Need some legal/civil advice re the trees in my garden pls!

wywywywy

Hi all,

Basically at the back of my property, there is a road. And between the road and my garden, there is a row of trees.

Now the problem is that the trees have grown so significantly, they have completely taken over my garden! I have 0mm of garden space to use!

In addition, the trees have blocked over half of my kitchen window, meaning over 50% of sunlight. There are also numerous insects trying to crawl from the trees into the ventilation/extractor vents, thus into my property.

Also, the trees keep knocking on the back wall of the property, creating a tremendous amount of noise, especially during the night, affecting our sleep considerably.

I wrote a letter to the environmental planning officer of the local council last year, and he promised the problem will be dealt with. It has now been a year, and nothing has happened!

I cannot legally cut the trees, as they belong to the highway agency of the council, and I wouldn't like to pay the cost to rectify their ignorance either.

What can I do about this? Any advice please?

Many thanks!

paddy's_mum

I would put this one on https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk. There are several professional arbororicubot (tree fellers!) on there as well as qualified tree advisers to the insurance industry and I think you will get a lot of very specific advice.

Sounds to me that the council need a polite kick up the rear end. I would be writing, with clear photographs showing the extent of what you are having to endure, to the chief executive of the council. Send the letter recorded delivery so that he cannot later deny all knowledge.

If no satisfactory reply within, say 28 days, get on to your MP. No offence intended but are you a council tenant as sometimes that can add a bit of power to your elbow. Hope that helps.

wywywywy

Nice site! Thanks, I have just signed up and posted a thread there.

I already wrote to them again a few days ago, I reckon they are just going to ignore my phone calls/letters again. And yes I always send recorded.

Talking to the MP would definitely help - but I have never done this before. What are the procedures? What do I need to know?

I am not a council tenant, I actually own the property and the council's trees are trespassing on the garden!

Thanks.

paddy's_mum

You already have one reply over there and I have no doubt that once the guys get home from a hard day's work, you will have some more.

If you wrote recently to the council, I would leave it another week or so in case they are just slow but a reply to you is forthcoming. If nothing then, try contacting chief executive as outlined above.

You should be able to find out about your MP's surgeries in local newspapers. You could also try your nearest large local library for more information. Good luck with it and hope you get a result before too much longer.

Ms_Chocaholic

When I contacted my MP over a completely different matter I just wrote to him c/o House of Commons.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

HelzBelz

Keep nagging!!!

It's cheaper for them to ignore you than sort out the problem, but it's not as easy to ignore you if you're a pain in the a***;)

olly300

To find your MP and write to them you can use this site:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

It's free. You write the MP a message and then they get a fax.

They advise you on the site that if the letter is not answered/acknowledged to go to the MPs surgery.

paultatam

Could the trees be damaging your wall when they bang against it? I would send a letter to the insurance claims dept at your council, they should get the highways and tree people on to it very quickly, firstly to establish ownership and then to schedule the works in.

Paul

baldelectrician

I managed to get new railings installed at my back door within 5 weeks.

Got to find out who was in charge, got job reference number, and called every 2-3 days to 'find out the progress of the job'.

This was in a council house (before I bought)

A similar thing applies. Find out who is responsable, and keep on at them.

derrick

I had a similar problem a few years ago, council wasn't interested said they did not have enough money to prune,after months of correspondence and visits from parks dept, no further forward,( you do have a legal right to cut back any growth to your boundary), eventually had them cut back by a tree surgeon, asked council for money,(had already informed them of my intentions), they refused, issued County Court summons, had money within 10 days, they don't like legal action, SUE THE COUNCIL!!

ioscorpio

I have a similar problem, the land at the back of my house is owned by Morrisons and their trees are overhanging my garden by 20 feet.

I spoke to the manager in store and he said he would send his gardener round with 2 weeks, but he did not, I wrote to their HO last October and rec a reply from teh chairman saying they would sort it out, I wrote again a few weeks ago and received a phone call 2 weeks to say them would be out to assess the work needed within the next 2 weeks, so they are due to be here by Tuesday, if not I will contact them again.