Conflict with neighbour over a tree

Thatcham Tony,
You are correct. I had a problem with my neighbour over the state of their garden. I asked nicely if the could cut the weeds away from the fence atleast, as the brambles were growing under and over my fence and my children would end up stepping on them when bare footed, or getting scratched. The bind weed would choke all my plants along the borders and were rooting into my new lawn.They refused to cut the weeds back, so I asked their housing office what I could do.
I was told that I could cut off all that come into my garden, but must return all that I cut, or I could be charged with theft !!!
So I cut all that was offending and returned it straight back over the fence. Within a couple of days, I received a letter of complaint from their housing office, stating that I had been throwing MY weeds into their garden.
It's just aswell I took photo's before I cut it all back, as it saved me alot of trouble proving who the weeds belonged to. It also wiped the grins off of their faces.

Hi, I have been under the impression the law allows you cut anything that encroaches your
borders and you are whitin your rights to put the cuttings back to the owners side of the
boundry, but you can not keep the cutting for yourself without consent of the owners, I was
given this infomation by: West-Berks Council, some time ago and I still abide by it.

Sprinkle some Copper sulphate around the trees roots. That will get rid of it

I have heard that willow trees should not be planted too near buildings as their roots can cause great damage not only to buildings but also drains. The roots could spread as far as 30 metres depending on type of soil and dry weather conditions. You may need to get expert advice on whether this tree is or may be a threat to any of your buildings. Good Luck!

Jonny, I think the tree is kind of guilty of sitting on the fence on this one. Complaints like this are logged at police stations all over the country and it's an issue that rings true for a lot of disgruntled neighbours. In case you haven't twigged, this kind of thing just leaves bad feeling.

The poor tree is stuck in the middle of this. Has anyone spoken to it about how it feels?

You do not specifically state if your neighbour is also a tenant but as the Housing Management staff were involved I assume they are.

As tenants your rights over the tree are limited because and neither you nor your neighbour actually own anything connected with the property. The owners (presumably the local authority) will have procedures to follow to ensure the safety of tenants and others is not compromised by unauthorised amateur tree surgery.

I am afraid that your actions probably broke the terms of your tenancy agreement and, regrettably in this case your neighbour is correct although they could have been more dimlomatic.

I think that you (the original poster) are in the wrong, as it would have been very simple for you to have approached the owner of the tree before hand and signaled your intention to trim the overhanging branches which covered your boundary.

This would have been very simple and polite, besides, why would, or should, the owner of the tree even bother to consult you at all regarding the tree? Surely if you are the ones with the issue with the tree, then the onus is on you to try and come to some compromise with the owner of the tree as otherwise you have little redress with the legal system as you cannot do anything with the tree other than trim branches which encroach onto your property.

Did you know there is nothing illegale in chopping down tree branches if they hang in your gardens, AS LONG as you threw what you chop off, back into their back garden - that way you cannot be accused of stealing their tree

I can't stand my next door neighbour! He is boring beyond belief and tries to interrupt me when I am undertaking work to my house, car or garden. Talk about being a nosey, busybody know it all! Why are my mundane tasks so fascinating to him? Why can't he contain himself within his own four borders like all my other neighbours?

He is oblivious to my obvious visible displeasure at his constant intrusions, and does not understand sarcasm when I use it What is the matter with this happy idiot?

Are you telling us the whole truth? Touching their tree! They took action the week before!

You need to reconsider your attitude to your neighbours. Most of your post iappears to be a nasty personal attack and has nothing to do with the tree issue. Read your post again and think about how you judge others and why you don't get along with people. Neighbours who get along don't have arguments like this, they pop round for cups of tea and get along fine over small matters like pruning a tree.