housebuying and garden sycamore advice

gasman2014

Hello all, This is my first post though I have been observing and learning from MSE for a while.
We have finally found a house that we liked and made a successfull offer as well. Just waiting for mortgage valuation to come through from lender. The EA mentioned about some of the trees in the garden being under a TPO. Being a newbie to that aspect of trees and having lived in an urban flat, I have learnt a lot these last few days.
Basically the front garden has an area that is under a TPO and it has 6 sycamore trees and a horse chestnut and lime tree and the back garden has an oak tree (also under TPO) that is about 4m from the utility room door.
Having read about sycamore trees on the net, I was hoping for some advice from you all on the following:
1. Can I request the council to have them felled and replaced with something more suitable for a garden.
2. Failing that, The TPO was made about 25yrs ago and I am wondering if they can be revoked?
3. I am a little cross that almost half my front lawn area is filled with these trees which I have no control of. I feel that the EA or vendor should have made me aware of. is there any point in going back to the negotiating table?
4. Will a homebuyer survey able to identify whether these trees can be a problem in terms of afffecting foundation or do I get in a tree surgeon?
5. any personal experience of maintaining such trees? with 2 young kids, I am not sure I can spare time each day to clean up after a tree!!

Any help would be appreciated. housebuying is stressful enough without all these added hassles!! If I am going to like the place I dont want some trees (that I basically dont control) causing me maintenance grief for years.

Thank you all

I_have_spoken

I'd be preparing to walk-away from this property and def. not exchange until you have answers.

After 25 years, it's quite possible sycamores have come in as seeds and grown large even if they weren't intended to be covered by the TPO. They are non-native giant weeds; the surface roots will spread and spread and seek out drains and pipes and they case dense shade until the leaves drop everywhere.

You def. need to be arranging a visit from the council's Tree Officer to discuss options which strike a balance.

Councils will generally only revoke a TPO when a house insurer contacts them to say the will sue for damages caused by the tree(s). Councils don't want this liability so will revoke the TPO.

However, removing trees close to a house can cause ground heave and create the damage you hoped to avoid, so a specialist survey will be needed to determine if the house foundations were over-engineered because the oak tree was already close etc.

Davesnave

The answer above covers it.

Whatever happens, the new owner of this house will be under a legal obligation to sustain any trees which do not threaten the fabric of the property.

If you don't like that idea, then walk away. If 'control' is important to you, it's likely that financial incentives won't make you happy with the situation long-term.

There are plenty of other houses without this obligation.

holgate79

I hope this information is useful to help you decide what to do.

We have just bought a house with 2 30ft beech trees and approx 16 30ft holly trees.

They weren't covered by a TPO so we could have them felled.

We had various quotes for the work - the cheapest being £1500 ( South Yorkshire).

So even *if* you get permission to remove/TPO revoked they will be costly to deal with.

Our tree officer was reasonable - he looked at the fact that our trees were far too large for the area they now sat in and he looked at the fact the poor/ no maintenance previously had meant they were beyond pruning/ crowning work.

The council has to give you a decision in writing 6 weeks after you ask for permission to work on the trees so it might be worth asking the householder to put a request in. From memory you need a surveyor to state they are causing structural damage to be able to tick this section on the form. I guess if the current owner wants to sell to you they will need to help you out with this?