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

GDB2222

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/wildlife-and-the-law/wildlife-and-countryside-act/

Silvertabby

The birds are already 'making whoopee' in our garden, so those trees need to come down pronto - certainly by the end of Feb.

GDB2222

Silvertabby said:

The birds are already 'making whoopee' in our garden, so those trees need to come down pronto - certainly by the end of Feb.

The parakeets near us are nesting like crazy. 

glennevis

ThisIsWeird said:

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.

Don't forget the "CCTV in operation" sign as well.

35har1old

Section62 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

35har1old said:

Why involve a tree surgeon these trees are made up of branches which are easily cut with the tools below

 Taking a rough guess at the height being around 3.5M I would tackle them myself

It'll be a surprising quantity of surprisingly heavy timber - it could catch you by surprise. No idea how I know that :-(

I don't blame the OP at all for having a pro in to do this, especially in the awkward circumstances.

This^

Removing trees is riskier than most people would probably imagine, and with a risk* of the trees falling onto the neighbour's property and causing damage it would be better to use a professional, after ensuring they have up-to-date insurance cover for third parties and public liability. 35har1old may feel competent to do the job themselves, but due to the risks involved I think it is unwise for 35har1old to encourage other people to do DIY tree felling/dismantling.

(*a risk exacerbated if the trees are diseased with something which affects the strength of the trunk and branches)

In addition, none of the tools 35har1old suggests would assist with disposing of a large quantity of green matter and wood.  Although the wood can often be freecycled away, the green stuff is harder to get rid of.  So the other advantage of getting a professional to do the job is having them shred the trees and taking the waste away.

(Edit:Formatting)

Perhaps this post is in the wrong category (includes DIY) Money Saving

markin

Certainly use hand clippers to make the first 2m of height bare so the tree surgeon can safely work only from your land, also once bare if privacy is the reason he likes them its now gone forever anyway.

ThisIsWeird

GDB2222 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

theoretica said:

This neighbour doesn't happen to conveniently go out to work on a known schedule does he?  So you could arrange for the tree surgeon to come when they will be able to work in peace?  Best do it soon, so you can be confident there are no birds nests.

Good point. What are the chances this entitled, selfish neighb suddenly becomes a 'bird-lover'?

Surely, the point is to get on with the job,  so that the birds simply find somewhere else. Isn’t it a criminal act to disturb nesting birds? 

Indeed. Before the guy starts claiming he's seeing things.

CCTV signs not needed if only covering your own property. This might change, of course, as the trees come down

Section62

35har1old said:

Section62 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

35har1old said:

Why involve a tree surgeon these trees are made up of branches which are easily cut with the tools below

 Taking a rough guess at the height being around 3.5M I would tackle them myself

It'll be a surprising quantity of surprisingly heavy timber - it could catch you by surprise. No idea how I know that :-(

I don't blame the OP at all for having a pro in to do this, especially in the awkward circumstances.

This^

Removing trees is riskier than most people would probably imagine, and with a risk* of the trees falling onto the neighbour's property and causing damage it would be better to use a professional, after ensuring they have up-to-date insurance cover for third parties and public liability. 35har1old may feel competent to do the job themselves, but due to the risks involved I think it is unwise for 35har1old to encourage other people to do DIY tree felling/dismantling.

(*a risk exacerbated if the trees are diseased with something which affects the strength of the trunk and branches)

In addition, none of the tools 35har1old suggests would assist with disposing of a large quantity of green matter and wood.  Although the wood can often be freecycled away, the green stuff is harder to get rid of.  So the other advantage of getting a professional to do the job is having them shred the trees and taking the waste away.

(Edit:Formatting)

Perhaps this post is in the wrong category (includes DIY) Money Saving

Saving money is not solely about doing it yourself.  Saving money includes understanding when it is more economical to employ someone to do a job for you because they have the skills/equipment to do it safely and/or with less material and/or with lower consequential costs.

Nothing, not even money saving, should trump safety.

Given the circumstances in this case, having a third party (with adequate insurance cover) doing the work is a much better idea than attempting to DIY it.

35har1old

Section62 said:

35har1old said:

Section62 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

35har1old said:

Why involve a tree surgeon these trees are made up of branches which are easily cut with the tools below

 Taking a rough guess at the height being around 3.5M I would tackle them myself

It'll be a surprising quantity of surprisingly heavy timber - it could catch you by surprise. No idea how I know that :-(

I don't blame the OP at all for having a pro in to do this, especially in the awkward circumstances.

This^

Removing trees is riskier than most people would probably imagine, and with a risk* of the trees falling onto the neighbour's property and causing damage it would be better to use a professional, after ensuring they have up-to-date insurance cover for third parties and public liability. 35har1old may feel competent to do the job themselves, but due to the risks involved I think it is unwise for 35har1old to encourage other people to do DIY tree felling/dismantling.

(*a risk exacerbated if the trees are diseased with something which affects the strength of the trunk and branches)

In addition, none of the tools 35har1old suggests would assist with disposing of a large quantity of green matter and wood.  Although the wood can often be freecycled away, the green stuff is harder to get rid of.  So the other advantage of getting a professional to do the job is having them shred the trees and taking the waste away.

(Edit:Formatting)

Perhaps this post is in the wrong category (includes DIY) Money Saving

Saving money is not solely about doing it yourself.  Saving money includes understanding when it is more economical to employ someone to do a job for you because they have the skills/equipment to do it safely and/or with less material and/or with lower consequential costs.

Nothing, not even money saving, should trump safety.

Given the circumstances in this case, having a third party (with adequate insurance cover) doing the work is a much better idea than attempting to DIY it.

Tree surgeon would need to be informed of a possible confrontation before he started the work. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

There was thread on the Consumer Rights board where a poster had hired a tree surgeon to cut over hanging branches and as the surgeon went higher up the trees they went further in to the neighbours side.

The neighbour reported it as criminal damage and the OP ended up signing a community order (probably had their arm twisted by being told they could be prosecuted and the order was a way to avoid that). 

A criminal prosecution would require it to be shown beyond all reasonable doubt and given boundaries seem to be a messy and ambiguous area I wonder how likely it is to achieve that but with a difficult neighbour I'd be ensuring as certain as possible that the trees sit solely on the OP's land and have something to demonstrate that clearly before cutting them down.

The pictures appear to show they do but a picture up the drive towards the front of the two houses might help make that clearer.