Lisa T wrote:
My neighbour has a huge oak tree literally on my boundary fence. It's
so massive that it takes all light from the middle section of my
garden. The trees on my side (an apple and rowan tree) are bending,
trying to look for light. My neighbour has let us cut the branches
overhanging our property before. I have asked if we can take it down
but she says she wants to keep it for 'shade' on her side. As a
compromise, we agreed we could take the height down to the levels of
the trees next to it, and leave the branches on her side as they are.
I've consulted a tree surgeon who says he can make a good job of
trying to make a compromise (without, in his words, "it looking like
a helicopter has crashed into it"). My neighbour is now starting to
get difficult and saying she "doesn't want a lot taking off" and that
she doesn't want it "lop sided". When we had the overhanging branches
taken off a couple of years back (with her blessing), she never said
a word. Now she's saying he "cut off half the tree and didn't shape
it". But, it didn't change the aspect on her side at all, just
stopped the branches completely overshadowing our side. It it right
that we have absolutely no right to take some of this tree down when
it takes our light so badly? I'd never want to make it look ugly or
odd, or to upset my neighbour. But frankly, I can't see how we can
find a compromise if she won't allow us to cut the branches that
overhang our property. It feels grossly unfair. This tree is about 30
feet high...

This is a legal question whose answer will depend on the jurisdiction that
you are in. It is not sensible to ask an international garden group such a
thing as we are probably not in your area and probably not lawyers either.

D