The right to light in your garden

[Pet Nanny]

This could be a tricky one that is too specific to be answered here, but will ask anyway.

We have just moved into a house which has extremely tall Laurel trees that have been planted the other side of our fence at the bottom of our garden, subsequently, our garden is in shade from around 2.20pm each day.

I am also concerned, that they are pressing against our fence and if one of them fell it would completely demolish our conservatory. Do we have any rights to reduce the size and overhanging foliage.

I have discovered that the trees/hedge was planted by a company and would like to write to them, but how do I stand legally?

 

[Alyson Dyer]

Gardenlaw dot co dot uk is your friend and the place to ask that question

 

[Pet Nanny]

Thank you. Have just posted in the hope for advice

 

[Newchodge]

This could be a tricky one that is too specific to be answered here, but will ask anyway.

We have just moved into a house which has extremely tall Laurel trees that have been planted the other side of our fence at the bottom of our garden, subsequently, our garden is in shade from around 2.20pm each day.

I am also concerned, that they are pressing against our fence and if one of them fell it would completely demolish our conservatory. Do we have any rights to reduce the size and overhanging foliage.

I have discovered that the trees/hedge was planted by a company and would like to write to them, but how do I stand legally?

Why did you not make enquiries about the trees before finalising the sale? Were they not there?

 

[AllUpHere]

Objecting to trees which could potentially flatten your conservatory seems a little over the top. An awful lot of us who live in the countryside are surrounded by trees which could flatten our houses. We have 3 90 ft Scots pines and 2 mature Oaks all within 'demolishing' distance of the house.

As Cyndy points out, surely you accepted them as being there when you bought the house.

 

[fisicx]

Do we have any rights to reduce the size and overhanging foliage.

You can chop off anything that overhangs your fence.

You can't reduce the height as the tress don't belong to you. However, the trees were there before you moved in so you can't now subsequently claim they are blocking the sunlight.

 

[Pet Nanny]

Yes the trees we obviously there when we purchased the house, however, we did not realise the impact they would make on our garden and they are extremely close, given that we have a small garden.

We were being pushed by our buyer to find somewhere and were travelling down to Dorset from Bedfordshire every five minutes. OK, no excuse, but we had no idea that the height would completely rob our garden of sunlight in the afternoon.

I have lived in the countryside for the last twenty years and despite being surrounded by trees, they have not proved a problem before! Surely they should be maintained.

 

[fisicx]

What maintenance do you think should be done? The owner is under no obligation to pollard but maybe if you offer to pay they might consider having it done.

Either way, I doubt you will have any legal recourse but you might be lucky if there is some local statute regarding the height of trees.

 

[AllUpHere]

Trees aren't supposed to be maintained. Trees are best planted in the right place and then left alone. It's not good practice to 'top' at tree. Some can be Pollarded, but not those.

 

[Alan]

Is it a laurel hedge or laurel trees? Laurel hedges can be maintained to a height simply enough. We have a laurel hedge and each year our tree guys keep it to around 12 foot.

Yes the trees we obviously there when we purchased the house, however, we did not realise the impact

Buyer beware.

Your best bet is to, if you can, befriend the neighbours and offer to pay for the work to keep them down.

As @fisicx says you can trim any overhang ( as long as you return any wood to the owner ), so a friendly discussion about keeping them in balance ( height & width ) would be appropriate.

 

[Alan]

p.s. I found this its on a Leylandii site but applies if they are laurel hedges.
http://www.leylandii.com/leylandii.html

... snip ...

The current legislation on high hedges comes under Section 8 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003). This allows councils to take action where the hedge has grown to a height where “the hedge is adversely affecting the complainant’s reasonable enjoyment of their property”.
... snip...
The Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003) only applies to:

• hedges of two or more evergreen or mostly evergreen trees, not to individual trees
• hedges over two metres tall
• hedges affecting domestic property

.. snip ..
If you have a neighbour who has let a hedge grow to a height that you think is unreasonable, you can complain to the council but you need to show that all other means of resolving the dispute have been tried and have failed (you need to keep evidence of this) before a council will act.

It’s good to talk

The best way to resolve the issue is to try and talk to the owner of the hedge about the problem to see if a solution can be reached. Pop round and talk to them face-to-face if possible. Sometimes if you are reasonable and explain your point of view, a comprise can be reached.

 

[lfw]

Laurel is not evergreen. This law would not apply. It only applies to evergreen or mostly evergreen hedging.

 

[AllUpHere]

Laurel is not evergreen. This law would not apply. It only applies to evergreen or mostly evergreen hedging.

Although a lot of people refer to Cherry Laurel as Laurel, although its not.

 

[lfw]

My mistake. They are evergreen after all ;-)

 

[Alan]

@lfw I was going to say, don't take up gardening!!!

 

[paulears]

Surely this is just your fault for doing insufficient research before buying the house. My neighbour had a house built around existing trees, many with preservation orders on them - she wants to cut down the tree because the light is restricted in the east facing rooms. The council said she could trim it by 15% - no more. I would have no rights over her trees.

People down the road bought a house in Stephenson Close, next to the railway line - then complained about the train noise. I find it odd people spend hundreds of thousands of pounds buying a house they have been in for a few minutes maximum, yet agonise over buying a car, having multiple test drives and maybe even overnight borrowing.