Do your neighbour’s trees overhang your property?  Do they block light?  Do you have to deal with leaves, fruits, bird droppings or other debris falling into your garden or onto your car from your neighbour’s trees?

Whilst this can be frustrating, it is important to understand that you do not have a legal right to demand your neighbour remove or prevent this from happening. Such natural occurrences are considered part of normal tree behaviour, and your neighbour is not held responsible for them.

However, the law states that you are entitled to cut back branches from overhanging trees to the boundary line. Common sense suggests the best course of action is to discuss the problem with the tree owner and come to an amicable agreement. It may be more beneficial for the tree to receive a crown lift or reduction as opposed to cutting back just the offending branch(es).

We recently did some tree work for a customer in Beaconsfield who had a row of large trees from the next-door neighbour’s garden that lined the side of their driveway.

The trees had not been maintained for some time resulting in many of the branches overhanging the driveway and causing leaves, debris and bird droppings to fall onto the customer’s cars.

The trees, a mix of ash, lime, and sycamore, were encroaching over our customer’s garden, so we were tasked with trimming them back by about 2 meters from their lateral spread. Given the height of the trees, our team brought a MEWP (mobile elevating work platform) to the site, as many of them were too tall to safely reach with a ladder.

We trimmed the overhanging branches to the customer’s satisfaction, cleared all the debris, and transported it back to our yard for recycling. We ensure that 100% of our wood waste is repurposed into biofuel.