Neighbour's problem leylandii

endurium

Our neighbour's leylandii is about 30 feet tall at the bottom of our garden and overhangs our garden by at least 8ft, causing a nuisance as little rain gets to the part of our garden under the branches where nothing grows except weeds . She recently had them pruned but only on her side of the fence. Because of their height, I can't prune the overhanging branches myself and so would have to get in the tree professionals to do it. Given that the leylandii are her responsibility and that she refuses to keep them trimmed on our side, can I recoup the cost (via small claims court) of getting them trimmed myself?

Doozergirl

Not really.

You can trim anything that overhangs your side and offer back the clippings. The ealrier you start trimming, the less of a problem the trees become.

People are naughty when they plant trees like this, because not only does the height annoy neighbours, but they should plant them further from the boundary so that the natural shape of the tree doesn't encroach over others' boundary.

The other thing about these trees is that when you do cut them back, if you cut into the woody area where there is no foliage, it doesn't grow back. It means if it cones over your boundary by 8 feet, you're going to end up with a really stupid looking tree.

My local authority has a page on hedges, I wonder if yours does. It suggests talking with your neighbours politely, but I think they offer some kind of mediation service.

I feel for you as I will have exactly the same problem when we go to build our new house. The neighbour is so proud of his trees and privacy but it will overpower our garden. He's going to have to do something about it.

Gloomendoom

You can't really win with trees. My sister's garden was completely enclosed by 20'+ leylandii that belonged to neighbours. One of them, at the end of the garden, decided to chop theirs down to about 8'.

My sister now moans that her garden isn't private any more.

spirit

http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/trees.html

Hoploz

My mum had this problem. She talked to the owner several times and he agreed to get his hedge trimming men to cut them back for her.

Perhaps it's a tea and cake thing?

Personally I would try that before I took them to the small claims court, anyway.