably still be here after she's passed away.
I see it as a bit odd, she's a reader in Geography and bought a house whose garden is shadowed by mature trees, without fully comprehending that's what large trees do! To then start complaning about it just seems a sign of stupidity.
If you want them sorted out, get a quote and offer to pay. That’s what we did with the neighbours trees. He had no reason to want them trimmed but we did, so we paid. Such is life.
Start with offering to go half first.
Do you live next door to me bar one? My Neighbour is 80+ and cultivating a densely packed jungle of sycamores that blocks our light.
Honestly can't see it getting sorted until ownership changes. It's a shame really, he complains he can't use the back garden because it's a thicket but doesn't have the energy to sort it. Lost his wife many years ago and I think coincided with the decline of the garden.
If i did trim some off his trees there is no way he would pay for disposal of the branches.
He is under no obligation to do that.
You are at liberty to cut anything off that crosses the fence line, AIUI you must off him the cuttings (in case he deems them of value) but he is not obligated to take them, or pay for disposal. You certainly can’t just throw them over to his side.
Don’t go so far as to risk the trees becoming unstable and uprooting into his side.
All they said, I don’t think that would solve the issue, and drastic chopping would make any more progress less likely.
Get a quote and offer to split/pay. Often cheaper than you fear, though still £hundreds especially depending on access for machines.
If i did trim some off his trees there is no way he would pay for disposal of the branches.
This affects you how?
They're his property, if you lop off overhanging branches you're legally obliged to return them to him.
a densely packed jungle of sycamores that blocks our light.
I don't know the ins and outs of it as it's never affected me, but I believe there is such a thing as a "right to light". Check with your council / Google.
You certainly can’t just throw them over to his side.
Certainly?
You may be right (again, not something I've had to deal with) but my understanding was the opposite, you had to return his branches.
Copper nails hammered into the roots
If you want to go nuclear check out your Rights to Light. A very ancient and archaic set of laws but still very much in force and relevant.
More usually they are invoked around planning to ensure you do not suddenly get your window blocked by someone's monstrous extension or new build but they have been used in the past to force people to trim their bushes etc as well.
Won't necessarily be cheap and will most probably involve lawyering up but it is an option to explore if you *really* want him to see to it.
I understand it to be as Sockpuppet says, you have to offer the cuttings but don't have to give them back and can't throw them over without permission
We have both a north facing precipice and neighbours 15m high sycamore and beech shading our garden.
I could cut branches back, but it wouldn't gain anything in winter when we most need it, and the trees are set 2-10m back from the boundary anyway.
OP - all you can do is ask nicely, there is no right to light unfortnately.
there is no right to light unfortunately
There very much is. I insure developers against right to light claims and the premiums run well into 6 figures quite often. It's complex and archaic however there have been instances of skyscrapers in London having to be radically altered mid-build to appease current residents making such claims.
As I mentioned in my post above, people have successfully forced neighbours to trim back trees and bushes under the legislation.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rights-to-light
I don’t know the ins and outs of it as it’s never affected me, but I believe there is such a thing as a “right to light”. Check with your council / Google.
In Scotland, so nae chance as it's not a hedge. Only option other than appealing to his better nature is waiting for nature to sort the ownership issue. A new owner would clear it double quick as the large-ish garden is completely inaccessible.
Main immediate problem is that 50cm of mulch has built up behind the hedge causing it to rot out.
As I mentioned in my post above, people have successfully forced neighbours to trim back trees and bushes under the legislation
If you can find me a case where the issue isn't a result of something breaching planning I'd be very interested. Best I can tell it only applies if there was a consideration at the planning stage - so sticking in a leylandi hedge at time of build, right to light and the hedge's role in that area likely to have been on the planning application, this will confer the right in your deeds. If it wasn't ever part of the application its unlikely you have any such thing.
These days it's a common consideration at planning when building around existing property.
In brief has a good summary
https://www.inbrief.co.uk/neighbour-disputes/trees-blocking-light/
If it is a hedge, it can't be TPOed btw.
However...
Main immediate problem is that 50cm of mulch has built up behind the hedge causing it to rot out
What's rotted? If the hedge is rotting its quite likely its a safety concern at the size you mention.
@dangeourbrain - you may be right but I'll check. I know a couple of Lloyd's underwriters who are RoL experts so I'll see if I can speak to one of them
They’re his property, if you lop off overhanging branches you’re legally obliged to return them to him.
I don't believe this to be true, you have to offer them back, but he can tell you to poke them where the sun don't shine (your garden).
What’s rotted? If the hedge is rotting its quite likely its a safety concern at the size you mention.
My fence is holding back 10+ years of accumulated mulch, causing the gravel boards, posts and boards rot out.
80 you say, surely the answer is a large bag of coke and a couple of hookers
We get on very well with him but he can become very angry very quickly
I put it to you that do not in fact get on very well with him.
Also, I feel your pain, w.r.t. neighbours being unresponsive about trees (and everything else).
Where are you i can recommend a tree surgeon £250 quid a day with a monster chipper...
This bloke can get through some serious timber... and leave you with some great mulch.
Chainsaw the deny then lot.
If he treats you like shit why should you worry what he thinks.
80 you say, surely the answer is a large bag of coke and a couple of hookers
I reckon that's what he's holding out for.
If there are more than two trees, in a line, it counts as a hedge and there is legislation.
We have politely mentioned the size of the trees to him over the past couple of years but he refuses point blank to have them trimmed.
We get on very well with him but he can become very angry very quickly.
Anger can be a sign of dementia - particularly if faced with a problem you “should” know how to solve but can’t. Equally it can be a sign of a year, or of someone who feels they are being pressured to spend money on something of no value to them.
I think he knows they are a problem but doesn’t fancy the big bill to put them right.
and as others have suggested this is where you offer both to organise and pay for it; technically it might be his problem but it sounds like it’s your benefit.
@tomd ‘s similar issue the neighbour seems to recognise it’s an issue but be unable to find the solution (age, finds etc) and if there are multiple neighbours at stake I’d be corralling them to go help him sort the jungle out so he can enjoy his time left in the garden and you get rid of the trees.
I can’t really see a way forward unless he moves out shortly.
Well I guess in his 80s it’s a matter of statistics!
The anger sounds like my father in law. Not so much angry as just belligerent and won't be told. My wife ended up organising and paying for his double glazing getting done (the old stuff was utterly wrecked and rotten) after resisting for years. Not five minutes after it was done he was saying it was great and he should have done it years ago. 🙄
I wouldn't read too much into it where lonely old men are concerned, you don't know if he has money issues or just a severe lack of motivation that he knows full well about.
cant offer much but this came to mind
Another crossing of the STW / APILN Venn diagram.
If i did trim some off his trees there is no way he would pay for disposal of the branches.
Why would you expect him to do that? You have right to cut down overhanging branches but it's not his responsibility to assist you in any way.
They’re his property, if you lop off overhanging branches you’re legally obliged to return them to him.
This is not correct. You have to offer them to him. If he declines then they are your responsibility.
We had a similar situation recently, and elderly neighbour’s tree was shadowing 70% or so of our garden and had grown significantly since we moved in. The offer of halving the expense to have it trimmed our curt down went ignored and when she accused us of knocking her fiancé down and replacing it with a new one whilst she was away (its the same fence thats always bordered the garden since we bought the house six years ago), our relationship completely broke down and we figured dementia might be the cause of the stubbornness/accusations and reconciled living with the tree.
Unfortunately she could no longer look after herself and sold the house. The first thing the new owners did was knock on the door and ask if we minded if they cut the tree down. I’m glad we didn’t force the issue with our elderly neighbour as clearly she was going through a thought time of it.
In same boat here, surrounding new property owner has decided to mark the corners of his small 30 foot garden with a leylandii in each, (10 foot and growing well). Matches the Laurel taking over the other flank. I have tried talking but it got shouty very quickly as I asked if he wanted back the garden detritus he was throwing over to my property. I am not too sure why he has added security metal work all over the first floor windows and doors either.
Reading the previous, cut as they grow and overhang and then move house as things get worse will be the answer, I think. Life is too precious and short to worry about this too much, so I will just be gently persistent and then get the hell out.
and when she accused us of knocking her fiancé down and replacing it with a new one whilst she was away
Sorry but that made me laugh.
Bloody predictive text!
We had a similar issue, ended up just offering to pay, and it was well worth the cost.
We now have a garden with plenty of sun, and to be honest haven’t thought about the cost since doing it.
Offer to get it done for him, he will possibly bite your hand off, what’s the worst than can happen? He says no and you’re no worse off!
As has been said, life’s too short to worry about it and as it’s not in your garden you’d be well within your rights to take the cheapest quote with little to no regard to the end result providing you get what you want 🙂
Wait for a windy night and then run out and cut them down. Blame the wind, the tricky windy bastard
Anger can be a sign of dementia
Or just fear of change and losing control, the only thing he loved died and things are growing out of control, the house is probably leaking like a sieve, I think it's a pride thing, trapped between not wanting people to pay and unable to do it themselves, so they just leave it not done, they know it needs done and when people mention it they get stressed.
I'd speak to his family, daughter or whatever, they will see the advantage in getting it done at someone else's expense and be able to put the idea over, better still an old friend that is into gardening.