Towering Leylandii 25 September 2017 at 11:27AM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 8 replies 1.6K views

dihill

My neighbour has a Leylandii at the bottom of his garden, very close to my fence, that is taller than our house. I have asked him, and the previous owners (his parents) nicely 5 times in the last 5 years or so if they will have it trimmed as it blocks light and I am very worried about root damage - it is only a small garden. Each time they have said that they are on with it but nothing has happened. My neighbour seems to think it is funny and shouldn't be an issue. He also asked if I would pay for half of the cost of having it chopped down. I can't afford this. I have now written a polite letter asking for action. Is there anything else that I can or should do? Thanks in advance

Farway

If you want to you can take legal action, or the council may. But this will obviously sour relations between you, and could adversely impact on selling your house should you ever want to

Personally I would take up their offer of going halves on chopping them down, I know you say you can't afford it but only you can weigh up the cost against impact on your life & light

Roots are not likely to be a problem, conifer roots do not wander wide or deep

Mojisola

Farway wrote: »

If you want to you can take legal action, or the council may.

I don't think you can take any action over one tree. You can if there is a hedge (two or more trees).

Ganga

Farway wrote: »

If you want to you can take legal action, or the council may. But this will obviously sour relations between you, and could adversely impact on selling your house should you ever want to

Personally I would take up their offer of going halves on chopping them down, I know you say you can't afford it but only you can weigh up the cost against impact on your life & light

Roots are not likely to be a problem, conifer roots do not wander wide or deep

There was a program on the tv about the plague/problem that these trees were causing,it mainly involved disputes between neighbors,but one chap showed the tv company how the roots of next doors trees were drying his land up and causing damage to the foundations of his house:eek:

Gloomendoom

I had a massive one at the end of my garden. The roots destabilised a two foot thick stone wall to such an extent, the wall had to be demolished.

The tree is history too now.

badmemory

Farway wrote: »

If you want to you can take legal action, or the council may. But this will obviously sour relations between you, and could adversely impact on selling your house should you ever want to

Personally I would take up their offer of going halves on chopping them down, I know you say you can't afford it but only you can weigh up the cost against impact on your life & light

Roots are not likely to be a problem, conifer roots do not wander wide or deep

Actually these roots do pose a problem just because they are not wide or deep. In a storm a couple of years ago one round here came down & blocked 3 front doors. How it didn't demolish the porches I don't know. Luckily seeing that was enough to persuade another neighbour that his 3 would probably demolish his house if they fell in the wrong direction. They look lovely when young but over 30 years later are an absolute nightmare.

Debbie_Savard

>He also asked if I would pay for half of the cost of having it chopped down. I can't afford this<

Do you know how much he's been quoted? TBH, assuming you are an owner/occupier, the benefits of removing it on house value and without registering a dispute could outweigh the cost of a £200 unsecured loan.

h..p://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=897775

Davesnave

If the tree isn't bothering your neighbour, then from his purely selfish point of view, it's only 'fair' that you contribute half the cost of its removal.

If you can't afford it, neither will he. The poster above may be a newbie, but she has it nailed.

andrewf75

yes if you want it removed then of course you should offer to pay half the cost. Can't be that much surely?