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Old 05-02-2006, 12:30 PM
penance penance is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Sep 2005
Location: Bristol
Posts: 47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Bonner
penance wrote:
If the tree is overhanging the boundary, the neighbour is legally
entitled to have every overhanging part cut back to the boundary line.
Even if the overhanging section is the main leader of the trunk.


Not so, it is reasonable as long as the work carried out does not pose
a threat to the tree, this is assuming the tree is healthy and not a
threat to property or people.
There has been a precedence set in court for this (in the UK). I have
the reference in my college notes somewhere.


What is reasonable? There is no question of reasonableness in this at
all. Any part of the tree overhanging their property is a trespass.
The neighbour can cut it off (although the branch/trunk/whatever
remains the property of the original owner)..
That would be decided in coart, taking into account the species of tree, the reason for the request of pruning (property damage, busybody neighbour etc).
There is always a question of reasonableness. If the tree was double stemmed with a fair 50/50 between stems, one stem overhanging the neighbours garden. If the neighbour wanted to remove all overhanging growth with no real reason (IE not a dangerous tree or encrouching on structures) the the request is unreasonable. Removing 50% in such a fasion would have a large impact on the tree's health and structural stability.
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