Neighbour wants to hire tree prumer to cut overhanging branches and send us the bill

pollypenny

I do not understand why the OP does not want to maintain his trees.

We have a big oak, which is trimmed biannually by a tree surgeon. Ironically, last time our neighbour offered to go half. This was a first in 30 years; we could have done with that when kids were in university and mortgage was 17%!

The neighbour at the back complained about the sawdust!

Davesnave

Kiran wrote: »

The trouble with leyllandii is they are brown underneath so there is very little cutting back than can be done. It looks as though this has been left to grow widely out of control. Unless they are regularly maintained they become a nuisance.

We don't know it's a leyland cypress, although it probably is. Western red cedar grows back from old wood, but that's probably just too old for serious maintenance anyway.

The bottom line is that 5 years ago the OP bought an old tree that had not been maintained. They didn't spot this as a problem, or the way that it makes others' garden space less usable; all they saw was something that blocks the view of a church they think unattractive, although it appears to be 300' or more from their house.

Since then, the OP has constructed an outlet building, and whatever it is, the neighbour also doesn't like it close to their garden boundary, so there's been some argument over that.

Given the circumstances, I think it's understandable that the neighbour wants to get more light into their garden and maybe stop so much old carp from the tree falling on their shed. It's probably what I'd do too, not out of jealously, but perhaps frustration at gradually losing whatever attractiveness and potential that part of my garden had.

Davesnave

Doozergirl wrote: »

20 years in building and I don't know what an outlet building is.

Should I be jealous?

Lots of different outlet buildings. The one my daughter ran last year made millions, though she didn't see much of that.

There's another in the sewage works at the bottom of the hill here, just by the river. It's like a concrete shed or pill box.

And according to Google, there's a couple local to me in South Wales.....Hmm, Google don't know everything about me after all.

Kiran

Davesnave wrote: »

And according to Google, there's a couple local to me in South Wales.....Hmm, Google don't know everything about me after all.

20 miles as long as you don't mind going over the water. I can see Devon on a clear day !!!128515;

Don't get me wrong, I think the tree is awful. I moved into a property with a number of them left to go wild. The only thing to do was watch a few episodes of axe men then get to work!

Davesnave

Kiran wrote: »

20 miles as long as you don't mind going over the water. I can see Devon on a clear day !!!128515;

Yes, but the bit you can see isn't where I am, so it's more like 40+ miles, even if I was a crow!


Reminds me of my security software trying to scare me into buying a paid-for package: "Others can see where you are!" complete with a map of Minehead! :rotfl:

Keep_pedalling

nickopicko wrote: »

I'm shocked to the responses, my other neighbors trees overhang into mine as well and I think they look great. Anyway, the garden is over 120+ meters (very big), the picture taken was all the way at the back. Aside from morals, (they aren't moral their selves as I've explained so I'm not going to "help them out" with the financial costs)

My question still stands, if they cut my tree branches and the tree "dries out" or dies, could I sue them for damaging the tree?

They have the right to remove those branches, but cannot be held responsable if,as is likely, it either kills the tree, or makes it extreammly sick. What they can’t do is deliberately kill it, although if it was me I would be extreamly tempted to ring bark it to do exactly that.

The problem, apart from choice of species, is the tree was planted far to close to th3 boundary, which means the cutting of the offending branches is likely to cause major damage to the tree. Even if your side stays healthy the tree is going to be a safety hazzard with all the weight of the branches on one side.

We have a self set sycamore growing near our boundary, which is getting quite large now. Our neighbours have no issue with it, but if as some point in the future they do I will sort it out at my expense. Just because I have no legal obligation to do so does not mean I don’t have a moral one. I also value having a good relationship with my neighbours over spending a few quid on doing what is right. I would probable remove it rather than prune it as a prefere native species in my garden.

A major one sided prune on that conifer is going to look terrible, so the best option is to have it removed and replaced with something more appropriate.

roddydogs

Can someone post a blue link so we can see pics? Ta.

poppellerant

roddydogs wrote: »

Can someone post a blue link so we can see pics? Ta.

Have some blue links:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=74477126&postcount=46

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=74477919&postcount=57

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=74478418&postcount=59

poppellerant

OP. I am genuinely surprised by your attitude. Having read this thread, seeing the picture and reading your posts and replies, I can now easily see why your and your neighbours don't get on.

If the tree is in your garden, it should be down to you to maintain it. You should not expect others around you to suffer from your negligence and inability to maintain it. I am amazed that you expect others to maintain YOUR tree at THEIR expense - words honestly fail me!

If I were your neighbour, I would trim the tree right back to my fence and pray that the remaining weight on your side sends it in the right direction. Of course, a few long copper nails hidden by some bark would help things along quite nicely too.

Before I saw the picture, I had thought that the neighbour was trying it on. But now I think they should do everything they can to stop your tree encroaching into their property.

Rotor

That's definitely leyllandii and not thuja plicata ( I must have cut hundreds in my time) and if it is cut hard back it will not grow from new shoots but remain brown.

It is very unlikely to kill the tree just make it an eyesore ( even more than it is now)

As the OP is being unhelpful to them and won't allow the workers to climb tree (and prob not an option anyway) they will have to either get a cherry picker in or a scaffold tower. Can't say for certain but cherry picker access looks unlikely but scaffold tower will likely need the shed moving.
So 3 man crew, hiring tower , chipper for branches, moving shed ( which may fall apart) I'd guess you're looking at a quote getting towards £500.

OP - it's clear they take a pride in their garden judging how well kept it is and you can see the dominance your tree makes over their garden - of course you've fallen out. Any 'reasonable' person can see you're being un-neighbourly