Buying a house with a large TPO tree in front garden

mouthscradle

We've been house hunting and have found a house we love. But one thing is worrying me. In the front garden, close to the house, is a really tall tree (taller than the house). Having checked the postcode out for planning proposals, I found the tree is subject to a Tree Preservation Order.

The roots can be seen spreading underground from the bottom of the tree in all directions. The pathway that leads from the walkway to the front door is concrete - it has a small step in it at the point where it passes by the tree, and this step is not intentional, it's where the concrete path has cracked and either the top part has been held up by the roots or the bottom part has dropped.

This is obviously ringing a few alarm bells in terms of possible subsidence/heave affecting the house, although we couldn't see any evidence of this at the viewing but we are obviously novices.

The house is about 40 years old and so we were originally planning to opt for the Homebuyers report. But now I'm worrying this won't be sufficient.

Having read a few previous threads on a similar theme there's conflicting info as to whether or not a full structural survey would offer any advice as to whether or not the tree posed any future risk, and would only identify subsidence if it was already present. Another option is to get an arboricultural survey by a tree surgeon, but would they be able to identify whether the tree is already causing subsidence in the property and what the cost of rectifying any existing problems might be? What investigations/surveys would you recommend, and how much might they cost on average?

I'm also worrying about how the proximity and height of this tree might affect our ability to get both a mortgage and buildings insurance. Am I right to be concerned?

I don't want to go overboard on the worry but nor do I want to make any expensive mistakes.

mouthscradle

By the way, the TPO came to light on the planning portal because the current owners applied to do tree work in 2013, and it was apparent from looking at the tree that some of the branches had been recently cut.

If they received this permission, does that mean they would have had to get their own arboricultural survey? In which case we could ask to read it. But I don't know if these are required for just pruning.

moneyistooshorttomention

1. How far exactly from the house are we talking? 2', 5', 10'? etc..

2. What type of tree is it?

3. When you say it's taller than the house, is the house one-storey, two-storey, three-storey, etc?

mouthscradle

I'd say it's about 8'-10' from the house. This photo shows its proximity to the front door http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/harm_of_will/Treephoto.png. You can just about see the step in the path on that photo too.

Not 100% sure, but I think it's a beech tree.

House is two storey, tree is much taller.

dirty_magic

I think it would put me off tbh. It is pretty close to the house. If you're serious about buying it I'd get a tree survey done.

elsien

mouthscradle wrote: »

If they received this permission, does that mean they would have had to get their own arboricultural survey? In which case we could ask to read it. But I don't know if these are required for just pruning.

We didn't need an arboricultural survey to have a TPO tree pruned. Just the form in to the local council, then their bod out to have quick look to discuss what we were doing and why. So the chances are they won't have had one either.

eddddy

I also got permission to prune a tree with a TPO based on my own submissions, without any reports from a specialist. A tree surgeon gave me hints on what to write, and I also looked at other people's applications. (e.g. Instead of "prune", you say things like "crown reduce by 30%" etc.)

In my case, I didn't even have a meeting with the council.

moneyistooshorttomention

dirty_magic wrote: »

I think it would put me off tbh. It is pretty close to the house. If you're serious about buying it I'd get a tree survey done.

Ditto....

I would be wary...

catshark88

I wouldn't touch it.

I had 2 Douglas firs, v close to my house and each was around 4x the height if the house.

We are in a national park, so trees are v protected.

Watching them wave about in the wind this spring was terrifying.

We got permission to fell them, but it's always v subjective and depends which tree officer you get....

Davesnave

Have you fallen in love with this house because it is a somewhat better house than you'd otherwise be able to buy?

People consider buying houses with flaws of different kinds all the time, mainly because they offer something otherwise unattainable. Eventually, a purchase is made because someone thinks the problem can be lived with, or is an acceptable risk.

Here's a Street View of a road close to where I used to live:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.391194,-2.3789783,3a,75y,124.03h,84.68t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sAcWENo8BWL0qXUtUhR7IPQ!2e0!6m1!1e1

The house pictured has two huge horse chestnuts close to it, but many of the houses in that road have suffered subsidence anyway. You still couldn't buy any of them for under £425k. People want to live there. They will buy in spite of the structural issues.


I can't tell you whether this house would be a good buy for you, and neither can anyone else on this thread. At the very least get a tree surgeon's opinion and maybe a structural engineer's report on the fabric of the property. The rest is down to your own feelings.

Cyberman60

It looks as if the tree was there long before the house, just as mine was in my back garden. I've been in my house for 25 years and had no problems apart from storm damage in the 1987 hurricane when the top came off onto my roof.

Get it checked, but as it is established I think it'll be fine.

Incidentally, it was the tree feature that swung me to buy the house.