Neighbour damages our conifers, now wants them removed

[intree]

Hi

 

We have been living at our address for 8 years, our neighbours over the back fence have been there 14 years, when we bought the house there were very high conifers over 10mtr high, we had them cut down to 4Mtrs and have maintained this since 2008, last year the neighbour over the fence advised us to remove the trees as they wanted to put up a fence and wall, to which we advised we could not agree, as they Trees did not affect their enjoyment and were a reasonable height and are 30ft away from their house and in the middle of their garden.

 

This year while we were away we came back to find that the Neighbour has cut back the trees, beyond our boundary and also within our boundary, we have informed him that this is illegal and that our trees are now dying, he has written back and advised me that we have to bring them down and remove them, and if that is not acceptable we have to bring them down to 6ft, we feel that :|we have complied with the legal requirements over the last 8 years and the trees are not a nuisance but he wants to remove them to satisfy his whim, which over the last 14 years he has said nothing about.

 

I have been in touch with the Insurance Company, they advised that we have no legal cover, but the Neighbour has trespassed by removing branches beyond his boundary and cutting into live wood, causing the trees to die back!

 

I have been advised by him that he will approach the council and he will demand the trees be cut down to 6ft, he is ignoring the damage he has done, and has stated that he is entitled to remove brambles and

he is entitled to remove anything which was over 2meters he could view from his garden, so I am very annoyed.

 

Please can someone help me do a letter to write to the neighbour as I am a loss at to what he is now trying to do, as he has already damaged the trees.

 

Thank you

[labrat]

personally i would bill him for replacement of the trees

 

he is not entitled to cut them down to 2m at all

 

as long as they dont block light to his house council wont get involved

[intree]

Thank you Labrat

 

How do I write up this in a letter which would have some legal basis.

[CraigMcK]

Thank you Labrat

 

 

 

How do I write up this in a letter which would have some legal basis.

 

 

 

There a regulations available online regarding the height of trees and distance from houses. Have used it before. If you google it I am sure you will find the document. I've got a feeling it was linked on a council website, probably inside the planning area

[citizenB]

You might want to look to your local council and their policy on conifer hedges - or perhaps speak to someone within the council.

 

I think that there are indeed height restrictions in residential areas and 2 metres might be correct. Trees etc, that over hang a neighbours property can be chopped back as long as the branches/fruit are returned to the owner and presumably that they are carefully trimmed back and dont damage the actual tree.

 

I will have a googly and see what I can come up with.

[citizenB]

As the only answer I found was on an advertising site, I am going to send the link to you by private message.

[citizenB]

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/38/pdfs/ukpga_20030038_en.pdf.

 

This is the legislation and the part you require is Part 8 - High Hedges.

 

Apparently you could be found guilty of Anti Social behaviour if your Hedges are too high

[intree]

https://www.gov.uk/.../attachment_data/file/9408/hedgeheight.pdf

 

found this which clarifies the distances and right to light, but the issue is the neighbour has already chopped back my hedge "WITHOUT" permission and damaged the hedge, 2 ft into my boundary.

 

I am not sure that the law regarding this is as clear cut as mentioned but need advice hence the post!

[intree]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hedge-height-and-light-loss

[citizenB]

It doesnt appear to give CLEAR guidance, does it

 

I think your neighbour was wrong to take the action he has. He should have discussed the position with you - written formally if you didnt come to some compromise, then either taken legal action (very expensive) or make a complaint to the LA. I think they now charge £250.00 to investigate.

 

It is my understanding he can lop back branches that overhang his garden. I am not too sure he can cut your trees down and cause damage the way he has, might have been a step too far !!

[intree]

Thank you CitizenB I have confirmed with the council, they have stated that if the hedge was all along his 100ft garden (even though it is only 20ft deep) The hedge only forms a 12 ft height along the middle of his garden and is only 30ft long, hence he still has 70ft of garden for his enjoyment and none of his windows are blocked, they advise if he puts in a claim through the council he will have to pay 350, even then they will have to take all the above into consideration.

 

I have been in touch with which legal - they have advised I write to the neighbour and complain and ask them to replace the hedge, up to the Boundary and keep this in place as was.

 

They also advised that they must now be put on notice of the damage and if they do not pay up then to take further advice ref: a legal claim.

 

But just want to know how I now go about this as which legal will not advise of this as they will only give advice not take instruction's for a claim.

[citizenB]

I am pleased to hear that you are getting somewhere with this. Excellent news from the council

 

I will ask those on the site team what you will need to do regards claiming for the damage done by your neighbour, but I think the process is as follows.

 

You should write to your neighbour - explain that his actions will not be supported by the Local Authority and, having taken legal advice you are now requesting that he repair the damage/compensate you for the damage done.

 

Explain that if he does not, then you will be forced to commence legal proceedings.

 

Give him say 14 days to respond to this letter.

 

If he either doesnt respond or refuses to acknowledge he is in the wrong and compensate you then you would issue a Letter before Action. Basically this is just a copy of your original letter but headed LETTER BEFORE ACTION and this time you would be requesting a response within 7 days or legal action will take place without further notice.

 

You would then start a claim using MCOL (Money Claim Online). You will need to pay a fee and I have posted a couple of links below so that you can see what you will need to do

 

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

 

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

 

Hope this helps.

[intree]

Thank you for your kind and sincere help CitizenB

[citizenB]

You are welcome, just shout if there is anything else you think we can do to help

[Kraken1]

I don't want to throw a damp flannel on anything, but having read so far it's not clear to me that you have a bullet proof claim. It may just be that without a diagram I can't really see the two sides or what exactly happened. How tall were the hedges before they were scalped? Are they on a boundary? Did he come on to your property to attack them?

 

Also, before suing consider that this is your neighbour and that any disputes like this can have wide ranging consequences. For example, if you needed to sell your home for some reason you will need to disclose it. If you don't intend to sell in the foreseeable future, you still need to live next door. Ask whether you are willing to risk creating an extremely unpleasant home environment.

[ericsbrother]

It is clear that your neighbour has a cock-eyed understanding of the law that was brought in regarding Leylandii to give neighbours some rights to enjoyment of their property. As you have spoken to the council it is clear that those particular considerations do not apply but your neighbour obviously thinks that something does. The talk of a 2 metre height is for fences so I bet he has confused the 2 different sets of rules. It will be extremely difficult to reason with someone so I would be writing to him and giving him a final chance to make good otherwise you will have to employ a surveyor and tree expert to make a claim and these costs will be added to any claim against him. If he disagrees then ask him if he wants to split the costs of employing a surveyor and agree to be bound by the findings of the survey. That is normally enough to make people consider whether they are being reasonable as you can show a court, if necessary, that you have tried to settle the dispute before issuing a claim and that goes a long way with a judge as they hate boundary disputes.

[farmlama]

the rules on high hedges can be confusing, but there is bits that put the hedge at a maximum height of 2 meters, but it all depends on if it is blocking light from north/south etc and distance and position to the property and windows. a hedge 10 meters behind your neighbours garden if south facing and running parallel to the property and on flat ground (no hills) would have a maximum height of 2.5 meters, but heights vary and theres various calculations to use.

 

 

as for cutting them bak, the neighbour has the right to cut back to their boundary line but not beyond, but to claim any damages for this I assume it would have to be a court battle.

[ericsbrother]

tress are not hedges. different laws covering leylandii specifically.

[farmlama]

if there are 2 or more conifer trees beside each other then they are classed as a hedge and covered by high hedge laws. infact most hedges are trees just cut and maintained to be a hedge, but unless they are conifers there is no law to state how high they can grow.

[Desdamona]

Intree , have there been any further developments?

[intree]

It is clear that your neighbour has a cock-eyed understanding of the law that was brought in regarding Leylandii to give neighbours some rights to enjoyment of their property. As you have spoken to the council it is clear that those particular considerations do not apply but your neighbour obviously thinks that something does. The talk of a 2 metre height is for fences so I bet he has confused the 2 different sets of rules. It will be extremely difficult to reason with someone so I would be writing to him and giving him a final chance to make good otherwise you will have to employ a surveyor and tree expert to make a claim and these costs will be added to any claim against him. If he disagrees then ask him if he wants to split the costs of employing a surveyor and agree to be bound by the findings of the survey. That is normally enough to make people consider whether they are being reasonable as you can show a court, if necessary, that you have tried to settle the dispute before issuing a claim and that goes a long way with a judge as they hate boundary disputes.

 

 

I have now commenced legal action and sent a letter before action letter, as the trees have started dying and not regrowing where they have hacked them, the Trees are on our boundary and they have come into our boundary by 3 to 4 ft.

 

They have refused to deal with us and are ignoring our letters since March 2014 the conservative councillor who came round has not sent anything in writing as he promised, so we have ignored his contact as he told us he would put matters in writing.

 

We have given them 14 Days to respond and then will issue a claim..

[renegadeimp]

Do you have expert testimony to what you have stated so far, because should it go to court, you will need professional evidence as proof, then the judge will look more favourably on you.

[intree]

Yes we have photographic evidence and will be obtaining a report from a tree surgeon prior to issuing the claim, we have asked the neighbours to come up with proposals to sort this out in a LBA letter, but we doubt they will respond as they just dont seem to be bothered, but their act was a criminal act, we could have involved the police but did not wish to escalate this, but more recently they have been making no attempts to rectify the damage done!

[intree]

UPDATE

 

This matter was taken to the Council by the neighbour,

the Council rejected their complaint,

sighting that the trees had been damaged so much by them that no remedial action or any action to reduce the height would be taken, as the trees were now dying.

 

So do we now take this to court as we have this report and the Neighbours have said they don't care,

if they are taken to Court they are on benefits and will only pay £1.00 per week,

so don't know what to do! yet they had the £350 to take us to the Council?

 

We have been advised it will cost £1100 to remove and replace the trees for the same height as the council has recommended we keep the height to 4M

and not the 2M they wanted, If they are replaced !

 

Thanks

[citizenB]

Do they own their own property, intree ? If so, then you could possibly obtain a charging order against them?

 

Did they actually have to pay the £350.00 to the Council, perhaps there is an exemption for those on benefits!

 

Have the council offered any suggestions as to what action you should take ?

 

It looks like you have already sent a Letter before Action, so you are not being unreasonable to issue a claim with no further notice.

 

I will add this to your other S.O.S for andyorch.. I don't think he is around at the moment..