Neighbours tree blocking light

wksd

Grenage said:

What is it with people sending bloody notes?  Writing can and will be interpreted by different people in different ways.  Talk face to face!

Short of winning the chap over, there's not a great deal you can do.  If it's any consolation, he's 85 and you sound pretty young - he won't be around for much longer.

Hi, have you heard of Coronavirus? They suggest you don't knock on people's doors to have a chat.

Davesnave

melb said:

to the people who stated it was unlikely that a TPO would be put on a Sycamore tree, we have an area of land next to us with upwards of 40 Sycamore trees, all of which have TPOs on them, along with all the other foliage.  As the Tree Officer from our local Council stated with some glee, "the TPO relates to anything above the size of an acorn". 

Apparently sycamores make very good violins, but they're not native, so our wildlife, aphids excepted, isn't well adapted to use them.

Oaks support around 400 species, but even one of those in the wrong place can be more trouble than it's worth. We've let one of ours stay for 11 years longer than we should, but now it seriously threatens the septic tank, we've agreed its time is almost up. We've established about 6 new trees nearby in anticipation of losing the oak, including another oak, but in the real world, probably only 3 of those will have room to reach full size. The others will create variety and firewood. It's efficient to plant closely and cull.

Your tree officer is bonkers, protecting anything and everything, but it's possible they're only reflecting a policy drawn up by others.

ElephantBoy57

Just to clarify, the OP said that the tenant next door has "Protected  status", not the tree.

Sycamores were introduced by the Romans in the 1500s, so our wildlife is well adapted to them. If the OP has got the size correct, 15m, sycamores can grow much taller. So much more growing to do.

Grenage

wksd said:

Grenage said:

What is it with people sending bloody notes?  Writing can and will be interpreted by different people in different ways.  Talk face to face!

Short of winning the chap over, there's not a great deal you can do.  If it's any consolation, he's 85 and you sound pretty young - he won't be around for much longer.

Hi, have you heard of Coronavirus? They suggest you don't knock on people's doors to have a chat.

Contrary to popular belief, not everything has to be done 'right now'.

Davesnave

ElephantBoy57 said:

Sycamores were introduced by the Romans in the 1500s...

You sure about that? I think Henry 8th might be sceptical!

It's plausible that the tree has a TPO, as these are blanket-applied in some places, but TPOs are a separate issue and don't necessarily mean the tree cannot be reduced.

daivid

Davesnave said:

ElephantBoy57 said:

Sycamores were introduced by the Romans in the 1500s...

You sure about that? I think Henry 8th might be sceptical!

It's plausible that the tree has a TPO, as these are blanket-applied in some places, but TPOs are a separate issue and don't necessarily mean the tree cannot be reduced.

Or the Bronze age Britons, either way it it would be a long while before or after the Romans were in Britain!

-taff

wksd said:

The point on the house prices is that the tenant's long term status has significantly devalued the property at present, which is why the sale is so cheap. This might have played into the landlord's attitude, I just wanted to present facts.

We wrote a note because 1) it is the council guideline on dealing with neighbour's trees and 2) CORONAVIRUS????

The house price has absolutely nothig at all to do with you wanting to chop his trees down. They are two separate things. Adding that in meant that you were hoping to get replies saying, how dare the old man not toddle off somewhere because he is costing us imaginary money. How dare he not do what we want him to do.

Common sense says you use your words, not your pen to talk to a neighbour that's right next door. And 2] SIX FEET APART OVER THE FENCE?

wksd

-taff said:

wksd said:

The point on the house prices is that the tenant's long term status has significantly devalued the property at present, which is why the sale is so cheap. This might have played into the landlord's attitude, I just wanted to present facts.

We wrote a note because 1) it is the council guideline on dealing with neighbour's trees and 2) CORONAVIRUS????

The house price has absolutely nothig at all to do with you wanting to chop his trees down. They are two separate things. Adding that in meant that you were hoping to get replies saying, how dare the old man not toddle off somewhere because he is costing us imaginary money. How dare he not do what we want him to do.

Common sense says you use your words, not your pen to talk to a neighbour that's right next door. And 2] SIX FEET APART OVER THE FENCE?

The house price absolutely does to the landlord. A dispute will affect future resell too. Adding that was not meant to get replies like that, it was actually to just have all the facts. He isn't costing me a penny.
Common sense doesn't actually... I can't knock on his door, assume he is ready to have the chat, and shout at him from 2m away. I'm not putting anyone at risk. HE is the one who shouted over OUR fence. Do you not understand the narrative here? Anyway, you're being unhelpful.
Not sure why people see a man who has a history of abusing neighbours as a poor little old man in any situation. He is an aggressive, entitled, and law breaking idiot.

-taff

Again. It doesn't. His house it worth what's it's worth until the tenant leaves, one way or the other. Then he can pretty it up any way he chooses to achieve maxiumum selling price. There won't be a dispute to record because it is between you and the tenant, not the landlord.

I suppose I am being unhelpful because I'm not telling you what you want to hear.

Jackmydad

Davesnave said:

The OP is probably angry with themself for failing to spot such a basic problem, but this sort of thing can happen to those who are reasonably clued-up too. It happened to us in our first house when  the neighbour behind decided a  teenager was getting voyeuristic pleasure from viewing his partner outdoors through binoculars. The teenager claimed to be bird watching, but no matter, the line of leylandii went in at the sunny end of our short garden. We realised what that meant and moved before the issue developed and became glaringly obvious.

We didn't regret that move at all, but last week someone had a go at me for being 'defeatist' by suggesting a poster might do likewise in a loss of view/light situation. 

You need broad shoulders here!

FWIW we have pushed forward house moves we've been thinking about twice now, because of being sick of dealing with idiot  neighbours.
I like to think I'm a reasonable person, and always try to see the other point of view, (probably too much) but some people cause problems and are not open to reason. Mostly because they can't possibly do any wrong in their minds.
I don't see it as being "defeatist" just sensible.
Life's too short.