Buying a house with tree not pruned for 20 years having TPO

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elsien said:

We used to have two trees with preservation orders in them - can’t remember what they were now but they were huge l, close to the house and blocked out a lot of light. And were a pain when the needles kept dropping into the guttering. 
It was an ongoing expense because we weren’t allowed to take much off at a time so it needed doing every 2 or 3 years. 

Maybe get a quote to give you some idea of the ongoing costs. 

On a positive note, they didn’t seem to have any impact on the building itself, gutters aside. 

Thanks. The more I read the more I am leaning towards a professional tree surgeon visit to be arranged and get a quote.

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leonj said:

Why do you think that these trees require pruning?

I had this discussion in detail with my better half once we saw the issue in survey report. We say the property in summer when first lockdown was lifted and it was sunny day but we didn't notice it glaringly that more than a third of garden was in shadow (talking about peak Aug sunshine). Furthermore when we did the further viewings in more mirkier days in late Sep/Nov, it was quite visible that winter sun never shines anywhere in the garden. There isn't an open view so I don't expect to see any sunrise from my living room due to other houses nearby but the sun just doesn't hit the grass as much as I would like it to.
Pruning was obviously my first thought as that would bring in more light to the garden and maybe to the property also. May I ask, if there is something that I should consider against pruning, like is it possible that pruning would have some adverse effects and I should avoid it?

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macman said:

If you prune it 30% each time over a 12m period then you will have reduced it to under 50% of the original size in a year, so hardly 'not making a difference'.

I thought about this but I haven't seen many applications on council's website to verify if anyone is doing it. Also, my understanding (as a layman) was that tree would need a bit of branches proportional to its trunk otherwise it will lose its health.