My neighbour doesn't want me to remove diseased trees on my land

avantra

Hello, good people of MSE,

I have a neighbourly bothersome, the first I ever had, so I need some advice.

Between my drive and my newish neighbour's next-door drive, there is a concrete bed about two meters wide where the previous owner of my house planted decades ago four Lawson Cypress trees.

The trees are on my side of the bed, and the boundary between the drives is about 30cm away from the tree trunks (see the picture below showing the clear space between the plots boundary and the end of the tree trunks).
I now have two reasons I want to take these down, but my neighbour is being very aggressive about it and say that he will not let me do this. Saying the trees are on the boundary and on his side as well.
We explained to the neighbour why we needed the trees to go and offered to plant something else instead.

The neighbour didn't want to hear a word from us; he shouted at us, didn't let put a word in and called us a dysfunctional family, he looked unhinged and threatened he would not let the tree surgeon do the did so a fairly unpleasant chap.

We tried to reason with him, but he had none of it.
As he continued with his tantrum we showed a lot of patience with this abuse but eventually had to close the door and say the trees are on our side of the drive, and as it's our property, we were allowed to remove the trees.

The reason for removing the trees is down to slow dieback due to some fungus (so the tree surgeon told us), and because we are extending the house and building control want these out of the way due to problems with roots sucking the clay soil dry.

We have full planning permission for the extension, although the planners didn't say anything about the trees.
There is no preservation order for the trees, and we are not in a conservation area, and nothing in our deeds mentions any trees.

We have lived in our street for twenty years and in good relationship with everyone, but since the neighbour moved in two years ago, he has managed to have quarrels with a good chunk of the population in the street.

My question is, what can the neighbour do? Call the trees police?
What if he tries to stop the tree surgeon? Can we call the real police?

MikeJXE

It sounds as though he's not a good neighbour and there is no reasoning with him.

If it was me I would take them down and put something up I want not him

What have you got to lose ? 

daveyjp

He's probably more annoyed about the extension.

There is nothing stopping you felling those trees, which are getting beyond their shelf life.

 If the neighbour wants to plant trees on his side he is free to do so.

ThisIsWeird

Avantra, possibly time to put up a CCTV camera, covering your drive, and capable of picking up any future rants?

If this guy is really threatening to interfere with your rightful work, he needs putting back in his box.

MalMonroe

Hi, OP.

It sounds like you have done everything right, you have all the correct permissions and the trees are yours. Nothing to do with any neighbours.

I don't know much about trees, except that I do like them. But those trees in that photo you have posted don't look at all pretty. It could be because they are diseased, I'm not sure.

You have to get rid of them if they are diseased, though. It's nothing to do with your neighbour, whoever he may wish to call about it. Do call the police if he starts to be abusive. 

He isn't going to like the extension, is he? But as you say you have all the necessary permissions in place, there's not a lot he can do about it.

It's just not very nice when you live next door to such people, I had really awful neighbours in my last home. Thankfully the neighbours I have now are great, for now, but you just don't know who might come and live nearby. You did the right thing by closing your door on him, don't engage in any nonsense with him in future and hopefully he'll get the message.

Let him report you to whoever he wishes. He won't get far and will just show himself for the fool be is.

JohnB47

Good advice about setting up cameras, I think.

Also, would it be worth having a discussion with the police, or a neighbourhood watch officer ( if someone like that exists in your area)? 

Not that they would do anything now about your neighbours abusive attitude but it could be useful to have recorded it if things get worse.

Bad neighbours really are the pits.

FaceHead

Appeasing an overgrown child throwing a tantrum will not help. There will just be a new tantrum over the next thing. With most normal people compromise is a good approach, but with the unreasonable persistence and progress are king. 

Yes, instruct the tree surgeon to do the work. They've seen it all before. If the overgrown child comes onto your property to stop the work, or even assaults the tree surgeon, then call the police. 

The only thing they could lawfully do to stop you would be to sit on a chair on their property by the trees. Potentially this could make it difficult for your tree surgeon to complete the work safely.  

Yes to camera(s) too.  

GDB2222

I would want to be 100% certain about the boundaries. The LR plans are not much help, but I would download both, to try to get as much certainty as possible. 

I would also want to try a second time to discuss this with my neighbours, as you really don’t need a long dispute. I think you need to understand why your neighbour is saying that the trees are on the boundary, whereas you think otherwise. You don’t need to argue, but you do need to understand his point, as it would be extremely embarrassing if it later turns out that the neighbour is right!

avantra

GDB2222 said:

I would want to be 100% certain about the boundaries. The LR plans are not much help, but I would download both, to try to get as much certainty as possible. 

I would also want to try a second time to discuss this with my neighbours, as you really don’t need a long dispute. I think you need to understand why your neighbour is saying that the trees are on the boundary, whereas you think otherwise. You don’t need to argue, but you do need to understand his point, as it would be extremely embarrassing if it later turns out that the neighbour is right!

Hi,

I am not sure for his reasons as it's almost impossible to ascertain what he is on about.
I forgot to say that in his public comments on the planning permission he say that he agree to the trees taking out and I quote "replaced with something suitable'".

I don't know what caused him to change his mind, either way I believe we extracted all avenues, even invited a surveyor a year ago who commented that there is no doubt the trees are on my side of the boundary. 

JohnB47

" in his public comments on the planning permission he say that he agree to the trees taking out and I quote "replaced with something suitable'".

So this is written down? 

Sounds like something else has caused the neighbour to go all aggressive. Something else in their life, nothing you should have to deal with.

plumb1_2

FaceHead said:

Appeasing an overgrown child throwing a tantrum will not help. There will just be a new tantrum over the next thing. With most normal people compromise is a good approach, but with the unreasonable persistence and progress are king. 

Yes, instruct the tree surgeon to do the work. They've seen it all before. If the overgrown child comes onto your property to stop the work, or even assaults the tree surgeon, then call the police. 

The only thing they could lawfully do to stop you would be to sit on a chair on their property by the trees. Potentially this could make it difficult for your tree surgeon to complete the work safely.  

Yes to camera(s) too.  

Maybe if he tried to assault the tree surgeon with a chainsaw in his hand, the neighbour might end up harmless after all?