Neighbours Leylandii trees.

Mgman1965

My daughters buying the house next door to me but the house next door to her the other side has a row of four leylandii trees on the boundary of what will be her and them.

They've been there a few years and must be getting on for 30ft tall and getting taller each year as fast growing and encroaching over into what will be my daughters garden.

The elderly lady who lived in next door before used to moan about them but the owners of the house they're in are the type who never answer the door (I called there 3 times for her about the trees and never got an answer, even though car was there, lights on and could see movement inside, and eachtime I called got more persistent) and rarely ever seem to go out.

Cutting them myself is not an option  as they're tall and I don't have any kit.

What are my options, council or such ?

gozaimasu

Legally entitled to chop off any branches overhanging the boundary (and offer them back but if the neighbour doesn't want them back you have to dispose of them) but as you don't have any kit then you're stuffed. You can't force the neighbour to come into your garden and chop the bits off.

You can, however, force them to reduce the height:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council

diggingdude

When daughter buys house, put letter through door saying will cut the branches in X number if days unless they want to do them themselves. Also ask whether they want the branches back 

Mgman1965

To be honest, it's the height of them that's bothering me as at 2/3ft a year they are swiftly getting to the point they're shadowing the garden a lot of the day now.

GoogleMeNow

I think that 4 trees will count as a hedge.  The council now have powers over tall hedges and will be able to enforce the recommended height of the hedge, in relation to their distance from the property.  However, this is seen as a last resort, when all other actions have been attempted first.

Read this for further advice:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council/high-hedges-complaining-to-the-council

hazyjo

Is she sure it's the right house for her? If the neighbours are likely to take offence or say no, it might not be the best start to a good neighbourly relationship.

canaldumidi

Irrespective of whether you/she can force the neighbour to cut/trim/reduce the trees hedge, this is not a neighbour to live next to.

Find another property.

gozaimasu

Mgman1965 said:

To be honest, it's the height of them that's bothering me as at 2/3ft a year they are swiftly getting to the point they're shadowing the garden a lot of the day now.

If the neighbours don't answer the door (which they are perfectly entitled to do), that's a good thing as they are likely to be the type to avoid confrontation. Your next step is to write a letter about the trees (that's polite/friendly attempt no 1) and if they don't respond then you write again with a "take action within 7 days or we will ask the council to intervene" - taking action doesn't necessarily mean to reduce the trees but simply to communicate with you about it.

What does your daughter think about all this?

Phil4432

You could go to the council, but they'll be slow to act and then you'll have a resentful neighbour.

If you can't sort out a relatively simple matter like this with the potential neighbour, you may wish to consider whether you want to live next to them.

What are the trees doing?  Are they too close to the house? 

You are legally entitled to have someone come in and cut the trees back to your boundary, but again this is a matter that should be easy to solve with a potential neighbour. 

Miss_Behaving

Don’t let her buy the house… for 17 years we’ve suffered neighbours like this. Their leyllandi  are now 1.5 times taller than our house and the neighbours refuse to cut then down because they like their privacy - it costs us a fortune to get them regularly trimmed. We’re having to sell up now because if they grow any higher we’ll be stuck here forever! Neighbours like that are really not good to live next door to… trees, noise, aggressive dogs… the list goes on and as long as they’re ok, sod everyone else!

Willis75

Mgman1965 said:

My daughters buying the house next door to me but the house next door to her the other side has a row of four leylandii trees on the boundary of what will be her and them.

They've been there a few years and must be getting on for 30ft tall and getting taller each year as fast growing and encroaching over into what will be my daughters garden.

The elderly lady who lived in next door before used to moan about them but the owners of the house they're in are the type who never answer the door (I called there 3 times for her about the trees and never got an answer, even though car was there, lights on and could see movement inside, and eachtime I called got more persistent) and rarely ever seem to go out.

Cutting them myself is not an option  as they're tall and I don't have any kit.

What are my options, council or such ?

How near the foundations are they of the property your daughter wants to buy? We’re buying a property which had conifers within 1.5 Mtrs of foundations and it came up on the survey that they would need to be removed as if allowed to grow the roots would spread to the same width as the height of the conifers.