Request to trim tree in garden

bunberry

forgotmyname wrote: »

Tell them you didnt buy the house. You passed the letters onto the owner and they said go away.

But in a less polite manner. Tell them to contact him directly infuture. But do call the police 1st as you now know he is not a nice man.

I like! :rotfl:

bunberry

uk_messer wrote: »

Did they really request you cut the trees? If so, it sounds rather cheeky and would put my back up. If asked in the right manner I would certainly want to be accomodating to neighbours.

Are their houses relatively new build, compared to yours? Just wondering if it hasn't been a case of a new estate being built behind older properties and then residents of older properties peeved their privacy was removed and planting these trees.

I think houses in the neighbourhood were built around the same time. Ours was built in 1985; previous occupants purchased it in 1999, and I doubt they planted the tree; not sure about next door's trees but they've lived there for 6/7 years; and afaik the complainants bought their house in 2010, so they moved in long after the trees were planted.

keystone wrote: »

My reading is that this has been going on for some time. The previous occupants of your house wouldn't play ball so they are trying it on with you in the hope that you cave and once you have then they have a stick to beat next door (who are the bigger "problem") with and who also have previously told them to jog on.

Those trees have been there for some considerable time. They haven't just sprung up overnight.

Why on earth does it need a full A4 sheet when a small note through the door asking for "a chat about the tree over a cuppa" would have sufficed?

I'd ignore it amd smile politely when you see them next.

Cheers

Edit: and if you are happy to see it gone then do it on your terms and in your timescale not theirs.

This is very likely. I don't think next door has ever done anything to his trees, but might feel pressured into doing something if we did?

Dimey

adouglasmhor wrote: »

I would check you are not covered by a TPO before I did anything.

It would have come up in the solicitors search if they were. And highly unlikely for a FIR tree in a suburban back garden.

bunberry

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

Or if not, then apply for one

Now there's an idea...

Dimey

PLEASE don't do the restrictive covenant. That would have a bad affect on re-sale value and would put off potential purchasers.

Don't give this so much thought. Pass the complainant across to the neighbours.

Trim your little tree if you want.

bunberry

Dimey wrote: »

Well from your second picture post Bunberry, I'd tell the complainant that the big trees are not your trees so they'll have to speak to your neighbour.

As for your one tree. If you want to trim it to stop it getting taller/ bushier there's nothing stopping you. It needn't cost you money especially if you don't let it get so tall you need a tree surgeon to top it out.

Just saw off any branches that are going too far. There are also giant pruning type shears you can buy or borrow to cut off thinner branches.

As its a fir tree - If you can reach the top of the tree and cut that off it shouldn't grow any higher. I have a few fir trees that I've topped off at 15 ft and it keeps them manageable for me.

We'll definitely be speaking to our neighbour before we go around the back.

Is it a fir tree and not conifer as referred to in the letter?

bouicca21

Looks to me as though those trees create a nice bit of privacy, and if the end neighbour is inclined to a4 complaints u may well need to be sheltered from him/her. The trees were there when they bought their house, so they have no real basis for complaint. Maybe u should direct them to a good book on plants that thrive in shady conditions, though surely as the sun moves round, the shade moves too?

cabriolean

1. Your tree isn't having any real effect on the amount of light they receive.

2. They're not being very polite about asking you a favour (which is what this is, they are asking you to do something you don't have to for them)

3. The main roots (the big ones) don't come more than a couple of metres away from the trunk, even the smaller ones don't tend to spread all that far away and are generally near the surface, as such there should be no real problem growing shrubs on the other side of the fence, due to your relatively small tree.

Either there's something wrong with soil/drainage, they're trying to grow finicky/not soil appropriate shrubs, your neighbour's trees are the problem (I seriously doubt this, especially considering your neighbour visibly has plants growing near his tree), or they're lying.


We have several large conifers of varying type on our property, a couple of which including the one below look to be as big as, or bigger than the ones your neighbour has, there are about 2 metres around the base of the trunk where things don't tend to grow, but apart from that things grow without any problems, including when there are several together.



tl;dr, There is nothing wrong with your tree, if they are having problems growing shrubs etc. it most likely isn't anything to do with the trees at all.

I'd suggest inviting them around for tea and biscuits/cake/whatever and politely explaining to them that only the little tree is yours, and that it has no real effect on their light, it's the bigger trees that do.

They can't do anything about your tree, you could offer to let them pay to have the bit of your neighbour's tree (the one that is intruding) trimmed with your other neighbour's consent (if they'll give it, but you could do it without) if you want to be really nice.

Dimey

bunberry wrote: »

We'll definitely be speaking to our neighbour before we go around the back.

Is it a fir tree and not conifer as referred to in the letter?

Well a fir tree is a conifer, so is a pine. I'm not clever enough to tell exactly what you've got there.

Conifer just means its a tree that doesn't lose its leaves in the winter as opposed to deciduous trees that do :-)

Edit - Don't know what that exclamation triangle is up there. I must have hit an icon by mistake and can't remove it now.

bunberry

peachyprice wrote: »

It's difficult to see how high your tree is (could you outline it in the pic at all), but it looks like it's quite a bit smaller that your neighbour's tree which is encroaching your garden.

If this is the case, I'd put the letter back through their door with your own note saying you think they've sent their letter to you by mistake as it's your other neighbour's tree that is blocking their light, not yours.

I can't really tell where our tree ends either it just merges into the neighbour's.