trees impeding property

[littlegriff]

i have a tree at the bottom of my garden, last week the neighbour opposite trimmed the tree as the branches where interferring with his tv aerial, i was fine with this. but last night when i came home he has sawn my tree down it is now around 8ft when i went round to find out what was going on he said the tree was blocking the sun from his garden so he has chopped it down. can he do this, i have phoned the council but he is ok to do it if impeding his property but how can blocking sunlit go into this catergory

[redcrx]

He has no right to do that, i dont understand how the council could say he was entitled to do it.
He should have asked permission from you unless it was on his side of the boundary.

Im not sure what you can do now that he has cut the tree down, has he cut it correctly and not damaged the tree.

[littlegriff]

looks like he has chainsawed though the trunk. Not damaged whats left but how do i know when i go out tonight it will be there when i come back. should i nip down to the police and ask them or will i look stupid

[redcrx]

not sure the police would be concerned or whether its just a civil matter, but it wont hurt to ask the question of them.

There is no such thing as right to light in the garden area though.

[littlegriff]

thanks redcrx, will phone citizens advice, then nip down to front desk it as destruction of property as far as im concerned,

[brenda]

Disgraceful, what a nasty man.

1.Did he have to come onto your property to cut the tree , or could he reach fromhis garden?
2.As others have said he has no entitlement to light in his garden , and no right whatsoever to demolish your tree without your agreement.
3.even if the branches overhang his property he should have indicated his intention to remove them , and in this
case of
the tv reception youwould have agreed.
4. the cut off branches should then be offered back to you , not that you would want them before disposal. they are legally yours.
5. the council is talking out of theirbackside and clearly do not want to be involved , so you could chase them up as well and go for the jugular.They must havea tree officer or some such person.
6 See your Cab as suggested for advice.
7 get a free 1/2 hour appt with a solicitor for advice.

I do not know your circumstances or anything about your life , but I would not be able to just let this go.
I would go as far as getting a solicitor to write to him , telling him that you will be ordering a replacement tree and having it planted and cost will be down to him as compensation for damaged caused.

However that is easy for me to say , he is not my neighbour and you know him better than I, also you are in the community and I am not.

Finally providing the tree is not completely ruined it will grow again butwill takea long time to do so.whatever you do I wish you well Brenda.

[LoftyLottie]

Surely, this actually amounts to trespass and damage upon your property? I think it needs a solicitors letter as advised by Brenda.

The Council has done what most council's do. They don't want to get involved. As others have said there is no right to light in a garden area.

[littlegriff]

thanks brenda and lofty, i am taking this further, he only been lively there 6 weeks so dont care what he thinks.

luckly on my side i have regular photos of the kids in the garden so the tree can be seen in full bloom,

[brenda]

Go for it little griff-----do please let us know how you get on.If you want the heavymob to come round as well I am sure there are lotsof us here who love trees..Good luck.

[redcrx]

oooh he sounds like hes going to be fun to deal with. What a nerve to move in and start damaging your property. I wonder if its just you or if hes making himself known to other neighbours too.

Id have weedkilled his lawn by now :)

[factor-fiction]

Get a big burly workman to turn up with some ladders in his garden and say you are going to chop down his TV aeriel as it is blocking your light.
Seriously though, he is in the wrong but what action do you want to be taken? It's too late to get the tree back so i suppose you just want to make life awkward for him (no harm in that! except relationships will never be good)

[buildersmate]

As others have pointed out this is a civil matter so the police won't be interested.
Your recourse is to sue him as Brenda says, but the issue is less about winning the case, more about extracting the money that you might win.

[KARL]

For more than 20 years I have had the same problem you have. Neighbours of ours (a small group in a row of terraced houses) are doing their best to control and manipulate the view seen from their windows. One was prosecuted and convicted for criminal damage (yes, the police were interested - 20 years ago). He had not long moved into his house and apparently was going to show what he was made of. More recently, while we were away one lot conned a councillor into ordering two trees cut down on the misinformed basis that they were on council land - yes, these neighbours are separated from us by a strip of council land. Now they sneak onto our land covertly and cut trees down to below 2m height. As there are no witnesses, the police are powerless to do anything, although this is most certainly criminal damage. The argument was always that the trees obstruct light but that is entirely fallacious because they are due north from the windows and the closest are 15m or so away. The trees in question are squarely on our land and there is no council order (as there might be under certain circumstances) to keep them trimmed. Some people simply have no respect for the difference between right and wrong when it is a matter of their self centred motives.

[LoftyLottie]

Builders Mate, if a tree is cut down on your property without permission it is classed as criminal damage (as advised by our solicitor) and you can contact the police. The police will try and tell you it is a civil matter but it isn't.

[R1Geezer]

did he have to come onto your land to cut the tree? If so It's tresspass too, not criminal but certainly a bit of sport to be had!

[buildersmate]

Thanks, Loftie, for putting me right on that one. Didn't know that.

[cassa333]

You or your neighbour has no right to a tv or satalite signal and other than some spacific instances no right to light or a view.

Your neighbour is allowed to cut back any overhang up to the boundry and must OFFER you the clippings back which you do not have to accept. They would then have to dispose of. To cut back any further or lop hight from the tree is criminal damage.

If you gave your neighbour permission to 'trim' your tree, especialy without defining in writing what this would entail, then it is unlikely that a criminal damage claim would stand.

Perhaps he misunderstood or was misinformed of these rules and those of the high hedge and fence rules.