Right to light?

RonanCloney

Hi, our family have been living in our house in the country for over 20 years now and recently a new farmer bought the field beside us and has revealed he's planning to cover the whole thing in trees, which will totally block out any sunlight from our garden & sunroom, do we have any way/right to protest this? Thanks!

godtabh

not any more

Dogowner55

RonanCloney wrote: »

Hi, our family have been living in our house in the country for over 20 years now and recently a new farmer bought the field beside us and has revealed he's planning to cover the whole thing in trees, which will totally block out any sunlight from our garden & sunroom, do we have any way/right to protest this? Thanks!

Offer to buy the land from him?

RonanCloney

godtabh wrote: »

not any more

Really? Darn thanks:/

RonanCloney

Dogowner55 wrote: »

Offer to buy the land from him?

Wouldn't be feasible, it's a pretty big field and we don't do farming or anything so it just wouldn't work.

Dogowner55

RonanCloney wrote: »

Wouldn't be feasible, it's a pretty big field and we don't do farming or anything so it just wouldn't work.

Could you rent it? Even if you won't farm it would the only way to control what goes on it

RonanCloney

Dogowner55 wrote: »

Could you rent it? Even if you won't farm it would the only way to control what goes on it

I just don't see it happening, but thanks a lot anyway

loremolis

RonanCloney wrote: »

Hi, our family have been living in our house in the country for over 20 years now and recently a new farmer bought the field beside us and has revealed he's planning to cover the whole thing in trees, which will totally block out any sunlight from our garden & sunroom, do we have any way/right to protest this? Thanks!

Does commercial tree planting require permission or a licence of some sort?

RonanCloney

loremolis wrote: »

Does commercial tree planting require permission or a licence of some sort?

To be honest I don't exactly know, but I do know that he has planted trees before in other areas.

Páid

godtabh wrote: »

not any more

There is more information in this article - http://www.lawsociety.ie/Documents/Gazette/Gazette%202014/Jan-Feb2014.pdf

Talk to the land owner. If you explain your concerns to him/her they may be willing to refrain from planting trees right up to the property border. I wonder what would happen if there was a storm one night and one of his trees fell on to your land/sunroom? Would he be liable?

If s/he is unwilling to budge I would seek the advice of a solicitor that specialises in property.

slimjimmc

loremolis wrote: »

Does commercial tree planting require permission or a licence of some sort?

He'll need an afforestation licence but would probably only need PP if he wants to open access to a public road.
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/forestryandthelaw/

ganmo

There are guidelines as to how far he should plant from borders and houses.
If a tree falls and does damage it's an insurance job with jo farmer being liable.

You could ask some of the lads in the forestry forum for specifics

Victor

slimjimmc wrote: »

He'll need an afforestation licence but would probably only need PP if he wants to open access to a public road.
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/forestryandthelaw/

I understood PP was needed when planting more than 2 hectares of trees.

Obelisk29

RonanCloney wrote: »

Hi, our family have been living in our house in the country for over 20 years now and recently a new farmer bought the field beside us and has revealed he's planning to cover the whole thing in trees, which will totally block out any sunlight from our garden & sunroom, do we have any way/right to protest this? Thanks!

Taken from Tree Council of Ireland website:

"Right to light is a specific and complex legal matter and you should seek independent advice on this. A right to light exists only if the owner of a house can satisfy a court that he or she has enjoyed the uninterrupted use of that light for a period of greater than 20 years, before any legal action is brought about the light. This however, only applies to the windows of a property and not to a garden."

NUTLEY BOY

godtabh wrote: »

not any more

Why is this so ?

I am interested in the point as we might have a similar issue coming up with a neighbouring property.

My mother has been in occupation of her house for 50 years plus. A neighbour is considering an extension that could reduce light to the inside of her house significantly. Can she not be said to have acquired a right to light ?

BTW does anyone know of any Irish case law on this point ?

Páid

I posted a link to the Law Society's gazette above that explains the current situation. There are a number of cases mentioned.