Neighbours Trees Too Tall

[scampi]

Please could someone help. My next door neighbour has got two trees in their garden which have grown so tall they are nearly as tall as the house. One is leaning on the fence which divides our houses and is pushing it over. The tree is very close to the house so if it fell over it would land directly on our house.

The trees are blocking all of our natural sunlight and it is awful. We have asked them kindly to cut a bit off of the top to reduce the size but they won't. Do we have any rights to make them cut the top off the trees to make them smaller and to thin them out so light can get through to our garden? If so who do we contact.

Please help! Thanks

[Hammer]

www.gardenlaw.co.uk is a very useful site with loads of knowledgable people lurking about in the forums. Well worth a look.

[landie]

If they are conifers you may be able to get it sorted through the local council. If they are deciduous trees it is more difficult but you should be able to get the offending branch(es) sorted wich are damaging the fence (if it's yours). Talk to your neighbour about it.

You are allowed to prune anything which hangs over into your garden anyway, but be careful to remain on the safe side of the boundary in case you get sued for trimming too far.

[Sasha13]

someting to add to the point made by landie - I heard that if you do chop down branches that are overhanging your property, you then have to put the felled branches back onto their side - otherwise you could be done for theft. I don't know if this is true, but it kind of makes sense I supopse.

[l_h_kings]

Yes Sasha I beleive you are correct, you can prune branches etc that are overhanging onto your property; but you have to throw them back on to their side of the fence.

[samhuzz]

That is true about being able to trim any overhanging branches as long as you throw them back. I work for a local council and regularly have people ringing up with similar problems. I believe some new legislation is being brought in to control the height of trees, and I think this will come in around July. I'd have a word with your local council to see if its the case there. Otherwise have a word with Citizens Advice.

[scampi]

Hiya

I'm the person that posted the question!
Just thought i'd let you know the big tree near the house is a May tree and i don't know the name of the other big one at the end of the garden!
We already cut the May trees overhanging branches and they are fine about that, just they will not cut the top off of it or thin it out to let light in. Apparently in order for the council to make them reduce the height of the tree the amount of light we receive has to be less them 50% or something don't know if this is true?!
We will probably try ringing the council about the trees but it is such a hassle and we don't want to fall out with our neighbours, you know what it is like!

[samhuzz]

well that isn't true about the council being able to make them cut back the trees as there is no legislation in place as yet, unless the trees are fronting the highway and affecting visibility. if you live in a conservation area then the neighbours would also need to apply for consent to cut back the trees which usually takes up to 8 weeks. i'm afraid that unless they are fronting a highway then there is nothing that can be done by a local authority about them, you will have to get advice from citizens advice bureau etc.