Neighbor Trees over Grown to My House

Lhelloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 14:04

Hi OP,

Search advices to deal with neighbor overgrown tree , branchs are wildly grown and nearly reach my roof , and the sticks and seeds falling on my roof already block the pipe . And we tried to reach the neighbour and resolve the issue numerous times but nobody answered door, and overheard from other neighbour who has live longer here than us , telling us the owner is no occupied but rent to some chiense people , and those people used to have problems with their visa. And I guess there is reason these people unwilling to answer the door.

So I contacted my local council ( WA stirring)and was told this house has been in record before , but nothing they can do to help me to solve this problem , because this is a civil matter .

We try to quote the pruning service , it is costly and they unable to access the neighbour and job hard to done.

My concern are , 1 once those branchs reach my roof it is very likely damage my property and no mention those falling seeds and sticks causing lots workload, and the neighbor backyard ungroming and weed wildly grown and could be risky of fire in the summer heat .

So any adivice are welcome!

Home & Garden

Comments

  • BadGiraffe on 18/10/2016 - 14:19
    +5

    Hi… OP?

    Anyway… As far as I know, once it goes over your side of the fence, you can do whatever you want with it. I've been cutting my neighbour's branches for years. I ask them first, of course. If you can't get a hold of them, just take preventative measures until you can. Cut some branches here and there, keep your gutters clean, and you should be fine.

  • Heracles26 on 18/10/2016 - 14:30
    +3

    My in-laws are in a very similar position except the tree in question is on their property!

    The neighbours want to split the cost of cutting the tree completely down, my in-laws dont want it to be cut down - such drama, much excitement

    • helloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 14:31
      +1

      How they resolve it

      • Heracles26 on 18/10/2016 - 14:33
        +1

        Its still ongoing! The neighbours are annoyed because the tree drops little branches/leaves onto their tennis court. They have threatened legal action recently in a letter

        • helloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 14:38
          +1

          I was planning to go with some legal advice but worry it is pricy ,

        • BadGiraffe on 18/10/2016 - 14:43
          +2

          Business opportunity! Tell them you'll brush away the twigs and leaves for a humble sum of $50 whenever they want to play tennis.

          But seriously, legal action? Over a tree? I mean… it's a tree! If it's not decaying or rotting, I don't know if the courts can do anything. As long as it's not a hazard, they can't force your in-laws to do anything.

          I'm no lawyer, but that seems the most logical outcome.

        • Heracles26 on 18/10/2016 - 15:44
          +1

          @flaminglemon:

          Good idea! Yea I dont think they have a leg to stand on legally (I'm no lawyer either!) but they probably thought the threat would be enough to cause my in-laws to give in.

        • helloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 17:38
          +1

          @flaminglemon: the seeds fallen inside the gap of gutters actually rotten throughout previous wet season, lucky, my dad helped me to cleaned it out to further damage.

  • bargainslut on 18/10/2016 - 14:43
    -3

    Move out/police/bikies

    • Gotchas on 18/10/2016 - 22:32
      +2

      You don't need police on bikes to help you move out

      • bargainslut on 18/10/2016 - 23:04
        -1

        How about monkeys on rollerskates?

  • niner on 18/10/2016 - 14:49
    +2

    Go nuts with a chainsaw. Your neighbours will get over it.

    • inherentchoice on 18/10/2016 - 15:07
      +3

      Going nuts with a chainsaw is the stuff of horror movies.

    • captobvious on 18/10/2016 - 19:23

      I like your reasoning skills. +1

  • inherentchoice on 18/10/2016 - 14:56
    +3

    we tried to reach the neighbour and resolve the issue numerous times

    Do you have the owner's address? You can obtain the address for a fee by doing a land title search.

    And you may be able to get it for free if you go to the council office and ask to view the rate record. This is required by section 5.94(m) of the WA local government act. I believe it will include the name and postal address of the owner who pays the rates.

    Then write to the owner by snail mail and explain that it will be expensive for him if/when his tree damages your house. And therefore it will be cheaper if he can pay to have the tree professionally removed.

    • helloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 17:40
      +2

      That sounds good, i will do it.
      One of colleague suggested me take some photoshoot of the neighbour backyard and that tree and bring along to the council to see if they going help or what ?

    • helloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 17:44
      +1

      Any idea if the landlord refuse to pay to pruning , what Elias we can do about it

      • inherentchoice on 18/10/2016 - 18:04
        +1

        If the landlord/owner initially declines to have the tree cut down, at least invite them to phone you or invite them to meet you on site. Then you'll just have to try negotiate with them. As a last resort would you be willing to pay partly or fully for the cost of removing the tree?

        The council will have the owner's name and address but I doubt you will get too far with taking a photo into the council at this stage. At least read the page on their website which I linked in my comment above.

        But if you've never met the owner then maybe he/she doesn't even know the state of the tree and it might be worth sending them a photo.

  • godofpizza on 18/10/2016 - 15:20
    +1

    check your insurance to make sure your covered if a branch damages your house.

  • bargainslut on 18/10/2016 - 15:42
    +4

    Ask the trees what they think. I often feel trees are wiser than humans.

  • subywagon on 18/10/2016 - 16:22
    +1

    Chop off the branches that over hang in your yard, if roots are present in your yard dig them up, cut them and ensure you spray and wipe a heap of plant poison into the cuts.

    • helloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 17:41
      +1

      My backyard is small and paved and that tree root highly likely on neighbour side

    • inherentchoice on 18/10/2016 - 18:09
      +6

      But poison may exacerbate the risk of the tree falling on OP's house.

    • mskeggs on 19/10/2016 - 08:40

      I don't recommend killing trees, but some salt watered regularly is all it takes.

  • cupcake on 18/10/2016 - 16:38
    +1

    I too have considered going across to my neighbour's courtyard and trimming the tree for him. He is a tenant so he really doesn't care about the overgrown tree or all the leaves and long grass or mess in the courtyard!

    • helloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 17:43
      +2

      Well, i wasn't noted till my Mrs told me that my dad climbed over and did the job

  • captobvious on 18/10/2016 - 19:20
    -5

    Call the Border Force!
    then enforce your land boundaries.

    If the place looks unsightly at the front you could get the council involved otherwise you are powerless, poison the tree roots. 1 bottle weed killer and a 12mm wide drill bit drill at least 10cms in and wind it around in the root pour said weed killer.

    • helloeatty on 18/10/2016 - 20:36
      +2

      That is sneaky

    • bargainslut on 18/10/2016 - 23:10
      +2

      That's a great idea captain tree killer. Don't forget the invisible cloak and a silent drill, the neighbors will never know!

      • captobvious on 19/10/2016 - 12:27
        -2

        I kill trees with chainsaws and bulldozers. Poison is just to confuse snitch tree huggers.

  • Euphemistic on 19/10/2016 - 08:09
    +1

    What sort of tree is it? Find out, then check your local council to see if it can be removed without a permit. Some native species are protected and cannot be removed without the permit, but others can be removed at any time. There are also rules on how close the tree is to the house and boundary etc, check your local council rules.

    Either way, you can still prune it.

  • [Deactivated] on 19/10/2016 - 08:53
    +2

    Quotes are free as is a note in their letter box
    Try to make contact and keep copies and dates of any correspondence just incase
    Also make sure any arborist that's giving advice/quote is fully insured

  • JavaJoe on 19/10/2016 - 11:58
    +2

    We've got a gum tree we need to cut down but the council won't let us. We like the tree and have looked after it for many years. It sits directly over our sewerage line and is crushing it. Plumber says we've got 6 to 12 months before sewerage line is completely crushed by roots and house uninhabitable and next door neighbour's house too. As much as we like the tree, time for it to go. But council says no way, tree is healthy and must stay. They are putting trees before people

    • [Deactivated] on 19/10/2016 - 13:36
      +2

      Get an independent arborist's report specifying the impacts this particular tree is having on you and neighbours all in writing individually
      Like impact statements.
      There are ex council arborist's out there, and they should know the internal language and regs to get it reassessed
      Or move the septic line or tank
      Unfortunately it costs council millions to maintain Street trees in a city each year, so they are outsourcing the problem
      Try reminding them that trees don't pay rates
      Even better just print up a few thousand flyers about this around election time,
      Then take them with you to your local councillors office for a meeting

      • JavaJoe on 20/10/2016 - 10:14

        We did get a consultant arborist to have a look at it a couple of years ago. We'd just had the sewerage line unblocked again and were told the problem would only get worse.

        We got two quotes from arborists. One to do regular trimming $3500 and one to remove the tree $10,000. The consultant arborist told us not to even waste our time or money with more reports, this council would never let us remove the tree. The plumber was proved right. The situation did get worse and is now critical. The consulting arborist was right. The council couldn't give a damn.

        We just voted in the council elections and put the Green candidates last.

        If they reject the appeal we will have to go to VCAT. Someone told us to get an environmental lawyer to represent us if that happens. But all I can see is us spending money that we don't have. My wife is totally stressed about the situation and I must say I'm not doing much better.

        • [Deactivated] on 20/10/2016 - 11:02

          Your stuffed then
          Put house up for sale
          Move to apartment block
          Otherwise you can trim it
          And relocate septic

        • JavaJoe on 21/10/2016 - 14:03

          @Beach Bum:

          Trimming tree isn't going to help with roots crushing sewerage pipe. To move the sewerage line would mean relocating boundary trap. Plumber says $70,000 is ballpark figure to do that but doubts equipment to do it could get down lane way. And the roots that would have to be destroyed in process would kill the tree. So yeah, thanks for your helpful comments

        • El Grande on 19/09/2017 - 22:15

          @JavaJoe: So what did you end up doing?

    • inherentchoice on 19/10/2016 - 14:58

      They are putting trees before people

      That's what you're supposed to do in the green religion.

      • helloeatty on 20/10/2016 - 17:37

        I can feel ur pain

  • bargainslut on 20/10/2016 - 17:06

    Maybe go and talk with them?

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