Leylandii 30ft tree

TAdvise

Looking for advise, thinking of buying a home that has two 30ft Leylandii trees in the garden approximately 4 metres away from the property. I believe the house was built in the 1970s and trees were planted after. Anyone know if I could have them removed or could it cause the property to heave. I have tried contacting tree surgeons but having no luck. 

Brie

you could try checking if there are preservation orders on them but I doubt there would be given the species is considered a bit of a pest.  

I do know that when I lived at a place that had a hedge of these the owners were allowed to prune them down from about 20 feet to 8.  Eventually a subsequent owner had them completely removed so bodes well.

Woolsery

The best way to deal with trees to avoid heave is to reduce them over the course of a few years. Conifers like those have a relatively compact root structure however, so an expert might take a bolder view.

Don't worry too much about TPOs with leyland cypress. If they're close together and there's two they constitute a hedge within the definition of the High Hedges Act!

diystarter7

4 meters is a fair distance and as another said, the roots from what I've seen are not vast nor substantial compared to some other trees I've seen. The best bet is seek advice but as you said it is difficult to get hold of trades and more so of good trades people.

Farway

All the above, but you also need to consider if the trees blow down one stormy day could they fall on your or neighbours houses with all the damage & hassle that will cause?

greenbee

I had half a dozen down here not long after I moved in, as they had honey fungus (they wouldn't have hit my neighbours houses as Farway mentions, but they would have hit mine!). No sign of any heave or issues as a result. Just lots of lovely light... 

ka7e

You will find your house insurance is affected having tall trees within 5 m of the house. They have to be declared when you apply for a new policy, so I assume any damage if they fall or heave if they are removed, will not be covered.

[Deleted User]

TAdvise said:

Looking for advise, thinking of buying a home that has two 30ft Leylandii trees in the garden approximately 4 metres away from the property. I believe the house was built in the 1970s and trees were planted after. Anyone know if I could have them removed or could it cause the property to heave. I have tried contacting tree surgeons but having no luck.

Keep looking then because a general gardener isn't going to the same job, have you thought about having them reduced rather than removed ?
And i'm presuming these are completely alive and not just partially where they've been cut into in the past and created areas of brown, dead, foliage ?

theoretica

You also want to consider the local geology - is there clay?

Keep_pedalling

[Deleted User] said:

TAdvise said:

Looking for advise, thinking of buying a home that has two 30ft Leylandii trees in the garden approximately 4 metres away from the property. I believe the house was built in the 1970s and trees were planted after. Anyone know if I could have them removed or could it cause the property to heave. I have tried contacting tree surgeons but having no luck.

Keep looking then because a general gardener isn't going to the same job, have you thought about having them reduced rather than removed ?
And i'm presuming these are completely alive and not just partially where they've been cut into in the past and created areas of brown, dead, foliage ?

Please don’t keep the retched things, they are ugly and apart from shelter, provide zero benefit for native wildlife. 

Woolsery

Keep_pedalling said:

[Deleted User] said:

TAdvise said:

Looking for advise, thinking of buying a home that has two 30ft Leylandii trees in the garden approximately 4 metres away from the property. I believe the house was built in the 1970s and trees were planted after. Anyone know if I could have them removed or could it cause the property to heave. I have tried contacting tree surgeons but having no luck.

Keep looking then because a general gardener isn't going to the same job, have you thought about having them reduced rather than removed ?
And i'm presuming these are completely alive and not just partially where they've been cut into in the past and created areas of brown, dead, foliage ?

Please don’t keep the retched things, they are ugly and apart from shelter, provide zero benefit for native wildlife.*

*Apart from the impenetrable place for blackbirds to build their nests in every year in my garden.

Leyland cypresses are just trees, not the work of Satan. Satan deals in ignorance and laziness and it's those things which make them such a pain in the bum. I cut our dividing hedge once a year and it stays at a nice 7' or so. On the other side, a plonker carved into the old wood, so it's dead and full of ivy but that's his problem; my side's lovely and golden green. Of course, if the neighbour wants to haul the trees out and replace them, I won't stand in their way, but I have a feeling it will be the next neighbour who does that.