Anyone successfully got council to pay for tree root damage to drains in NSW?

This is an awesome thread! I have just seen this now and so glad it came up in the search results.

Jack, what was the outcome of your claim please? I am dealing with Penrith council NSW aswell.

Propagate, the initial reply you got from council, I have received the exact same one 2 years later.

Please see below. I argued that it was unfair, to which they had it assessed by an external claims manager who gave the same outcome. The civil liabilities act was quoted to me and I said it was irrelevant in this case and it was then retracted.

These tree roots has caused blockages in my pipes and the pavers in my backyard to no longer be flush and unevenly raised. My 4 year old tripped on them, cracked his tooth and had to be sedated to have it removed.


"After careful consideration of your claim, we can confirm that Council is unable to assist you with the costs claimed, as it has been identified that Council had no prior knowledge of the damaged being caused to your property.
The investigation of your claim has identified the trees located behind your back boundary fence are Casuarina trees and are of good health and condition. A search of our records has revealed that Council had no prior knowledge of trees roots causing any damage to your property, prior to your claim, and therefore cannot be held liable.
Council is committed to the safe and proper maintenance of public property, and we do understand the inconvenience of having broken underground pipes. However, property owners are responsible for maintaining pipes on their own property.
Trees cannot enter sewer pipes or any other underground pipe system unless there is a crack in the pipe or fault in the pipe system. Where pipes are cracked, tree roots can enter them and cause problems like those you have unfortunately experienced. This is because the tree roots are attracted to the water leaking from pipes."

Kind regards,
Kristin

 

Hi
I had a on going problem with our toilets blocking and having to plunge them constantly
until it just would not clear one day
Rang our plumber he came and had a look and after locating the inspection pipe to the sewer about 2 meters from the council owned foot path along the front of my house
Informed me that the gum trees on the council strip had entered the sewer and were partially blocking the pipe he cleared the matter but it will block again until all the tree roots are removed and said to ring the council they might do the work

I rang council and explained it to them
They replied that they will send a tree crew out to have a look
A few days later the tree crew arrive have a look and tell me it must be the council trees as they are the only trees in that area
But council don’t clear pipes because my pipes must be leaking and attracting the roots to the water

So it’s up to me to inspect my sewer pipes for leaks and that his supervisor will contact me ASAP

The next day I received a call from the supervisor
Saying the same as the tree crew that leaking pipes were probably the cause of the roots entering my sewer and council were not liable
I said sewer pipes are gravity feed and not under pressure so they only have waste water flowing over the joints and down the to the mains so if it is weeping it would be very minimal and the ground it not wet at all
Also how do we inspect the sewer pipes dig them up every six mths to check for leaks or weeps a bit unrealistic
All so your tree roots don’t block my sewer
Also what if I lived next to a council park and my tree roots blocked your toilet block
What would you do
The supervisor didn’t answer that but said he would send the plumbing crew out to have a look
A few days later 2 trucks and four men arrived and knocked on the door said to me that their here to fix the blocked sewer
They did and toilets don’t block anymore

 

Hi Sayit,

Which council was this? I have proven that Penrith City Council were negligent as they knew about the problem 8 years ago from a neighbour 2 houses down and the house next to me also called them 1 year ago.

They cut all the trees down now, but they have sent this claim to an external claims company called Australasia Claims who have said they do not possess unlimited funds to pay for these claims and their money is spent on "repairing roads, footpaths, drains, parks and of course trees."

"Due to Section 42 of the Civil Liability Act they are afforded immunity and will no correspond with me regarding this claim."

I am now looking into going to court.

 

Hi
Kristin
It is wollongong council
They we all helpful from the reception
To the tree crew , supervisor and finally the plumbing crew
They were professional in firstly refusing liability
But listened to my questions and reasoning
And finally after a few phone discussions
Plumbing crew arrived to clear sewer pipes
All good now

 

Good to hear it has worked out for you.

People under Penrith council are not so lucky. Penrith council have told me people have won court claims, due to council negligence. External claims department know they are in the wrong and have run out of excuses so they said they will no longer correspond with me.

 

It's the chichen or the egg.
Were your pipes cracked from poor workmanship or ground conditions to begin with. Roots will easily get into old clay lines that don't seal as well as modern pvc

Council's would be mad to take on ownership for 1 setting a precedent.

It is a pain but jetting the line isn't overly expensive.

And it is worth a call to the water authority first to ensure the main isn't blocking up or having issues. They will not charge for this

 

Cheaper and easier to get new pipes installed/ keep the old one's maintained. While you should seek legal advice I doubt you would win this case.

 

Its not the chicken or the egg. My pipes are PVC not clay as the whole yard was excavated and they were replaced several years before this. The original ones were also pvc back then.

I am mainly seeking compensation for my pavers which were originally flush but the tree roots came under them and made one here and there stick up. My kids kept tripping on them. I told council this was happening. Then a month later my son tripped and cracked his tooth in half.

I have sent council photos showing the tree roots under the pavers. I have sent council photos of tree roots in my retaining wall with new shoots sprouting through the wall, most likely the tree roots have weakened my retaining wall. I do not have any trees on my property and neither does the properties on either side.

There is a sewer junction outside my place on council strip. Sydney water recommends this type of tree to NOT be planted within 6 metres of pipes. Why is that, if trees can not enter broken pipes?

My neighbour reported the same problem 7 years ago. Council knew of the issues, yet did not remove the trees.

The say they are afforded immunity through the civil rights act, as they're funds are better spent elsewhere. But if we do not pay council rates, are we not charged interest? Are not our funds better spent elsewhere? Does every homeowner possess unlimited funds?

How about I crash into your car, then tell you I don't have to pay for the damage as I do not have unlimited funds?

What about the duty of care, listed in the civil right act, that the risk was foreseeable?

Plain and simple - double standards.

 

As a rate payer I’m on Council’s side.

In addition, it’s your responsibility that your kids tripped on the uneven pavers. You clearly knew the pavers on your property were crooked but didn’t do anything to fix them.

 

I cut the roots out and made the pavers flush again.

 

Pavers are notorious for moving and shifting. Again it's an easy blame to the workmanship.

Just poison the tree or start excavating the roots on your side causing the problems thus requiring the tree to be removed

 

Might end up copping a fine.

 

It wasn't a wave in the pavers, it was one here and one there uplifted. Since then council have removed all trees. However initially, they said within 5 weeks they would be removed. After the 5 weeks, they said they have more important jobs to do and it would be another 5 weeks. I called them 8 times within 1.5 weeks and then they finally came.

If I poisoned the tree and they collapsed on my fence, then I would be up for more expense and also when they cut the trees, they inspected the heath of the trees.

I initially said I would poison the roots under my pavers and they heavily advised against it.

 

I had the same issue as you @Kristen I had poof the council knew as I had letter from Penrith council to my neighbors dated years earlier acknowledging the council trees were the problem. After months of back and forward with their external claims mob they eventually wouldn't talk to me any more and wrote to me stating that if I want to go further I have to sue them but they would seek their costs and warned me that my chances are slim. Bullying tactics. It worked, I didn't want the hassle. The council did come out and cut all the trees down though and I write to them afterward saying how disappointing I was in the face of the fact it was their fault and to formally ask they put on record that I have now replaced all of the underground sewer pipes from my property and as I have no trees on the property any future damage will be billed to council, they have no further excuse next time, (not that they really had an excuse this time).

 

Thanks for your reply Propagate. They have said my arguments are valid but they will not compensate and they expect to win if it goes to court.

 

This is from left field. How about pick a strong case and get some crowd funding in order to establish the precedent. It sounds like Penrith would be a good place to start. Maybe too late for some of you that have resolved - or walked away but i'd suspect it wouldn't be too tough to get a war chest from a few peoples generosity.

 

Goof idea. We had a very strong case, but at the end of the day they used bully tactics to scare us out of taking it to court. I had good confidence we'd get a win but wasn't prepared to take the risk in the end. Cost us $6k to fix the drains, would have cost a lot more to fight if we lost. A precedent would have been good to set though, sounds like it's a pretty common thing.

 

Councils would all be broke if they were liable for their nature strips and every tree in a district. If you become aware a tree impacts pipes etc early action is best. At best when you do this they will remove the tree and often replace it with another !!

Actions against private landowners have a marginally better case for actions SOMETIMES under the Trees (Disputes with Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW). I took on a neighbour and went to L&E and tabled evidence of the date their trees were planted (I took photos when they planted them and these had the date stamp) after my pool was constructed (council approval evidence). Root samples indicated the same species (Arborist report and a site photo depicting no other trees). L&E ordered removal and any replacements be a shrub and not a tree and remediation of my pool. And awarded costs. The application fee wasnt cheap !! I represented myself. Coles had a lawyer attend who tried to argue that the trees existed before my pool but this was rejected due to my photo's and the arborist report confirmation of the species. Hearing lasted under 20mins.

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.n...517456651/180131_Tree_Disputes.pdf?1517456651

 

This has been incredibly insightful and useful – thank you all

 

I thought I was alone with this problem! Mine is identical with many in this thread with identical replies from the external company - they must laugh when they receive our naive requests for compensation ... here comes another fool...ha ha...and they give it to a junior to take the standard pro forma steps with the pro forma replies. How is it possible they have a 'get out of jail card' as another person wrote? Its a total scam!! I do know of someone who won against them - but she was a lawyer thus no costs and knew her stuff - they backed down and paid.