Neighbours oak tree is excluding light from our garden

First thing is to see if there is a Tree Preservation Order on it.
Not sure but don’t think there is a right to light law.

You may have a better chance of getting the hedge reduced. See The High Hedges Act

You can only have a right to windows in buildings, not land that isn’t built on. You could claim a right to light for a greenhouse if you could demonstrate that it had enjoyed unobstructed light for 20 years.

If the hedge is comprised of leylandii, it sounds as though they are at the maximum height of 2 metres allowed by law but your local council may decide that they should be shorter and order them to be trimmed.

I would suggest your best bet is to ask to speak to the practice manager to see if something can be negotiated.

I’m in the same situation with a giant sycamore at the end of my neighbour’s garden. Hard to explain, but it’s position at the end of their garden, at an angle to their house doesn’t affect them. Unfortunately as the sun goes round it puts about 80% of my garden in shade at one time or another. I’m fortunate in having a big garden, so I can always find a sunny spot if I want one. It’s the keys and leaves that bother me most, as most are dumped in my garden. The first few garden refuse collections are just leaves, which I have collected in bin bags and overwintered behind my shed.
It’s so big, I don’t think it will actually grow much more in my lifetime - perhaps all I can hope for is a lightening strike!

You can' do a thing and they know it. You'll go grey and poor trying. If you get the council involved and you try to sell it will go against you.

I had a tree surgeon out to look at my problem tree. I’d looked up the reasons to have a tree removed and even if it’s causing subsidence to your house the tree is still more important. There is a loose branch that is dangerous and that is the responsibility of my neighbour so I’m going to write to him. If I had my time again I would never have bought a house surrounded by trees. All I do is clear away pine needles, my driveway is lifting up, I worry about the roots damaging the water pipes and the pigeons that roost in it poo everywhere. I can’t keep my bins down the side of the house because of them. Everything in my garden grows sideways ( if it grows at all). It cost me £700 a few years ago to have the branches cut back, and they hardly took anything off.

I feel for you but you are in difficult situation , as for the conifer hedge............ don't get me started -I hate them !! I doubt there is anything you can do but I wish you good luck.
Please keep posting and let us know if you make progress.

If it's a doctors surgery I wouldn't think they'd be overbothered about cutting the hedge down to size. If it's 12ft high and the 'legal' height for it is 2 metres then it's nearly double the height it should be.

I don't know what could be done about the oak tree, but I think it would be really worth talking to them about it, you might find them quite amenable; they probably have no idea about the distress their tree and hedge are causing.

Firstly approach them to see if they will reduce the hedge, leylandii are a real nuisance and the roots can form a long fibrous rope which could go down your drains and soakaways.

You could mention the tree which is causing you problems at the same time although it does seem a great pity to chop down a mature oak.
I do know what a nuisance the leaves can be in autumn - we get leaves from everyone else's trees piling up in our garden.

If I had my time again I would never have bought a house surrounded by trees

No, they're lovely but in the right place.
Contact the Tree Officer at the local Council to find out if it has a TPO.

I do sympathise with anyone with tree issue having been in tricky situations with neighbours constantly over trees. We moved into a house with a gorgeous garden with oak trees at the rear of the garden. We did not know until we signed contracts the trees had a preservation order. We both worked full time often when we arrived home our garden had been interfered with. There would be burnt out fires and the smell of creosote thrown everywhere.
None of the neighbours actually complained about the trees to us so we didn’t know who was causing the damage. If we would have known we could have tried to come to some sort of arrangement. We had to move as I was not happy being there knowing someone was doing such things on our property.
We moved to another house years later and had nothing but trouble from day one with a neighbour over conifers. We obliged and had them cut down considerably every year our neighbour was never happy. We ended up spending a few thousand pounds having them taken down completely.
Now the very same neighbour has the tallest trees in his garden but we won’t complain about them. I have had my fill of neighbours about trees my advice just try and talk with neighbours and come to some sort of compromise.

I don’t think you can do much about the tree, the Leylandii hedge really ought to be controlled if you have a word with the practice manager and negotiate action, I don’t suppose it matters much to them how high the hedge is.

Did you not see a 20ft oak tree next door when viewing your property?
As a keen gardener surely you must have known how big they can grow.

If I had my time again I would never have bought a house surrounded by trees

I wish more people would consider how they feel about darker gardens/leaves because of trees before they move.

We have had people climb in and damage trees too. We did discover who it was though as we caught the culprit in next-door's garden with a chainsaw, butchering a perfect Normandy Poplar.
I called over the fence to him and he said he was working with permission of the council. It turned out he'd called the council and said he wanted to cut down/back a tree and gave the address of our next door neighbour. They said there was no reason why not as there wasn't a preservation order on it. They assumed he was the owner of the address!
He butcherd it so badly it looked dreadful. The owners then took it down.

My opinion is that it's unreasonable to expect neighbours to remove or cut trees that were obvious when you moved in. I would learn to live with it and if I really couldn't I would probably move.

MerylStreep

Did you not see a 20ft oak tree next door when viewing your property?
As a keen gardener surely you must have known how big they can grow.

Sounds unkind, but yes.

We had a meadow at the back of us, and a tall mixed hedge at the side. Neighbour built on the land, and the bungalow put next to us was only 5 foot from boundary. And the people who bought it went on and on and on and on some more- about the mixed hedge stealing their light and elderberrie staining the patio.

When we pointed out the hedge was there 30 years ago, the day they started building, the day they came to see the bungalow the first time, and the second, the day they agreed to buy, and signed the contract and moved in... they said 'we bought that one because it was cheaper than the others' !

They have long gone now, and the hedge has gone as it was taken out by new owners.

I expect the conifer hedge that is twelve foot high may be easier to address than the oak. Hedges can be 2 metres tall without being subject to the High Hedges legislation. We keep ours to 2 metres for that reason. I suggest you speak to the surgery about this as a first step.

Fleurpepper I think that was a horrible situation. I wonder why the people took the hedge out eventually- were they ground down by the neighbours?

I do know it can be annoying though - I put up with my neighbour's thousands of sycamore seeds/leaves and bloomin' seedlings every year - as it's a very old tree and was there before me.

TBH, I'm a bit dubious about the OP's estimates of the heights of the tree and the hedges. Oaks don't grow 20ft in 12 years.

I wouldn't put anything past a leylandii, though. They're arboreal mile a minute vines..

NotSpaghetti

^If I had my time again I would never have bought a house surrounded by trees^

I wish more people would consider how they feel about darker gardens/leaves because of trees before they move.

We have had people climb in and damage trees too. We did discover who it was though as we caught the culprit in next-door's garden with a chainsaw, butchering a perfect Normandy Poplar.
I called over the fence to him and he said he was working with permission of the council. It turned out he'd called the council and said he wanted to cut down/back a tree and gave the address of our next door neighbour. They said there was no reason why not as there wasn't a preservation order on it. They assumed he was the owner of the address!
He butcherd it so badly it looked dreadful. The owners then took it down.

My opinion is that it's unreasonable to expect neighbours to remove or cut trees that were obvious when you moved in. I would learn to live with it and if I really couldn't I would probably move.

A house now would not be allowed to be built next to such a huge tree. When you’re in your twenties, have been brought up in the inner city and buy your first house you really don’t think about the problems you might face further down the line. In fact we were down to buy a newly built bungalow at the time but my ex was angry that the builder had pulled down some established trees that would have been in the garden. If you’ve never lived next to a huge tree before you just see it for what it is, which is, of course, a beautiful tree. The farmer then planted Lelandi all around us which he later removed, his tree of choice becoming Sycamores. When the wind blows and the tree sways over the roof of my house it terrifies my neighbours but, thankfully I can’t see it. A neighbour further down has a tree that takes up all of his garden. When he tried to get it removed another neighbour who was on the parish council put a preservation order on it. It’s all very well loving trees, which we all do, but another thing having to live with them. I have to pay to have my gutters cleaned twice a year and the bird poo has rotted my bedroom windows which I’ve had to have replaced. I had to switch to another insurance company because the original one refused to insure me because of the tree. I doubt if anyone would buy the house but the farmer will probably put in a ridiculous offer and then rent it out, which is what he has done with the house down the road.

MaizieD
That was my first thought but I didn’t know the facts.

Fleurpepper
My comment pales into insignificance when the OP is considering cutting down an Oak tree.

NotSpaghetti

Fleurpepper I think that was a horrible situation. I wonder why the people took the hedge out eventually- were they ground down by the neighbours?

I do know it can be annoying though - I put up with my neighbour's thousands of sycamore seeds/leaves and bloomin' seedlings every year - as it's a very old tree and was there before me.

It was bought to become a nursery (children, not plants). All my beautiful borders, rose beds and the hedge were destroyed for the new purpose. That is fine. where the hedge was is a long vegetable garden so children learn how to plant and care for veg.

But the point being that the hedge was there exactly as they complained, and well pruned and maintained- when they first saw the house and consequently decided to buy it. It was significantly cheaper than the others that were exactly the same. So they must have been aware.

We had a meadow at the back of us, and a tall mixed hedge at the side. Neighbour built on the land, and the bungalow put next to us was only 5 foot from boundary. And the people who bought it went on and on and on and on some more- about the mixed hedge stealing their light and elderberrie staining the patio

Mixed hedges are lovely, we have one along the back and some of it must be quite ancient. However, it has been kept as a hedge and we have it pruned to about 8ft every year. Others have had theirs removed and one neighbour let some of it grow into a 30ft tree which was annoying as it shaded our garden. However a new neighbour had the hedge removed altogether which is a great shame.

Rather than pay someone every year, to remove the leaves from your neighbours tree, buy a leaf blower ( a one off cost) then blow the leaves back to the “ owner”

I don't imagine the doctors surgery would have any incentive or extra money to be bothering with the hedge. You could offer to pay to have it cut? It's of more interest to you than to them and could be money well spent.

A bit off topic but I live in a divided Victorian house and the upstairs part is rented out. There is no soundproofing. I asked the owner if he would put a carpet and good underlay in the sitting room as it was bare floor boards and very noisy. I offered to pay half of the cost of the carpet. He agreed. It's a large room and it cost me around £350 but it was worth every penny.