Hi all I am in need of some advice. I own a bushy block in the northern suburbs that i am currently in the process of subdividing. I have some tall trees along the southern boundary and it is blocking the sunlight of my neighbour. He wants me to trim them. He is not a very nice fellow and is threatening to take me the land and environment court. I want to keep neighbours on side but i feel like it is his problem and he should pay for any trimming. Has anyone had experience with this? cheers chris
Has there been previous confrontation to prompt him to threaten legal action, or is he just a grumpy arrogant ******? If the latter tell him to go for it. Perhaps take pics of the trees incase he poisons them etc
I have told him i am happy if he pays for the trimming then that is fine. His line is that they are my trees and why should he pay for it. For me it comes down to motivation; what is my motivation to spend thousands of dollars to make him happy? It also comes down to my right to have what i want on my property - who is he to tell me what i should have on my property (if it is not a safety issue)? I suspect he is grumpy for any number of reasons but in particular the lack of avenues that he has for getting me to trim the trees (council really dont care - and why should they?).
Trees and plants - towards the end of the article details access to sunlight and trees/ hedges in NSW.
So - Your trees and he isnt happy. There is nothing he can do about it unless the branches are impacting the FOOL. Tough titties. Will cost him tens of 000s to go to land and enviro. Tell him to FO
lol......he would be the first to put you in if you started a chain saw without council consent. The only thing different to what you have done that I would do, is say you can trim after you get written council permission (that you would sign) and an aborist that is insured and ok'd by yourself.
Noise laws - Councils are fairly powerless without repeated warnings. Council only give permission to lopping or removal. My neighbour wanted to trim a hedge to suit his lot which would have halved its height on my side. I said no for those reasons. He walks into my yard looks and agrees. I then suggested we may be able to slowly reduce it over time so it doesnt look like a hack job...Maybe take off 10% at a time down by say 30%. We agree 100mm at a time. So far its 100mm lower and in spring we will do it again. Discussion fixes more disputes
The land and Environment Court website has lots of cases to look at. Trees and fence disputes between neighbours is significant in number. Usually with trees it is due to loss of views over time or root damage to the neighbour's structures. I do not recall much related to shading. You have offered to let him pay, I doubt the court would expect any more from you.
Get all communication via emails/writing. Send him something in writing, saying you can let him trim as long as he pays. Cover your ass in case things blow up.
