Neighbors conifers are too big and too near?

We had an extension done at the back a few years back and the neighbors conifer roots reached the footings - as a result we had to pay for double the footing (2 meter down instead of 1)

Our neighbors conifer trees are now really tall (25 ft ish) and within 12 feet of our extension

mentioned this to them during the summer but they haven't acted yet

Whats the deal?

we obviously need the conifers to come down completely to stop the roots growing

slight complication is that the owner doesn't actually live on the property, which in fact they just rent out (so neither are that fussed about our problem) - the owner actually lives across the road and thats who we spoke to

Did I hear that the council will take down 'run-away' laylandi for free somewhere?
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Comments

  • First thing I would do is go onto your local council website and see what their position is on conifer nuisance.
    You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe (Henry IV part 2)
  • How effect would a stump grinder be? I am having the same problem next door with the roots pushing on to my waste drainage pipe.

    My partner cut out some roots manually last year and noticed the tree died on one side but it will recover with the same problem this year.

    Obviously, I would have to be careful that the tree doesn't topple.
  • SailorSam
    SailorSam Posts: 22,754
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    Did i read somewhere that banging copper nails into the roots will kill off the trees, or soak them in a strong weedkiller and sit back and wait. Admit nothing if questioned.
    Liverpool is one of the wonders of Britain,
    What it may grow to in time, I know not what.

    Daniel Defoe: 1725.
  • phill99
    phill99 Posts: 9,094
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    So the neighbour had had conifers in his garden before you built the extension. You now want HIM to take them down because of YOUR extension.

    That seems fair.
    Eat vegetables and fear no creditors, rather than eat duck and hide.
  • SailorSam
    SailorSam Posts: 22,754
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    phill99 wrote: »
    So the neighbour had had conifers in his garden before you built the extension. You now want HIM to take them down because of YOUR extension.

    That seems fair.

    Phill i don't think the Op minds the guy next door having 25' conifers, but she just doesn't want to share them. They're his conifers, it seems only fair to me if he kept the roots on his side of the fence.
    I think a good neighbour should consider others whenever doing any work on their own property. If i'm doing noisy work around the house i'll stop before 9pm 'cos i don't want disturb the people next door. Equally if i'm putting a plant in the garden i try and imagine what it may look like when it grows.
    No matter who was in the house first, the guy who planted the trees knew they'd become a nuisance so he should have kept them under control.

    That seems fair.
    Liverpool is one of the wonders of Britain,
    What it may grow to in time, I know not what.

    Daniel Defoe: 1725.
  • missprice
    missprice Posts: 3,735
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    How effect would a stump grinder be? I am having the same problem next door with the roots pushing on to my waste drainage pipe.

    .


    these do work quite well depending on the space it has to get to the whole stump.
    I had 20 or so cut down 2 years ago and the stump grinder came round a few weeks later but because of the space it had it could only do so much.
    on the tiny tree roots it worked really well on the large ones (around 4ft across ) it worked well on one side but the other side had stuff in the way and it could simply not reach.

    we have put up a fence last year and spent hours digging out massive roots oh the aches and pains of pulling and tracing those roots right across my garden. some were easily 20 feet long when they broke off:rotfl:
    63 mortgage payments to go.

    Zero wins 2016 😥
  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,551
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    JethroUK wrote: »
    We had an extension done at the back a few years back and the neighbors conifer roots reached the footings - as a result we had to pay for double the footing (2 meter down instead of 1)

    Our neighbors conifer trees are now really tall (25 ft ish) and within 12 feet of our extension

    mentioned this to them during the summer but they haven't acted yet

    That's because they don't have to do anything.

    If the conifers are close enough in a row to be called a hedge, you could look at your council's High Hedge regulations to try to get the height reduced.
  • broonbear
    broonbear Posts: 195 Forumite
    wait till it's dark get some friends round and get them to cut them down , councils are a waste of time, courts are a waste of time make sure your in the pub at the time, of course you know i'm kidding i don't condone that sort of behaviour
  • gibson123
    gibson123 Posts: 1,733 Forumite
    If it appears that the owner is actually not bothered, he may not be bothered if the conifers are taken out at some-one else's expense either. If that is an option you could start to negotiate, say you will meet 25% or 50% or the cost, and if he doesn't move on this, you could always go to 100%.
  • zzzLazyDaisy
    zzzLazyDaisy Posts: 12,497
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    If you live in England and are unable to resolve this dispute with your neighbour, you can ask the Local Authority to intervene. The LA has powers under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 which came into force in June 2005 to order the height of an evergreen hedge to be lowered if, in its opinion, it is having an adverse effect on the neighbour's their home or garden.

    There is normally a charge for this service, which is not recoverable from the owner of the hedge.

    However you should be aware that S69(3) of the Act prevents local authorities from ordering works that involve reducing the hedge below two metres or its removal.

    However this legislation applies to hedges only.

    Your alternative is to seek to rely on common law, which is based on the premise that the owner of trees on his own land is responsible for damage to his neighbour's property caused by ingress of roots onto neighbouring land. See the Delaware Mansions case (below). However litigation of this nature would be horrendously expensive, and as far as I am aware, the damage to the property must have already taken place.

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200102/ldjudgmt/jd011025/dela-1.htm

    A final alternative - if the damage has already taken place and remedial work is necessary - is to refer the matter to your insurers and leave it to your insurers and theirs to sort it out between themselves.

    I suspect that the fact that you built the extension knowing the risk and taking (supposedly) adequate steps to deal with the risk, confers some element of knowledge and acceptance on your part, which *may* affect the outcome. But I am not a specialist in this area. In the event that things get that far (let's hope not) you will need to seek specialist advice.
    I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.
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