Problem neighbour over my trees

moneyistooshorttomention

But I do honestly think that maybe the neighbour is just upset about this one issue and this one issue only and is probably perfectly "calm/rational" about everything else (well...bar the chance of being upset by any "amateurs" that come along to remove that garage:rotfl:).

One swallow does not a summer make and hence I would take one complaint about one issue as just that - ONE thing and one thing only.

Now if you had a neighbour of mine who, by now, has had goes on numerous occasions about numerous things (the vast majority in his head and his head only) now THEN you would have something to complain about.

Does anyone want my neighbour? - oooh pppppleeeease...I'm selling him off cheap...honest...bargain price...I'll pay you a fiver to take him away:rotfl:

anggrrr

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

his insurance company are "breathing down his neck" to take action against the tree owner (ie yourself) because of the height of them.


Errr...you are planning to use specialist asbestos contractors to deal with the garage dismantling are you?

I know you are just speculating idly but to satisfy your curiousity.
I've just hung my washing out and taken advantage of the sun and the winter leave drop to check out the back of the garden. We've no shared boundary at all, the tree I though in his garden is actually his next door neighbour, his garden comes to a point before that. My trees would have to leap if they fell to hit any part of his house and he has no garden buildings. His complaint is that he has to clear the seeds off his patio: not that he has problems getting insurance. If that was the case of course I would have worked more quickly. Nobody else has even raised the issue, in fact the neighbour who the trees directly borders likes them!

With reference to the garage, unless you are doing the work yourself you have to use licensed contractors anyway. Which is part of the reason it took a while: it's the lowest risk (low grade in intact sheets with some weathering/moss growth) and most firms said "you can do it yourself". You are more at risk of injury falling through a fragile asbestos roof than from taking intact panels apart safely.

I'm on extremely good terms with my direct neighbours who appreciate the work and money poured into turning an almost derelict house into a family home again, and understand that sometimes you can't adhere to a strict timetable.

Marmaduke123

Just ignore him and don't get drawn into any disputes whatsover. You might want to sell your house in the future, and disputes with neighbours have to be declared.

Mozette

Tell him you'll get the trees shifted as soon as you can afford to, but if he contributes to the cost then of course you will be able to get it done sooner:D

I've got loads of sycamore trees round by me; they're a pain, but they were there when I bought the house so I knew what to expect. It's not that a big a deal, I'm just not a keen gardener. The leaves are just as bad...

cooltt

He's a bitter old busy body get rid of him now before he gives you years of misery here's how:
Engage him in conversation over the garden fence as trees are being cut down then OMG what a terrible accident! One fell on him doing the world a favour and squashing him. Problem solved.

phoebe1989seb

I agree, sycamore seeds are a nuisance - we have one the other side of the stream that borders our garden and when the wind blows in the *wrong* direction we get inundated with them, despite the stream being between the tree and our lawn - but neighbours like yours can be a complete pain and can unfortunately make your life a misery.

In our last house we inherited a very tall (25'+) conifer (not sure what type, definitely not a Leylandii and quite attractive from our perspective as much of what had once been a lovely country view had been marred by a influx of jerry-built bungalows) that was close to the boundary between our drive and our neighbour's. In fact whilst he hadn't planted the tree himself, he had built his house and had also actually owned ours some 20 years previously before selling it when he moved into the new build next door. His driveway was bordered with decoractive gravel and his complaint was that leaves/pines from our conifer constantly fell between the stones resulting in a mess that was hard to clear. Indeed on more than one occasion we saw his wife out there with a vacuum cleaner hoovering the path that ran to their front door! The day we completed on our purchase and were moving in he approached us asking when we intended to have the tree removed - which got us off to a bad start as I particularly wanted to keep as much greenery surrounding our (period) house as possible and thought he could have at least waited till we'd settled in.....

Eventually after much nagging by the neighbour we agreed that he could have his side pruned - the tree didn't really overhang his property by much - but we weren't prepared for the complete hash his chosen tree-pruners made of it......they literally sliced the poor tree in half vertically so that if you looked at it side-on it resembled one of those half-type Christmas trees for people with not much space

When we sold the house in 2011 I believe he was delighted to discover our buyers had every intention of removing all the trees and shrubs surrounding the house (it was a detached corner property) including the offending specimen. Unfortunately the neighbour passed away shortly after this so never fully got to appreciate his freshly clear path

Sorry for the rant but I completely sympathise OP and hope you get the matter resolved very soon. I would definitely agree that it's best not to get into any formal dispute with him over this - hopefully once you have had the work done this nasty guy will butt out and leave you alone

michelle2008

I wish oP was my neighbour!! Sycamore trees are horrible! My neighbour has planted about ten right up against my fence. I cut the back as soon as the get even an inch over my fence - but they still cause a huge mess in the garden.

You seen to be being very reasonable - cutting them down is the right thing to do but your neighbour is being disproportionate and just odd!! Ignore him.

Wyndham

I'm pretty sure that once this is sorted, there will be something else - maybe not for a few months, but I think he sounds like the type who will be back....

ethansmum

I smell a rat here...

There are no leaves or seeds on my sycamore tree, nor has there been for well over a month now.

Mojisola

ethansmum wrote: »

I smell a rat here...

There are no leaves or seeds on my sycamore tree, nor has there been for well over a month now.

We've still got plenty of seeds on the ground under our acers which are only posh sycamores!