Neighbour wants to plant trees on common area, blocking our light

comerla

Hi,

Our new neighbour wants to plant ‘a row of trees’ on the common area beside our house. He’s talking about planting Pyrus and other trees that it seems can get 5-8 meters tall. Also the land is 2 meters higher than our garden bringing height to 7-10 meters.

We have a south west aspect so this would obviously block our light. I’ve explained this to him a few times and we also recently had a tree moved that was going to get huge from there.

I believe there is no law in Ireland around this but in France for example you can’t plant a tree that is more than 2 meters high within 2 meters of neighbours wall.

I’m not sure is he doing this for kicks or what...

Any ideas or suggestions or experiences around this type of thing?

cruizer101

What do you mean by common area, is the land owned by the council or is it a managed estate where common area is owned by management company.
Either way I can't see how he has any right to plant the trees if its not his land, but it will dictate who you need to contact.

comerla

Its not owned by the council - must be the management company.

Thanks Cruizer.

D3V!L

comerla wrote: »

Its not owned by the council - must be the management company.

Thanks Cruizer.

Does he have permission from the management company ?

comerla

Not that I'm aware of. I think everyone else just wants to stay out of this.

seamus

If he doesn't have permission from the management company, say it to them and they should come and take the trees away.

Of course, if this is common area and the management company decide they don't care, then there is nothing stopping you from trimming/poisoning/removing the trees.

The neighbour who plants them, by virtue of planting them in a common area, cannot claim ownership over them and therefore has no right to tell you what you can do with them.

Pat Mustard

comerla wrote: »

Its not owned by the council - must be the management company.

Thanks Cruizer.

How old is the estate? Has the developer handed over the common areas yet?

comerla

Its a brand new estate. Actually I just spoke with the project manager; is saying that the Council will eventually take ownership and that no one can plant anything there.

I'm just in disbelief that someone could persist in trying to do this when we've made the impact clear more than once to him.

TomOnBoard

comerla wrote: »

Its a brand new estate. Actually I just spoke with the project manager; is saying that the Council will eventually take ownership and that no one can plant anything there.

I'm just in disbelief that someone could persist in trying to do this when we've made the impact clear more than once to him.

Bad start to a neighbourly relationship...

comerla

Yes - hard to understand. I'm of a mind to start telling him I want to plant a row of oaks behind his house (between him and the sun) also.

Mooooo

When you say you've put your own planting down, do you mean in the common area?

comerla

Mooooo wrote: »

When you say you've put your own planting down, do you mean in the common area?

We had always been planning to do this this as we are very overlooked, but in the end it turner out that the builder/ landscaper put in a lot of smaller planting that will end up 2 meters tall.

I had a chat with the landscaper at the time and she left some space for us to put in some - we stuck in a couple of extra shrubs but the size turned out to be the same as what they were going to put in anyway so there's no impact. In a few years there will be enough screening.

Pat Mustard

comerla wrote: »

Its a brand new estate. Actually I just spoke with the project manager; is saying that the Council will eventually take ownership and that no one can plant anything there.

I'm just in disbelief that someone could persist in trying to do this when we've made the impact clear more than once to him.

Then the likelihood is that the common areas still belong to the developer and your neighbour has no right to plant anything without the permission of said developer.

TomOnBoard

comerla wrote: »

Yes - hard to understand. I'm of a mind to start telling him I want to plant a row of oaks behind his house (between him and the sun) also.

Breathe for a bit before saying anything else. A neighbourly relationship that goes bad can become a nightmare. That said, if you have an entitled and arrogant a$$hole living next door, you can't allow him/her to "lord it" over you. So, the question is- is he/she redeemable?

seamus

Pat Mustard wrote: »

Then the likelihood is that the common areas still belong to the developer and your neighbour has no right to plant anything without the permission of said developer.

And, from a previous thread in another forum it's likely that any additional trees will mean that the development is not compliant with the planning permission granted and the developer will whip them out sharpish.

endacl

2 minutes with a penknife when/if the saplings are planted. No need to be discussing anything with anybody.

http://awesci.com/an-incredibly-simple-way-to-kill-a-tree/

realdanbreen

comerla wrote: »

. I’ve explained this to him a few times and we also recently had a tree moved that was going to get huge from there.

What was his response?

Pat Mustard

seamus wrote: »

And, from a previous thread in another forum it's likely that any additional trees will mean that the development is not compliant with the planning permission granted and the developer will whip them out sharpish.

That might well be the case but I figured that the forum regulars here would know more about it than me!

comerla

realdanbreen wrote: »

What was his response?

He'd just look at you; he's a bit of a strange fish to be honest.

I thought he understood and maybe had a little bit of empathy then he started showing me all the types of trees he wanted to put in.

Thanks everyone for the advice. You're restoring my faith in people!

J.pilkington

What is the neighbour trying to achieve, is it for visual or shelter his property? Can an alternative be found which avoids having to plant the trees?

realdanbreen

comerla wrote: »

He'd just look at you; he's a bit of a strange fish to be honest.

I thought he understood and maybe had a little bit of empathy then he started showing me all the types of trees he wanted to put in.

Thanks everyone for the advice. You're restoring my faith in people!

Perhaps you should speak with him again only this time be a bit clearer and forceful about your concerns.

comerla

J.pilkington wrote: »

What is the neighbour trying to achieve, is it for visual or shelter his property? Can an alternative be found which avoids having to plant the trees?

He just seems to really like trees. Has a load of them (way too many) stuck into his own little front garden so I'd say this is what it is.

Either that or he's trying to drive me mad..

TomOnBoard

comerla wrote: »

He just seems to really like trees. Has a load of them (way too many) stuck into his own little front garden so I'd say this is what it is.

Either that or he's trying to drive me mad..

Is the common area suitable for anything else? How big is it?

Have ye a residents association?

comerla

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Is the common area suitable for anything else? How big is it?

Have ye a residents association?

3 meters wide and already pretty full of shrubs. Not suitable for anything really.

No RA yet.