Tree overhanging property and restricting daylight..

N20Y1D

Sorry if this is the wrong forum just wasnt sure where to put this....

We are currrently in the process of buying a house and in the survey thet have mentioned a neighbouring tree and how that may affect the foundations so our solicitor is taking care of that side of things, but as you can see from the photos it is on council property however it over hangs our property and obviously has quite an effect on light entering the house.

So I am wondering can I realistically expect the council to pay for it to be trimmed if i point this out to them and if not where do i stand if i decide to have someone trim it for me if they refuse?

Have attached the below picture to try and show you what im talking about:

boyse7en

Not sure, but I think that if you inform the council of your intent you can cut any branches that overhang your property (as long as you return the cut branches to the council, as they are their property!)
You can't force them to shorten or remove the tree.

Addiscomber

You should find out if it is subject to a Tree Preservation Order, as this will affect what work can be done to it, and probably who can do it. As far as I know you would find this out from the council.

In your position I would want to find these things out before the purchase process gets too far, as you may find that you don't want to go ahead.

tanith

That tree is awful close to your house... make sure there is no disturbance to your foundations before you buy.... are there any obvious cracks inside the house?

N20Y1D

tanith wrote: »

That tree is awful close to your house... make sure there is no disturbance to your foundations before you buy.... are there any obvious cracks inside the house?

We had a homebuyers done which said there was no obvious evidence of any damage, but it recommends getting an aboriculturalist inspect it and for our solicitor to speak to the council about husbandry work on it.

ixwood

A whataculturalist? lol

I'd agree it looks very close to the house to me.

TANZA_2

My parents live in a house with a very old beech tree in the garden-it must be at least 100 years old. New people have moved into the house next door and have asked if my parents would chop the top off the beech tree as they arent' getting light into the garden. They only moved in about 3 months ago.
The neighbours' house is about 30 years old so the beech tree was there long before the house.
Although the tree does not have a preservation order on the tree ( my parents were told that by the new neighbours) my parents are reluctant to have the top chopped off the beech tree as it would totally destroy the shape of the tree.
I feel that as the tree was there when they bought the house they should have thought of that before they bought the house.

olly300

OP is the pavement around the roots of the tree bumpy? If so you could inform the council that it is a tripping hazzard. They then may get a tree surgeon to attend to the tree.

However be warned in places I've seen tree surgeons cut trees for councils recently, they have always cut the tree until it is a stump and the stump is still there 2 years later. So instead of having a nice tree you have this ugly disfigured piece of wood to look at.......

olly300

TANZA wrote: »

My parents live in a house with a very old beech tree in the garden-it must be at least 100 years old. New people have moved into the house next door and have asked if my parents would chop the top off the beech tree as they arent' getting light into the garden. They only moved in about 3 months ago.
The neighbours' house is about 30 years old so the beech tree was there long before the house.
Although the tree does not have a preservation order on the tree ( my parents were told that by the new neighbours) my parents are reluctant to have the top chopped off the beech tree as it would totally destroy the shape of the tree.
I feel that as the tree was there when they bought the house they should have thought of that before they bought the house.

Your parents don't have to cut the tree if they don't want to especially if the entire tree and branches are over their own property.

However if they think the neighbours are going to be a problem i.e. start getting solicitors involved then they should get a tree surgeon in to prune it. However if it is pruned properly and not hacked council style then the neighbours still won't have a lot of light in their garden. I don't understand people who happily look at a disfigured tree.

david29dpo

I would think very carefully about buying this house. At present my parents are having terrible problems with next-doors tree, rendering both houses un saleable

MadMonkey

Hi - My Dh is a gardener and he gets a lot of customers who require neighbours trees cutting back as they are overhanging their property and restricting light or access.

Basically if a tree overhangs you are permitted to cut it as long as you only cut it to the boundary - i.e you do not cut any tree on their side.

The cuttings have to be placed in the owners garden as they belong to them.

This causes lots of grief from the tree owners but they do not have the right to prevent a tree being cut. The ideal situations are when the neighbours can discuss the pruning and work together so the whole tree is pruned to maintain it's shape but if they won't he just goes in and removes the overhang.

There are a family near us who have very large trees on their boundary which were overhanging the pavement and causing an obstruction and the council made them cut them all right back and threatened to get a firm in and bill them for it if they didn't.

It is always easier to agree this with the nighbours but in the OP case you do not have a neighbour so i would just prune it back.