Un-neighbourly neighbours and their trees. What to do?

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Un-neighbourly neighbours and their trees. What to do?

24 posts & 20 voices | Started 2 years ago by Nobeerinthefridge | Latest reply from mudshark

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Nobeerinthefridge - Member

A mate of mine has someone next door who has a huge hawthorne at the end of the garden, causing all sorts of problems, you know the usual complaints, light, leaves etc.

He hasn't come out and approached the neighbour as he's pretty sure (due to other neighbours previous experiences, extremely aggressive) that the guy will be a knob, and will then suspect him if something 'happens' to the tree. This tree provides nothing, not even nice to look at due to botched attempts at keeping it in trim over the years.

This guy (the neighbour) has already cut down trees over the back in the farmers field, so he isn't exactly on the right side of the law himself.

I've suggested going to see the local romany (sp?) folks, and giving them 50 quid to go and whack it down when the guy is not there, Thats just my thinking, he's not so sure, he's talked about drilling a few holes in it and putting in something quite unfriendly, to kill the tree.

Any suggestions/experiences?

Hearing stories about the guy, I really don't think diplomacy is gonna cut it with this guy, so how to get rid?!!.

Posted 2 years ago #
Gooner - Member

pour diesel around the roots
or
pour a solution of copper sulphate around the roos
or
lift the bark in a couple of places and hammer a couple of copper nails into the tree and then let the "lifted" bark fall back into place to cover the nails

if you were to go alnong this route make sure the tree is n't protected or in a conservation area

Posted 2 years ago #
BigDummy - Member

Get alpin to pay him a visit.

Posted 2 years ago #
jova54 - Member

The branches that overhang your mates garden he can legitimately lop off provided he gives them back to his neighbour.

Get him to notify his neighbour of his intentions with a timescale that way he should be covered.

What he shouldn't do is just lop branches off and burn/skip them as they are not his property.

As gooner says he should also check whether there is a preservation order in place on the tree. It's unlikely as hawthorns are like weeds but if there is the council can force his neighbour to ensure the tree is properly maintained and not a nuisance.

Posted 2 years ago #
neverfastenuff - Member

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index.htm?lang=1

Just type neighbour disputes into the search box

Posted 2 years ago #
grizzlygus - Member

at the end of the garden, causing all sorts of problems, you know the usual complaints, light, leaves etc.

No, I don't know the usual complaints, what's the problem with a tree having 'leaves' ?

Although your suggestion of offering 50 quid the local romany to engage in criminal activity sounds like an excellent one to me.

Plus it has the added advantage of allowing your mate (the one who wants to pay someone to carry out criminal damage on his behalf) to phone the police when he sees Gypsies cutting down his neighbours tree, and thereby dealing a blow to the local pikeys - a 'double wammy' if you will.

Yeah I reckon your mate should go for it - afterall, there's nothing worst than those who are 'un-neighbourly neighbours' as you put it.

Although of course there is always the possibility that by the same token that your mate (the one who wants to cut down his neighbours tree whilst they're out) found the hawthorne aesthetically displeasing because it is quote : "not even nice to look at due to botched attempts at keeping it in trim " his neighbours might find that they don't like some of the stuff in his garden, and decide to dig them up/destroy them/damage them whilst he's out.

A difficult one this one .......

Posted 2 years ago #
thepurist - Member

He can cut the overhanging branches back as jova said but you only have to offer them back to your neighbour, not chuck them back over the fence or anything. He can also prune the roots at the boundary line if he so chooses, but any pruning (branches or roots) must be done in a competent fashion to avoid killing the tree, otherwise he's liable for criminal damage. He's also committing an offence if he starts drilling holes in it, copper nails, diesel round the base etc etc - same as if your neighbour doesn't like where you put your shed and comes and torches it one night.

Check gardenlaw.co.uk as well - probably more informed (but less entertaining) advice there than here!

Posted 2 years ago #
enfht - Member

Gypos are dodgy, plain and simple, don't let them on your property imo. What if stuff from your garden gets nicked too, where will that leave you? You'd be leaving yourself open to be had over mate cos "de do dat don't dey".

Posted 2 years ago #
samuri - Member

d'ylike dags?

Posted 2 years ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

Irrespective of your final decision, I'd like to point out that pouring diesel in to ground to kill the tree will also kill all the soil invertebrates in the vicinity and pollute a localised area of groundwater for a considerable period of time. Copper sulphate would do a similar thing, but at least it would dilute in time.

Personally, I'd rather you didn't go down that route for the reasons sited above.

Glyphosate on the leaf cover when your neighbour is out for the day will do just as good a job in a more environmentally friendly manner.

Posted 2 years ago #
Joxster - Member

Buy a Beaver and let it loose on the tree.

Posted 2 years ago #
ski - Member

My bro has just about finished a long and I mean long legal battle about trees and a neighbours dispute.

I would seriously think twice about doing anything outside the law in this situation, it could end in a real headache, far worse than the original problem.

Posted 2 years ago #
wellhung - Member

So the blokes a nutter your mates too scared to ask him about the tree, your mate takes the advice to kill the tree. Now said nutter finds the tree poisoned what do you think he'll then do.

i. Think wow the neighbours shafted me oh well didn't like the tree anyway he's done me a favour i'll go round and thank him.

ii. Think i loved that tree i did but hey that neighbour may kick my face in so best not say anything.

iii. Think i've been shafted by neighbour think i'll go round it kick ten bells out of him and continue to do this weekly until he moves.

Pick one but i'll bet it's going to be iii.

Good Luck for your mate though neighbour disputes just fester and get worse IME

Posted 2 years ago #
BillMC - Member

Problem with getting gypsies to murder a tree or murder a person is that then they could blackmail you into paying them a rent for a very long time. I hear they've developed a key that will get past most 5 bar locks. It's called a pi-key. Boom boom!

Posted 2 years ago #
coffeeking - Member

More reasons I'd like to live on a farm in the middle of nowhere

Glyphosate on the leaf cover when your neighbour is out for the day will do just as good a job in a more environmentally friendly manner.

Not in my current experience - im not sure if trees are more susceptible but I've soaked the weeds on my back patio with it 3 weeks in a row and only had about 50% plant death!

I'll repeat it for the sake of completeness - we had a similar problem with a neighbour who refused to cut/trim some 20ft trees that blocked out all of our light and was spreading damaging roots through our garden. Eventually we lifted the fence slightly and drilled tiny holes into the trunk late at night with a portable drill, dripped in glyphosate with a syringe and then lightly packed the holes with mud. Repeat each day (night) for a week or so. Trees died but fortunately the neighbours moved about a month later and the new neighbours wanted the trees gone too so no-one minded! Other option would be to dig down in your garden and poison the roots in teh same manner?

I personally cant see any reason why the neighbour would suspect you if you don't mention it first and it's not obvious that it has been "done" rather than just "happened".

Posted 2 years ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

I expect you used commonly available stuff from a garden centre?

That's a pretty low concentration. That said, Glyphosate is primarily designed for leafy weeds, not woody trees, so my suggestion isn't the best anyway.

Glyphosate has to be applied properly for maximum impact too. Like any systemic it needs a good amount of time to reside on the foliage without rain, so that it can be absorbed.

Posted 2 years ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Ruddy tree murderers! The tree was there before you. tough.

Urban trees do much good and little harm. Leave the thing alone

Posted 2 years ago #
woodsman - Member

'huge hawthorne' is there such a thing. Hawthorn being a small tree! Prune it correctly, ask your neighbour if he minds if you do it....can't see what damage a small tree like a Hawthorn can do at the end of a garden?

Pics?

Cut the branches close to the trunk, not part sticking out - so that it looks like something you could walk up!

Posted 2 years ago #
coffeeking - Member

Ruddy tree murderers! The tree was there before you. tough.

In our case, no it wasnt

Must admit I was rather dismayed when my neighbour recently demolished 8 nice BIG trees (40ft+) that all the animals and birds played in because it was dropping leaves on their garden.

SO - yes, B&Q stuff. Seems bloody useless despite me following the rules on teh tin. That said, when I cut some branches of a manic ivy thats taking over the side of the house and dipped them in it the ivy was pretty much dead overnight!

Posted 2 years ago #
thegreatape - Member

cos "de do dat don't dey".

Gypsies = scousers ???

Posted 2 years ago #
allankelly - Member

Those of you suggesting that anything rational will come out of talking to the to the neighbour - you're lucky you've never lived next to this particular flavour of loony. Like getting into a car, gardens bring out the very worst in certain people. It's very very unpleasant.

Having said that, taking matters into your own hands is asking for trouble - you'll be technically wrong and you're opening yourself up to proper trouble.

IME, you're stuffed. I certainly appear to be with my current idiot neighbour.

al.

Posted 2 years ago #
mudshark - Member

I'm busy cutting down various Leylandii trees that the previous owner let grow too tall for some reason - mostly in the hedge; also lowered the hedge by 2 feet to give my neighbour more light...I'm a nice neighbour! Unfortunately someone thought it would be fun to let 5 leylandii in the middle of the back garden get too big for anyone other than a pro to handle and I ain't paying £300 to £400 per tree to get rid of those!

Posted 2 years ago #
coffeeking - Member

How big are those laylandii mudshark?! They'd have to be pretty damn big to need to call in a pro. Our next door neighbour has one that's about 50ft (WAYY taller than the houses around it, trunk about 3ft diameter). I wouldnt touch that

Posted 2 years ago #
mudshark - Member

Well I don't know - less than 50ft I'm sure - maybe 35 to 40ft? Some of the trunks are massive. The one I did myself was a good ft in diameter and maybe about 30ft tall but nothing compared to the big boys - you can barely see it in this photo from when we had that mad snow! Its a straggly one in the background between the big trees.

Edit - just gone outside for a look and the big one on the left fits the 50ft high/3ft trunc diameter description well. How high can these things get?

Posted 2 years ago #

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