Overhanging Trees

I heard of a dispute with gardeners who were cutting down overhanging trees. They had put the cut branches over the fence back onto the propery of the owners of the trees instead of disposing of the on their own side.

 I looked online and found this from St Albans Council.

If the branches of a neighbour’s tree start to grow over to your side, you can cut them back to the boundary point between you and your neighbour’s property. However, before you undertake works to any trees, it is important to check the trees are not covered by a Tree Preservation Order, or located within a Conservation Area. The tree owner’s permission is required if the work requires access to their land. The branches and any fruit on them, which you may have cut down on your side, still belong to the tree owner so they can ask you to return them. Alternatively, you can return them and ask your neighbour to dispose of them themselves should you wish to do so. 

What might seem a bit of a strange anomaly, however, is that even though any leaves from your neighbour’s tree may fall into your garden in autumn, you have no right to ask them to come around and sweep them up.

Fencing

We thought we would have to pay one company to remove trees and undergrowth and another to build the fence. We found a fence repair man through the whatsapp group for our street. So we knew where he lived and he could reach us quickly, no traffic delays. He included the removal of the trees in his estimate so we did not need to deal with two separate companies and sets of bills and timing.