Tree removal - whose problem?

mikeclark007

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My neighbour has a large horrible Beech tree that overhangs half my garden. He hates it as much as I do and as such he has challenged a preservation / conservation order on it and it's gone unopposed so now it can be taken down.

He has been quoted at around £700 for the removal and disposal of all of it and he has approached me for half the costs. I initially agreed to pay but now I'm having second thoughts. Why should I pay £350 when all I'm really bothered about is the cutting down and removal of the bit that overhangs my garden? Surely the bulk of the work is in getting rid of the rest so shouldn't he be paying more?

I don't really want to fall out about it if possible.
 
How big? DIY?
For £350 i'd do it for you! lol
 
I had a similar conversation with my neighbour when I got home tonight apart from it was about a fence.

According to the deeds, it is his fence and so I could take the approach of "it's not my problem". However, I offered to split the costs with him and as he said, he would do the same because we will both benefit from having it fixed.

If it benefits you as well, what is wrong with paying half?
 
When we had a couple of trees taken down we just got the blokes to log it and leave the logs in the garden.

We moved the logs out the front, then quick ad on freegle and the whole lot was gone within 2 hours.

Saved about £200 not having the tree surgeons take it away. So many people are after wood for log burners that you should never need to pay someone to remove it!

Suggest to you neighbour that he get another quote with just logging taking place and you dispose of the logs, then get the freegle ad out :)
 
Same here, cut down trees ourselves and just put wood to other uses.
 
I wouldn't pay half. To keep neighbour relations friendly I would make a contribution as it's for your benefit too, but £350 is a bit steep considering it's not your tree. Legally you can cut the overhanging branches and throw them into his garden as the branches are his property so the reality is it's ultimately his problem. As others have said get other quotes.

Another way of looking at it, if the tree didn't overhang would he still ask you to pay towards it?
 
With no preservation order on the tree you can get to work with a chainsaw on your side up to the vertical line of the boundary. You can also throw all the bits you chop off over onto his land. I doubt that bit of UK law has changed much in the last few decades..... Don't alter the tree on his side at all though - just cut everything vertically up at the boundary.

If you agreed to pay though you probably should stick with that agreement even if it turns out you rather wouldn't :)

Edit - The Dark Horse beat me to it :) Glad to see the law doesn't seem to have changed :)
 
Legally you can cut the overhanging branches and throw them into his garden as the branches are his property so the reality is it's ultimately his problem.

Depends how big the tree is, it may cost you 350 to get it done in time and labour.
 
Depends how big the tree is, it may cost you 350 to get it done in time and labour.
Yes - but the same legislation says (or used to say IIRC) that you can give permission for the tree owner to access your property to deal with their tree on your property - this includes them dealing with disposal of their bits on your side.

If you don't want to give that access permission you deal with it and throw it over the boundary as it belongs to them - this bit is actually very important, you must give them their tree bits back. If you cut it to the boundary and dispose of the bits by any other means, you haven't complied and the tree owner could get upset if they so wished.....

If you choose to pay to deal with the tree on your side and still dispose of it over the boundary then I believe that is your choice to pay and you wouldn't be able to send the bill to the tree owner. Get a quote and if it is less than half his and you are happy, get a pro to do the chopping into handy size chunks and throw it over yourself. Pay the pro and the tree owner will know you have done your bit and he can get a quote for what is left and to dispose of his bits and the bits you returned to his property. Quotes for chopping up into bits you can carry (throw over the boundary) should be cheaper than half a quote to do the whole tree including the trunk. Also depends if their quote includes stump grinding - you wouldn't care about that so why agree to pay half of that?

Do your side (tell him that is what you will do) and pay if you can't do that yourself or don't want to. That's it - and the tree owner can deal with and pay for what is left his side including disposal of the bits that were on your side. You should have reduced their costs and all should be happy legally and financially and in a neighbourly fashion :thumbsup:
 
Yes - but the same legislation says (or used to say IIRC) that you can give permission for the tree owner to access your property to deal with their tree on your property - this includes them dealing with disposal of their bits on your side.

If you don't want to give that access permission you deal with it and throw it over the boundary as it belongs to them - this bit is actually very important, you must give them their tree bits back. If you cut it to the boundary and dispose of the bits by any other means, you haven't complied and the tree owner could get upset if they so wished.....

If you choose to pay to deal with the tree on your side and still dispose of it over the boundary then I believe that is your choice to pay and you wouldn't be able to send the bill to the tree owner. Get a quote and if it is less than half his and you are happy, get a pro to do the chopping into handy size chunks and throw it over yourself. Pay the pro and the tree owner will know you have done your bit and he can get a quote for what is left and to dispose of his bits and the bits you returned to his property. Quotes for chopping up into bits you can carry (throw over the boundary) should be cheaper than half a quote to do the whole tree including the trunk. Also depends if their quote includes stump grinding - you wouldn't care about that so why agree to pay half of that?

Do your side (tell him that is what you will do) and pay if you can't do that yourself or don't want to. That's it - and the tree owner can deal with and pay for what is left his side including disposal of the bits that were on your side. You should have reduced their costs and all should be happy legally and financially and in a neighbourly fashion :thumbsup:


Seems easier to just pay the 350 and be done with it, especially if it's a big tree.
 
Maybe - I would definitely first at least get a quote for somebody to do my side and see if that is less than £350. If it is the hassle is almost zero IMO. Especially if you can get the bits thrown over the boundary included in your cheaper quote :)

I would always prefer to have control over the work on my property rather than give permission to whoever the tree owner has selected to do the work on my property.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I'll try and get a photo up later.

I am going down the route of seeing if I can get a quote for getting rid of either just my overhanging bit or the whole thing.

Another development is that the massive bit overhanging my side is too big to cut and swing over to his to drop so they are suggesting cutting it and letting it fall on mine which I'm not happy about as it could do considerable damage to fence, plant beds and artificial grass. There is also talk of using a MEWP which would see the cost increase!
 
At the very least I would get a quote myself.
How do you know the whole quote isn't £350 and he has just said to you £700 so you end up paying all of it?
Too be honest I think you would be generous just paying for your side, when really the WHOLE problem is his and not yours.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I'll try and get a photo up later.

I am going down the route of seeing if I can get a quote for getting rid of either just my overhanging bit or the whole thing.

Another development is that the massive bit overhanging my side is too big to cut and swing over to his to drop so they are suggesting cutting it and letting it fall on mine which I'm not happy about as it could do considerable damage to fence, plant beds and artificial grass. There is also talk of using a MEWP which would see the cost increase!
As I said - I would prefer to get a pro to deal with my side and dispose of it over the boundary. Having his 'pros' letting things drop my side without me having contractual control over them would trigger many internal switches of angst I fear......
 
Seems easier to just pay the 350 and be done with it, especially if it's a big tree.
Pay the money, enjoy the lack of tree and good relations with your neighbour.
Don't pay the money, risk having the tree there for a lot longer and a neighbour who is peed off.

The choice is yours.
 
Getting rid of a problem tree will add far more than £350 to the value of your house. Or you could cut off your nose to spite your face. Just saying.
 
I would pay for it, like others said, it will add value to your home, it gets something unsightly removed that you hate, it keeps good relations with neighbours which is a godsend and while it might not be your responsibility it just makes for an easier life.

I would however get another few quotes to see if that is a fair price, also get them to break down the quote so you know what is involved and you can then decided to say "well don't do x as I can do that" and it reduces the quote further.

Our neighbours recently came to us with their roofer and said the chimney is goosed and it needs x,y,z done and it will cost you about £4K for the work. We got our roofer to look at it and he said don't need to do any of the stuff the other roofer suggested and it will cost you £400, all sorted now and no problems.

So defo check around, for piece of mind if nothing else.

EDIT - PS: Disposing of the log off cuts via gumtree (other sites are available) will defo reduce the cost considerably.
 
Depends on how much you value good neighbourly relations and how good the neighbours are! If they are good neighbours (which you should never undervalue!) and you want to sour this, then continue down the "I'm not paying" approach and risk it all.

You pays your money and takes your choice :) I know what I would do in this situation, pay up, you benefit from the tree coming down, more sunlight I am sure for starters and you can have a say in how it is done.
 
Had a similar issue and asked the guys at a local fishery if they'd cut the tree down. They were trained in chainsaw use and regularly do tree work at the fishery. They did the job at a snip of the price. Could be worth seeing if your local fishery has guys that could do it.
 
I wouldn't have agreed to pay half.
But seeing as you did, it would be spectacularly bad form to go back on that now.
Made your bed etc.
 
In regards to the bit that is to big to cut and swing into his garden, is the OP not going to have the same problem if he has it cut himself?

You would think this would be simple to resolve what with two adults talking to each other! Seems a common problem anywhere though when neighbours can't talk about something to get it resolved preferring to make it a much bigger problem than it is. After all, how is it going to get resolved by talking to a load of people online who don't know the tree compared to two amicable neighbours discussing it.
 
It's a hard one as trees and hedges are the most common problem I come across in my work.
A good company will have insurance for damages caused but also will understand the damage to an area if not cut correctly. In your case you are worried about your landscaped area.
You normally find there are several companies in your area that have a good name for tree work, these are the ones you and your neighbour need to seek out.
They should supply a written quotation outlining the work and any issues with the work. It's also important that you express your concerns about possible damage to your property from the work so they understand your concerns, this includes your neighbour. Passed experience would dictate you supply these concerns in a written form.
However your neighbour can use whoever he wishes and should show you the quotation as you have offered to pay half against the work but there's a little point that I should point out.
You should if the company knows the situation also receive a written quote from them as the contracted work is from both you and your neighbour due to the payment being shared but in most cases your neighbour will fail to tell the company so they will be unaware of the situation.
If you are on good terms this kind of work can go smoothly.
 
As others have said I would pay half as well especially since you have already said you would.
I have had work done on fences that border 2 different neighbours over the last year or so. One paid half the other did not (even though he did indicate he would pay something towards it). In both cases I did not ask for them to pay half but just asked their permission to get the work done. You can imagine which neighbour I am still friends with (the other one is hopefully moving out soon!!!).
Any work you have done on this is likely to cause some disruption/damage to your garden since there is going to be some heavyish machinery involved. But look at it from the bigger picture that it will be easy to repair this and the tree will then be gone for good.
I think paying someone to do your side and throwing the branches over to your neighbours side sounds a sure fire way to pee them off. Imagine if the tree was on your side and you came home to a pile of cut branches in your garden!!!!!! It is just not going to end well.
Getting so additional quotes is a good idea. Some friends of mine had this sort of work done a while a go and there was a big range of quotes. It is also not always cheaper for the company to not take the wood away. At least one of the quotes they had was cheaper if the company took the wood away. This was because they could sell it so took at least part of their profit from this which meant a cheaper price for my friends.
I think £350 is a small price for keeping friendly with the neighbours and also ridding yourself of the tree as well. Haggling over a couple of hundred just seems silly.
 
I would like to see a picture of this tree, it can't be that bad surely, maybe decorate it for christmas. :)
 

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