Neighbouring tree legalities

Zamboni

Neighbour A and B live beside each other in harmony
Neighbour C lives directly behind neighbour A.

Neighbour C has a massive top heavy tree overhanging into neighbours A and B gardens.
Partitioning wall separating A+B from C will eventually collapse with the weight of the tree.


Can A+B cut down the over hang in their respective territory?

This is definitely a professional tree surgeons tasks.
Does C have any financial liability to cut down the over hang?

If the tree and partitioning wall collapses who is liable for repairs?

Thanks!

Michael D Not Higgins

A and B can cut down any branches that encroach over the boundary, but only up the boundary line. Usually the boundary wall is the responsibility of both parties, so it would be in C's interest to prevent damage to the wall as well. C doesn't have to cut down the overhang.

I am not a lawyer and this is just the information I remember from last time I read up on it.

Edit: Can't be sure, but it could be seen as negligent to not maintain the tree such that it ends up causing damage. I can't tell you how you'd go about proving this and obviously it's worth trying to get the tree maintained amicably between the neighbours before it comes to this.

RainyDay

Can I piggy-back with a related question, relevant for this time of year?


Does C have any responsibility for the dead leaves that will clog up A & B's lawns for next 6-8 weeks? Can A & B dump the dead leaves that they collected back over the wall into C's garden?

Michael D Not Higgins

Almost certainly no. Do you want the council to collect leaves from your front garden for trees on council owned land? What about if two neighbours have the same type of tree? Who do you dump the leaves on?

RainyDay

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Almost certainly no.

Doh, but thanks for getting back to me anyway.

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Do you want the council to collect leaves from your front garden for trees on council owned land?

No, but I want them to stop charging me for dumping the leaves that fell off their trees onto my land. There are way too many leaves to fit in the brown bin. If I bring them to the council depot at Ballyogan, I have to pay them for the pleasure of returning their leaves to them.

Is there any other option?

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

What about if two neighbours have the same type of tree? Who do you dump the leaves on?

I can see that this would be confusing, but it's definitely not an issue for my situation.

Michael D Not Higgins

You could store the leaves and dispose of them in small batches with the brown bin. How big is your garden that you're getting all these leaves that won't fit, or how small is the brown bin? Are they not the same size as the other wheelie bins? If you're regularly filling the brown bin, can you talk to the bin collection service about a second/bigger bin? Or possibly start your own composting at home?

RainyDay

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

You could store the leaves and dispose of them in small batches with the brown bin. How big is your garden that you're getting all these leaves that won't fit, or how small is the brown bin? Are they not the same size as the other wheelie bins? If you're regularly filling the brown bin, can you talk to the bin collection service about a second/bigger bin? Or possibly start your own composting at home?

It's a small garden, but with 2 or 3 overhanging trees. On a bad weekend at the peak of Autumn, I've collected up to 8 black bags full of leaves. The brown bin isn't really an option for this quantity.

I don't know much about composting, but I hear that you need a mix of materials coming in, and a huge amount of one particular type of material doesn't make great compost.

D3PO

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Almost certainly no. Do you want the council to collect leaves from your front garden for trees on council owned land? What about if two neighbours have the same type of tree? Who do you dump the leaves on?

actually your wrong. You are fully entittled to return the leaves to the neighbour for disposal.

This question has been answered many times on the gardening boards forum. However you must collect them yourself.

Same scenario exists with the council (and is used by my neighbour) she rakes the leaves contacts the council who provie bags to her and when she has them bagged they also colect them.

Michael D Not Higgins

D3PO wrote: »

actually your wrong. You are fully entittled to return the leaves to the neighbour for disposal.

This question has been answered many times on the gardening boards forum. However you must collect them yourself.

Same scenario exists with the council (and is used by my neighbour) she rakes the leaves contacts the council who provie bags to her and when she has them bagged they also colect them.

How do you deal with multiple trees from multiple gardens around you? Who gets what leaves? (assuming they're all the same tree or all the leaves are indistinguishable or cannot be separated effectively, etc.) I'd also like to see the law where you can return fallen leaves.

Also, what kind of community do you want to live in that neighbours are dumping their green waste over the garden wall? If it's that much of a problem, talk to the neighbour and organise a mutually agreed solution. If this involves returning the leaves to the tree's owner, at least that's an amicable solution.

D3PO

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

How do you deal with multiple trees from multiple gardens around you? Who gets what leaves? (assuming they're all the same tree or all the leaves are indistinguishable or cannot be separated effectively, etc.) I'd also like to see the law where you can return fallen leaves.

Also, what kind of community do you want to live in that neighbours are dumping their green waste over the garden wall? If it's that much of a problem, talk to the neighbour and organise a mutually agreed solution. If this involves returning the leaves to the tree's owner, at least that's an amicable solution.

I didnt say its the approch id take but the OP asked for clarification on the official position.

I provided it. Just because you can do something doesnt mean you should do it.

Your posing a very different question and to answer yes if it were me my first port of call would be to discuss the situation with the neighbour like a rational human being. However if 8 bags of leaves were falling over my wall I would expect the neighbour to find a way to resolve the issue that they had forced upon me, and if it couldnt be done amicably then i would consider invoking my rights in this regard.

Teyla Emmagan

I bag up the leaves on my street and then ring the council. They send someone out to collect them. They've not from my garden though, just the public road.

I can't imagine someone dumping leaves back over a wall!! Talk about getting carried away!

Michael D Not Higgins

D3PO wrote: »

I didnt say its the approch id take but the OP asked for clarification on the official position.

I provided it. Just because you can do something doesnt mean you should do it.

Your posing a very different question and to answer yes if it were me my first port of call would be to discuss the situation with the neighbour like a rational human being. However if 8 bags fo leaves were falling over my wall I would expect the neighbour to find a way to resolve the issue that they had forced upon me, and if it couldnt be done amicably then i would consider invoking my rights in this regard.

Yeah but I'd still like to see that law, since my understanding is that you can trim overhanging branches and give the trimmings back but never heard anything about the fallen leaves.

Just did a search of the gardening forum too and found them saying the same.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80459355

"You could gather the leaves into bags and compost them. Good for plants."

"If the leaves are just blowing into your garden I can't imagine there is much you can do about it."

"yep, you can't isolate the garden from the world around you, no more than you could complain about birds coming into the garden.
sweep 'em up and maybe offer them to a gardener friend?"

Zamboni

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

A and B can cut down any branches that encroach over the boundary, but only up the boundary line. Usually the boundary wall is the responsibility of both parties, so it would be in C's interest to prevent damage to the wall as well. C doesn't have to cut down the overhang.

I am not a lawyer and this is just the information I remember from last time I read up on it.

Edit: Can't be sure, but it could be seen as negligent to not maintain the tree such that it ends up causing damage. I can't tell you how you'd go about proving this and obviously it's worth trying to get the tree maintained amicably between the neighbours before it comes to this.

Ok - Can A+B force C to pay for the cutting down of the overhang?
It's a serious job (i.e. expensive)
C is a dick btw.

Michael D Not Higgins

Zamboni wrote: »

C is a dick btw.

I figured as much. What's the actually likelihood that it will damage the wall? As I said, damage from negligence can be enforced but you'd have to talk to a solicitor about that. If it's just overhang that goes over the boundary, it's down to A+B to pay for.

Zamboni

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

I figured as much. What's the actually likelihood that it will damage the wall? As I said, damage from negligence can be enforced but you'd have to talk to a solicitor about that. If it's just overhang that goes over the boundary, it's down to A+B to pay for.

So I have it down to this:

A + B have to pay to clear up C's sh1t

OR

Wait until storm/time eventually knocks tree down taking wall and then A+B attempt to seek damages.

Sounds like a typical Irish solution

Michael D Not Higgins

Well, not to be smart or anything, but trees don't magically appear. A and B could have maintained the tree over the years from their sides without letting it get to the level that requires a tree surgeon to take care of it.

I understand it's frustrating that it appears C can act the d*ck and get away with it, but the law can only intervene when something has happened. We can't have a system that encourages frivolous lawsuits, otherwise the spiteful people (not talking about A and B in this case) will be constantly arguing over that twig that grew over their boundary line.

RainyDay

D3PO wrote: »

actually your wrong. You are fully entittled to return the leaves to the neighbour for disposal.

This question has been answered many times on the gardening boards forum. However you must collect them yourself.

Same scenario exists with the council (and is used by my neighbour) she rakes the leaves contacts the council who provie bags to her and when she has them bagged they also colect them.

Thanks - do you have any definitive source for this rule? In my case, Council trees are the main culprit, but they refused to collect the waste in the past. TBH, I'm not even that worried about collecting it. I don't mind bringing it to Ballyogan, once I don't have to pay to get rid of their leaves.

Zamboni

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Well, not to be smart or anything, but trees don't magically appear. A and B could have maintained the tree over the years from their sides without letting it get to the level that requires a tree surgeon to take care of it.

A + B are elderly people. Their back gardens are also about 3 - 4 feet lower than C's.
It would always have been a professional job to clear this overhang as it's so high.

Sounds like it will have to wait until after the event.

Thanks for the info.

delop

I had a similar issue

A neighbour , myself and my tree (probably 3 yrs old not that big, branches overhanging neighbours driveway).

Neighbour one day while I was at work the neighbour decimated the tree, and dumped the waste in my driveway. Now I didnt care about the tree, however not asking me could he do it (or even asking me to do it), annoyed me but considering all that ,dumping the waste in my driveway just seemed like some crazy provocation.

So I knocked on his door , played innocent,
'sir, did you happen to see anyone cutting down a tree in my driveway today?' I asked politely.
'It was me, what you going to do about it !!' he replied with quite a degree agitation.
Shocked by his aggressive behaviour, I replied 'I dont care about the tree, but asking me to cut it might have been a more neighbourly approach'.
'it was devaluing my property now Fupp off out my property' , and with that he slammed the door...

I went home , had a cup of tea and thought about it, I thought about dumping the waste back into his driveway , but as he seemed mental, I just decided to forget it. I got talking to a solicitor and told him the story , and now this is the bit relevant to the OP.

He told me , most judges accept that if the roots of your tree enter your neighbours property , the have a number of rights, sounds reasonable

My advice , dont behave like my neighbour, have a chat with them, get to know them and then work up to in conversaton...

P.S my neighbour sold his house 1 yr later, thank fupp