[sellickbhoy]

Hello everyone, long time no speak!!

hope everyone is well.

Anyway, i just wanted a quick bit of advice from some of you good people

tree/hedge disputes with neighbours

i have 4/5 tress on the property boundary with my neighbour. they are about 30ft high and have been there since i bought the house 3 years ago. They haven't grown since we moved in

my neighbour lives in the 1st floor of the building and i live in the ground floor, they have the land to one side of this tree/fence line, i have the other side

neighbour is now insisting I cut the trees back, stating they should be no higher than the height of the flat roof extension coming out of the back of my ground floor property

she claims the trees block her view - which may be true, but it's an issue that existed for more than the 3 years since i've lived here and she's only brought it up tonight

i've no problem cutting them back now that she has "asked" but it was teh way that she asked that will see me doing nothing until i get a solicitors letter from her. Of course, if there is no need to cut it back, then i'm doing nothing!

the next thing i need your thoughts/advice on.........i have a lot of old wood that I am drying before chopping up to use as firewood - it's mostly fallen branches i've picked up walking the dog. I have stacked the wood up at the side of my house (along the extension mentioned above) and it sits there nicely between the fence between our properties (which is about 5 feet high) and my extension. the gap between the building and the fence is about 1 metre

I want to put a roof over the wood - to keep the worst of the rain of it, so I'm planning on just putting come corrugated plastic sheeting up between my house and the fence.

Will i need planning for this? it won't have any walls/doors but will be slightly higher than the existing fence

many thanks for all your thoughts and advice........needless to say, there has been a BIG argument with my neighbour tonight, so I reckon there will be many complaints from her on a daily basis now. so just wanted to prepare myself.....the CAB is shut on a saturday night!

[doganjo]

Hi Chris
Good to see you back. 
 
Cover for the woodshed first - I think if you don't have sides and a door, and it's only a roof attached to a fence it won't need planning, especially as it is plastic.  I'm thinking of doing the same with mine, but I'm worried that the corrugated plastic may not survive the winter if we have snow like last years.  Might put something more substantial on, or just use a tarp and pin it down well.  I don't have a neighbour problem though.
As to the trees - would it maybe benefit you too if they were pollarded?  Let more light into your garden so you could grow more?  Yes, they've been horrid about it but sometimes it's worth doing something if you're going to actually have more benefit than they are?  See what I mean?  Getting the better of them by doing as they ask?

I love getting the better of someone without them realising it.   Being clever about things.   

Are the trees actually yours, or are they shared?  Are they of value, in good condition?  Maybe the Council might be interested in putting TPOs on them if you want to keep them?  Then your neighbour couldn't have them taken down or trimmed without the permission of the Council.
Hope that helps?

[sellickbhoy]

Hi Annie

I'm good thanks......I have some HUGE news.........my wife is expecting a little baby sellickbhoy in 6 weeks!!!

I'm trying to remember when i was last on here, but i'll give you a quick history........


almosy exactly 2 years ago, i started my own fruit and veg business - although i didn't start trading until January 2010 - the business has gone well, but it meant all my time was taken up, so i didn't grow anything at all this year. well, i had some garlic - which i planted the year before, some strawberries, rhubarb and blackberries

last August, I got married to mrs sellickbhoy

this july i sold mylocal5aday (anyone interested in a fruit and veg "franchise" - very cheapm all areas except falkirkm, west lothian edinburgh and fife available!

so, this winter, i am back to preparing the raised beds, scrounging another greenhouse, and planning to get my chickens in - FINALLY

anyway, i should be back a bit more often now :-)

as for the trees...they are mine (they are on my side of the fenceline anyway!)

but they don't block any sunlight from my garden really, due to the position of the house - they actually nicely enclose my garden and from late morning to sunset, the sun comes nicely into my garden - of course, this blocks light from her garden but NOT from her house - as it is above mine.

also, the top half of the garden nearer the house is for practical thigns like BBQ;s, hot tubs and mohitos on sunny days, hanging washing up - it's just a smal area and the big "growing" part of the garden is about 50 yards away from the house on the other side of the garage/driveway

i don't think i'd get a tree protection order - there is nothing special about them - and living in the country, we are surrounded by trees, so cropping one won't upset the environment too much!

as for the woodshed........store.......i had one on the other side of the extension last year and when the snow came off the roof, it went straight through the plastic - wood was soaked. plastic destroyed

so this year, as well us putting a lot more struts under the plastic to support it, i am also putting some old scaffold boards on top of the plastic to protect it if the snow comes again

[bazzais]

No question.

Id organise to get the trees cut and ask them to go halfs for the cost as a starting point, and work back.

Loosing ( or  trimmings of) a tree or two (if they dont actually serve any purpose at that height) is the least of your worries compared to living with a neighbour that hates your guts and makes everything impossible.

Trim the trees and put them in your new shelter

Baz

[sellickbhoy]

cheers Baz

but to be honest, if not cutting the trees down makes her life a misery - then i'm all for it!

i haven't exchanged a word with her since the last really bad snowfall in feb - when she came to complain about me allowing a neighbour to park outside my house (on the public highway) as they were unable to get into their own driveway (100 yard long driveway under 3ft of snow and they had spent the previous night sleeping in their car on the A9 as they struggled to drive back here from inverness)

i'm quite prepared to put up with her being a (expletive deleted!)

it won't affect my life one way or another

however, if I am required by law to do it, then i will.

[doganjo]

Ooh, congrats, Chris!  We will need photos of both the wedding and the baby when he arrives (he?  baby sellickBHOY?)

I agree with Baz, I'd cut them back and keep peace with the neighbours.  But I think you'd be surprised what trees the council put TPOs on.  I still have a wee plot up the road and on applying for planning they sent an environmentalist out to check the site when one of my neighbours up there decided the three old Beech trees should stay put.  So now we are in the process of trying again - with TPOs on those three and also a Larch tree that I planted the year John died - 2003!  We have re-jigged the layout to put in an L shaped house and hopefully will be allowed to take the larch down if we put in a planting plan.  So if you want an excuse to keep them I'd check with the Council.
So what are you doing instead of the veg boxes now?  Pop round and have a chat sometime.

[robert waddell]

it cant just be the trees that has caused her to fester or the car parked
i know the area and 3 trees wont be missed but if it were me i would not touch them
 

[doganjo]

it cant just be the trees that has caused her to fester or the car parked
i know the area and 3 trees wont be missed but if it were me i would not touch them
 

3 beech trees that continually drop their branches all over our lane up there wouldn't 't be missed either(see below) - didn't stop my interfering neighbour speaking to the council and suggesting they put TPOs on them

[meebh]

Neighbours are only put on this earth to complain!!! 

Unfortunately I can really understand your situation as we have had car parking complaints and environmental health re our chooks.  Needless to say EH were amazing and have now closed the case and we still have our chooks!!  I have now concluded that she must be 'off her heid' as she has accused us of covering her car in dust from our feed bags in the summer despite living in an area where tractors and buses are kicking up stoor all day long.  Then she decided that the starlings were only sitting on her overhead power cables because we have hens???

To be honest if she only complained about one thing I maybe would take her seriously but as she is a 'serial complainer' I take no notice. If I listened to her every complaint and took it seriously I would have no time in a day to do anything else. 

I have no advice for you but have every sympathy for your situation.  Sounds like you too have stumbled upon the 'busybody' of the community. 

[HappyHippy]

Hiya Chris - glad you're doing well and CONGRATULATIONS to both of you 

I know what you mean about just letting her get on with it and not taking notice, but Mrs SB will have to spend a fair bit of time at home once the baby arrives and don't underestimate exactly how much hell nasty neighbours can bestow upon you  Talking from experience here  I couldn't even let my kids out to play because of mad claims my 'nutter next door' was making  and it always seems worse when you're tired or stressed (both of which you WILL be once the new baby arrives)
If you can find any way back to a better relationship with her - it would be worth doing, honest ! I'm very stubborn when I want to be, but it's very easy to get bogged down with this kind of dispute and before you know it there's this overwhelming feeling of resentment and negativity - it does impact on your life eventually.
What are you going to gain by fighting about this anyway ? A moral victory ? Knowing that you 'won' ? Is it really worth all the aggro ? Don't want to offend you, but that's the way I see it 

Glad you're back and look forward to seeing some piccies 

[suziequeue]

but to be honest, if not cutting the trees down makes her life a misery - then i'm all for it!

??

Why??

Be the bigger man sellickbhoy. Be gracious and act with kindness in your heart 

[Fronhaul]

Ok this wasn't my area when I was in law but if my student memory (and we are talking English law not Scots)serves me correctly your neighbour is entitled to cut back any part of the trees that overhang her land but she must return the cut branches to you.

Let her go to a solicitor and then be all reasonableness and light.  Offer to go to mediation on the basis she will have to pay for this and smile sweetly throughout.  You could even offer to cut back the overhanging branches for her if she pays the costs but my guess is she will give up long before things reach this stage.

But before starting on this do make sure that your wife is happy about the potential fall out.  I have been in a house with a small baby and a complaining neighbour next door and it isn't a pleasant experience.

[lachlanandmarcus]

If it's a hedge, you can be forced to reduce the height. If it's trees, the neighbour can remove (and return to you) any overhanging branches.

I wonder if the issue is where the light is - ie the trees might provide amenity to your garden but block sunlight to her garden. It is reasonable of you to want to keep the trees; however it is also reasonable of her to request that they are trimmed back so that either light can filter through between branches or the height is such that she still gets light into her garden.

It sounds as though the way the complaint has been presented has made matters a lot worse but you definitely need to put that to one side. On this occasion at least. You have way more important stuff to be sweating about right now with wee un on the way! The temptation is to say ';yes exactly and im not doing it, but actually you dont lose face by doing it; only you can make you feel like you have 'lost'',

So....I would speak to said neighbour and find out whether it is the height or just the density of the trees that is causing a problem, and then I would do some work on them to address the concerns. Not because you perhaps legally have to but because they are your trees and she feels they are spoiling her garden and because we all want a quiet life. And photograph before and after to show what they were like.

OF course if you do this and then it is followed by other, ever more spurious complaints, then you will have the moral high ground to then say, Im sorry but you are not being reasonable.

[SallyintNorth]

I once had a neighbour whose tree grew to block all sunlight from my garden apart from one 5' square in the corner by the back step for about two hours a day (in the summer, no sunlight at all winter.)  (Mine wasn't a very large garden and it was a very large tree!)  I investigated what were my options and was told that in England there is no 'right to light' and that as the tree did not overhang my garden there was absolutely nothing I could do.

So if you want to play hard ball then Fronhaul's advice sounds like the thing to do.

However, as everyone has said, it is no fun at all living next door (or under) a neighbour with whom you are having a vendetta. 

If it were me I would try to have a conversation with the neighbour.  I would say that I don't mind if the neighbour wants to cut the trees down to the level of my extension roof and that I would want the cuttings for firewood (if you do.)   

When having tricky conversations with firey people I try to remember these two bits of advice that were given to me.
1.  Don't use adverbs or other emphasising parts of speech.  (This is easier when writing, it's harder to edit what's just come out of your mouth!)  For instance, "Your dog has been barking all night" feels less aggressive than "Your flea-ridden mongrel has been barking his head off every single hour of darkness". 
2.  Whoever loses their temper has lost.  If you both lose your tempers you have both lost. 

[Rosemary]

I agree that a conciliatory approach will reap rewards in the long run. Life's too short to go round falling out with folk.