Neighbours oak tree is excluding light from our garden

They’re an awful trip/slip hazard, too: something I’m very aware of as I’m getting older. Opposite my house there is a row of trees that shed their leaves onto the pavement and I remember an elderly resident who was blind complaining to the council about how he was scared to walk on the pavement in the autumn and winter because of it. Something that, as a much younger person at the time, I didn’t think about. I have a terrible moss and algae problem at the back of my house because of the shade caused by the trees: absolutely treacherous when it’s been raining. I do put moss and algae killer on it on a regular basis but it just comes back quite quickly. The pigeons that stayed away from the front garden during the summer have started roosting in the tree at the front again and the poo is starting to build up again. Having sprained my hand yesterday I did actually burst into tears last night because I just can’t keep on top of it all.

Autumn leaves are lovely to crunch on when walking through the woods.

But in your flower beds, piled up against the front door, littering the driveway, when they are not even your own trees - they can be a nuisance, as are beech nuts, hazel nuts, acorns, sycamore helicopters etc!.
You're right, Gin, they take years to rot down too.

So lovely to look at though 🌳 🍁🍂🍃

Nanna3. The leaves of oak take years to rot down. Last year’s are still perfectly formed nestling in my shrubs. Because of the size of the oak the quantity of leaves is enormous. If I left them there would be deep drifts everywhere. The acorns are also a problem, you need a hard hat to venture to the bottom of the garden.
I will try to negotiate with the surgery but do not want to upset them as they are our doctors!

I would have thought that as the public park under the tree there would have to be inspections but there has not as any tree surgeon would have removed large branches that rub against each other and recommended removing the rapidly growing oak seedling situated a few fet from the main trunk.

They are beautiful,oak trees. Do you have to actually remove the leaves or could you use them as mulch ? People here don’t clear leaves away but admittedly many of our trees are not deciduous .

Hetty58, I asked that up-thread, if it was okay/legal to cut out the roots on your own side. Thanks.

The key to resolving this is careful negotiation with the property owner, every time - if possible. The council here are useless and it costs a fortune to even start the high hedge process - with no guarantee of results.

Either that - or a bucket of weedkiller - not exactly legal, but effective. To stay on the legal side of things, a neighbour cut back all overhanging branches, then cut through and dug up all roots to the boundary. The tree promptly died, having been planted on the edge of a path, right next to the fence, it had few roots on the owner's side.

Sarahr the cut-off branches can be offered back to the tree-owner. Don't just dump them over.

The oak tree may have tree preservation order, but not sure about the conifer. The overhanging branches of the conifer can probably be cut back to your border as long as you return them to the owner of the tree and if it hasn't got preservation order. Try contacting local council for advice.

Neighbours have a 30 foot tulip tree at the bottom of their 20 foot garden which sides onto our garden completely blocking the sun from our garden and making the house very dark. I have very kindly asked if they would reduce the height and have even offered to pay for it but no no avail. They flatly refuse to care for it in any way. They planted the tree after we moved to this house 27 years ago and unfortunately our only option is to move which we hope to do shortly. Trees are lovely in the right setting but massive trees like this in small back gardens are a menace so I completely sympathise OP. Also, I would be very careful about asking the council if it has a TPO because if it hasn't and you make them aware of it they are likely to slap one on it.

I have oak, ash, pine, sycamore all along the back of my house. All but the ash are well over 40' but they are also well over 40 in age. Tgey are checked every year and some thinned out to allow for straight growth. Drives me mad, acorns, pine needles, seeds from the ash and sycamore in the garden, they have to be swept up twice a week at least. Furniture is covered, especially by the ash seeds. Then the leaves in autumn. I use a leaf blower, DGS loves it if he is visiting when the leaves need clearing up. I wouldn't change anything though, the trees are beautiful all year round.

Willows’ roots undermine foundations. The roots will stretch out to a distance at least the height of the tree, hence the need to trim the trees frequently.

Charly

I love just about every inch of leafiness there possibly could be in this sad world. So much of it being destroyed. I’m thinking global warming issues as well as my own preferences. Our next-door-neighbour has recently started making noises about our sycamore and about his other neighbour’s tall conifer. However we were here first and our both trees were fully grown when he and his family moved in.

Personally I don't like sycamores, the vast majority of them are not attractive trees, grow like weeds and seed everywhere. I think most of the ones that cause a nuisance are self seeded. I'm not keen on conifers either, they cast a lot of very dark shade and are not particularly pretty. There are so many more attractive trees you can plant. Some species sycamores (acers) are lovely and much smaller, rowans, amelanchier and hawthorns are pretty and have berries as well as flowers.
One of the problems in many towns is that councils have planted the wrong species of trees on streets and later have to spend a fortune on pruning them every couple of years. Tall plane trees for example are quite beautiful but totally unsuitable for most streets, though they have been planted all over the place for many years.
Prunus too, often planted as street trees, do not usually respond well to pruning and grow "witches brooms" where they are cut, ending up mis-shapen and hideous.

That is some oak tree to grow 20 feet in 12 years. Your local council should be able to advise on both the tree and the hedge issue. 12' is very high for a hedge separating another property. The surgety may just lease the premises and they may not have authority to change the landscaping. The Council should know who owns the property, or you could go in and ask to speak with the manager who may know what the situation is.

Foxglove77

Being a large oak tree it is probably protected by a TPO. That doesn't mean it can't be properly maintained if the owner applies for planning permission.

You have my sympathy. We have lived next to our tenant neighbours for over 40 years. They decided to plant 2 willow trees themselves. These trees are now both over 60 feet high and block out our light. The leaves cover our garden. The neighbours absolutely refuse any entry to the Landlord who have offered to pay to maintain these trees and they have let the garden and hedges overgrow alarmingly. Some people are so selfish.

Willows can be a real problem as the branches can split off during gales. A large branch landed on a car near us and completely destroyed it.
We have a willow on the river bank behind our property and the company who manage the estate have it trimmed pretty substantially every three years or so.

Katie59

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.

Yes, I agree with this. You don't have a right to light and this tree would be very expensive to remove so it is unlikely that they would agree. Would you be willing to help with the cost?
The conifer hedge is a different matter, I believe that they are obliged to keep it to six feet or less, your local authority can advise.
The top of the garden of our last house was in the shade of an old scraggy prunus every morning, only having a short period of sun before it went into the shadow of a tall house next to us. Our original neighbours were not willing to remove it though we offered to split the cost, and it shaded their house and garden more than ours. When new neighbours arrived they really didn't care about anything but themselves.
We eventually sold the house and moved on - within the month the new next door neighbours had taken down the tree, grrrrr....

Please could I correct the common misconception that the "legal" maximum height for hedges is 2m. We had been in dispute with a neighbour whose leylandii hedge was over 25ft high and he couldn't be bothered to maintain it despite the fact that no winter sunlight ever came into our house. Eventually we had to involve our local council and pay a £480 fee to have the problem sorted. The council representative came to look at the hedge, calculate the height and also measure the distance from the hedge to our property. The council then used a formula to work out the "permissable height" of the hedge - in our case 4.5m - and our neighbour had an order served on him to get the hedge reduced to that height. It has helped but, of course, leylandii grow very rapidly and it will need doing again at some point so we shall probably have to go through the whole process again. If your local council charges a fee to do this, you will not be refunded unless you go to the Small Claims Court and try claiming it from your neighbour. Also, be aware that if you have a hedge dispute with your neighbour that has affected your reasonable enjoyment of your property, you will have to declare it if/when you sell your property. It's always best to try and resolve these matters directly with your neighbours but after 18 years our patience had run out!

I love trees but people should carefully consider how big they will grow and where they are sited.

Our garden is South facing and the previous owners planted Silver Birch and Rowan trees along one side that faces East. They don’t affect anybody. Just outside our garden on the SW Corner was a beautiful Horse Chestnut tree and generations of village kids picked its conkers ever year. It never shaded our garden or the one to the West.

I came home one afternoon about 3 years ago and it was being cut right down. My son and I were nearly in tears as it was so lovely, especially when it was in flower.

It was on the boundary of a house behind us and the owner is on our Parish Council. I checked and there was no TPO on it which I was surprised about. He told me he was concerned it might fall down in a gale but my husband knows the man he employed to fell it and he said it was a perfectly healthy tree.
The truth of it was it did shade their garden a bit and they are sun lovers but he wouldn’t admit it. The tree was there when they bought their house!

The mighty oak - what a beautiful tree!
We must preserve as many healthy trees as possible. Or I will cry.

This sounds like one of those stories we read about in the local papers. Things can get heated.

I do feel sorry for your predicament. That is quite a garden patch you have there. Do you have a license to sell your food products or is this a personal endeavor? Have you approached the owners before this? The tree’s age? Who owned each property first? Maybe I’m not asking the right questions here, I’m no expert in this. Hope you all can come to a settlement without attorneys and getting into litigation.
Good luck to you!

I will always be on the tree’s side 😉
USA Gundy

Being a large oak tree it is probably protected by a TPO. That doesn't mean it can't be properly maintained if the owner applies for planning permission.

You have my sympathy. We have lived next to our tenant neighbours for over 40 years. They decided to plant 2 willow trees themselves. These trees are now both over 60 feet high and block out our light. The leaves cover our garden. The neighbours absolutely refuse any entry to the Landlord who have offered to pay to maintain these trees and they have let the garden and hedges overgrow alarmingly. Some people are so selfish.

My house backs onto a business park with a belt of large trees and the leaves etc get blown everywhere. I dont attempt to clear them up and am not physically capable of doing so. I pay a gardener to come on every month and he goes around with one of those backpacks which suck up all the leaves and bits. I also have some leylandii which he cuts back every year.

If any of you are worried about people getting into your garden get a few cheapish cctv cameras from Amazon and site them around. You can even hide them in the trees and bushes and they will go for a few weeks without recharging. Mine are in plain site at first floor level. A while back one of mine revealed my NDN dumping rubbish on my garden so I printed the thumbnails and put the paper through his door. He was out at 6.16 next morning clearing it up as I guess he did not want me to go to the police as I threatened.

I hate neighbours and would gladly shoot them if there was a season for it.

We had two mature oak trees in our last garden. They were very slow growing. We lived there for over 20 years and they didn’t increase greatly in height during that time.

Yes, the squirrel collects them from our neighbour's tree then plants them around our garden and in my pots

Our road has large oaks at the back of the gardens. We have lived here 20 years and this year I have never seen so many acorns taken root. There was a huge fall last year.
I have been pulling them out but still haven't got them all.
So, do check if you have oaks too!

one not or

BeneathTheHowlingStars

This will be a very unpopular opinion but I would love to have an oak tree next to my garden. They are magnificent trees.

No, it's not unpopular. Our neighbour has or but it's far enough away from us not to be a problem.

All large trees should be checked regularly to make sure they are safe, however. A branch crashed off another neighbour's tree across our garden once, luckily no-one was hurt and not much damage done.