Neighbours very, very tall trees

[ChezTinns]

This is a bit of a long rant, but please bear with me ....

We have a holiday home in SW France where we try and visit around every 6 - 8 weeks.  Our neighbour has grown leylandii trees all around his property which are now perhaps twice the height of a double decker bus in parts.  Along the roadside, they are meticulously trimmed and kept, along other boundaries - eg us and other neighbours they run riot.  Apart from the fact that they do block sunlight and make a real mess with the debris/leaves, we really think they are dangerous.  We were at the house last week, and during some storms a few weeks ago some branches came down and actually broke our fence.  The neighbour (who, incidentally is not resident in the property, but lives 2 miles away) had arranged for the branches which fell in our garden to be removed.  However, he has done nothing to repair the fence.  We have asked him (very politely) in a letter if he would tirm the trees, only to receive a very short reply that says the trees legally OK.

We are just about to write again, asking him to repair the damage to our fence, and ask again if he will consider trimming them in height as they are dangerous - if we had been there when the storms were on, the branches which fell would have fallen on our car! My husband is keen to add in our letter that if he does not trim the trees we will "take further action".  Can we do this? I can't find anything about tree laws/boundarys anywhere. Does anyone know how we stand with this?

[Teamedup]

 

You need to contact or call in at your Mairie and ask what local by laws are concerning hedges and trees.

You don't say how far they are from your boundary. That will count for a lot in this. If these trees are within say two metres of your boundary, then usually they cannot be more than 2 metres high legally.

 

And I really think you should have contacted your insurance company immediately about the fence. We only have a certain time limit to contact them about things.

[Tony F Dordogne]

In a recent French hors-series gardening magazine there is a piece on the legality of hedges nationally - my understanding from the article is that there are no local laws on this one, it's a national requirement.

If anybody wants a copy email me privately and I'll scan it and send it on - it's too long to copy the whole thing out and there are some good illustrations which may help if it comes down to a push and pull argument with the neighbour.

[Deimos]

I have a load of such trees (Leylandii) along some of my land beside the road (I did not put them there - they were already there and large when I purchased the house). They overhang the grass verge of the road (not belonging to me) and last year the DDE called round and said I needed to cut them back. They are quite a long line and it was a significant amount of work. He (DDE) arrived to tell me to cut them with a contractor who he said was nothing to do with the DDE and if I wanted could do me a quote, etc. In the end I made alternative (and cheaper) arrangements - and ended up borrowing road signs from the DDE, who actually then sent somebody along to help for half a day (plus they had some tree stumps they were keen to add to the fire).

Anyway, it might be likely that these neighbours are being told by the DDE to cut them back - and I guess this gives you little choice (though I did take over 9 months to get round to doing anything). What was interesting is that when they were cut back from the road, they had to be cut back quite high and they had to be done such that there were no branches sticking out towards the road (not pointing at any car that might come off the road - which means cutting them back a fair way). However, mine do not drop leaves or anything.

As a slight aside, the contractor that came round with the DDE guy did say that when they were cut back it would risk harming the trees and that after a couple of years there was a chance they might die. I have no idea how much of a risk nor if he was just covering himself, but if you get these trees cut back then a) cut back Leylandii are not great to look at and b) you might be even more worried in a few years if you start to suspect they are dying.

If they are a quite a few of them, cutting them back/down is a lot of work. For mine it took 3 of us a long 5 hours to cut them back (and burn the cuttings). Removing them would be massively more work. May be better to chat to the neighbour with a bottle or 2 in a friendly manner rather than writing letters. I know how I would react if neighbours started writing formal letters to me.

Ian

[ChezTinns]

Thanks All

Tony - I will pm you for the documents, thanks

Ian - I appreciate your comment regarding how we contact our neighbour, a letter doesn't seem the friendliest method of request! He doesn't live in this property, and everyone in the commune dislikes him enormously for his complete disregard for their feelings / concerns about these trees.  He has been forced to 'thin' them on another adjoinging property.  The lady who lives there has been in that house for over 40 years, and her son did have to resort to getting the Maire involved, but he still would not 'top' them.

JT

[Teamedup]

ChezTinns, just get in touch with your Mairie then. Ask for the official texte and then make sure that they are not within their rights to have these trees. If they aren't then set the Mairie on them. Mairies do have some powers.

[Higgy]

Bernard the plumber in our village had his very high Leylandii cut down to size, after a couple of weeks they started to go brown and sadly die.  I think once they have reached the headyt heights that you mention they dislike being chopped.  They cause more problems with neighbours than enough and should not have been brought into   the country.

[Cassis]

Tony Dordogne has kindly copied the article relating to trees, heights and boundaries. 

Trees and Boundaries

NB this is a pdf file of 1.6MB

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Higgy"]  They cause more problems with neighbours than enough and should not have been brought into   the country.[/quote]

I dont think you can blame the trees for the problems people have with them. They are great provided they are 'topped at a reasonable height and will produce a good hedge quicker than virtually any other plant. It's important to trim them early otherwise they will just turn brown and bare.

Hug a tree today............................................[:)]

[hoverfrog]

leylandii do not grow back from old wood, this is the problem.

If you do trim them early then they can make a good screen early on, but few people do this.

Round here in 87 there were a lot of problems with Douglas fir dropping branches in the snow we had - I don't suppose Leylandii were any different!

If your neighbours' trees contrevene the laws then I suggest approaching them personally first, and if this doesn't work the concilliateur de justice is available via the mairie and from personal experience I can vouch that they get the job done :)

[Jonzjob]

[quote user="Bugbear"]

[quote user="Higgy"]  They cause more problems with neighbours than enough and should not have been brought into   the country.[/quote]

I dont think you can blame the trees for the problems people have with them. They are great provided they are 'topped at a reasonable height and will produce a good hedge quicker than virtually any other plant. It's important to trim them early otherwise they will just turn brown and bare.

Hug a tree today............................................[:)]

[/quote]

Hi BB, you can come and hug all 82 of our blasted leylandie (?). They were not trimmed by the previous owner and are 4 meters +. So far we have had a very good quote for doing the trim and a few small other bits. Only 4000€, well just under [:-))][Www] We don't want them to go because they privide a good wind break for 1 side and the top of our garden (big garden). Looks like I will have to get busy with my sabre saw!!![+o(][B]

[cheshirecat]

I have inherited a similar problem with leylandii, there are more than 30, planted very close together, reach to the sky and the neighbour has today written a letter with a threat of legal action. These trees have been there for 20 years, but she says her house is becoming damp -not bad after that long in the shade:)

They are a problem for us too, no sun after about 5pm but I feel quite vulnerable as certainly have not got the money for these to be cut in the near future!

The house was purchased three years ago, and I have been living here over the winter, but the neighbour looked the other way when I met her. I think I have inherited the tail end of a dispute, and feel quite vulnerable!

[AnOther]

Funny old world init.

Many complaining about Leylandi and me here thinking to plant about 50 this Autumn to form a nice, quick growing, moderately high (2m ish) and dense hedge around the 2 exposed boundaries of my property to both better define it and screen off a not so nice view of some scrubby land.

If I do go for it then I will definately be keeping them under control despite being in the reasonably fortunate position of having no near neighbours to worry about or steal light from.

[cooperlola]

Ernie, we too have a Laylandii hedge around our property.  I take the loppers to them every year and keep the central trunk down to around 5' (sorry about the old money, but I'm old!) and trim the fronds with the hedge trimmers and they're fine - they actually make a nice dense, fast-growing hedge.  Just a total nightmare when they get out of hand.  I don't mind them per se but they are awful when they get tall and leggy. Friends back in the UK had to have their entire house under-pinned as they had 30' + whoppers round their garden, the roots of which were working their way under the house. So, just don't turn your back on them or they'll take over!

[AnOther]

Yes I will look after them and they will be maybe 15m from my house so roots shouldn't cause any problems.

I suppose you could liken them to a dog, properly trained no problem but a potential nightmare if left to run riot [:D]

[cooperlola]

The perfect analogy, I would say.

[Jonzjob]

Blimey., I'm glad I ain't got 82 4 meter high dogs. It's bad enough clearing the lawn for one normal size chokky lab dog!!!!

I think that my tronconuse (chainsaw???) is going to be overworked soon...

[Jonzjob]

Copper nails are supposed to work too [6][:-))]?

[Sunshine]

[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"]

In a recent French hors-series gardening magazine there is a piece on the legality of hedges nationally - my understanding from the article is that there are no local laws on this one, it's a national requirement.

If anybody wants a copy email me privately and I'll scan it and send it on - it's too long to copy the whole thing out and there are some good illustrations which may help if it comes down to a push and pull argument with the neighbour.

[/quote]

Hi Tony

I have sent you an email requesting the info above.  I did try the link a few postings below yours, but it did not work.

Many thanks in advance

[ChezTinns]

Thanks for all your comments.  Neighbour still refuses point blank to top them, whereas alongside the road they are absolutely immaculate, and have been very cared for and create a really fabulous screen/hedge.  He has, however, said that he will cut them our side of the boundary so that they don't come too far over our garden, but not cut the height.  Can't understand it really, as from his side of the trees it also looks awful, so why he won't cut them is anyones guess!!!!

But I can feel a 'spillage' coming on sometime soon!!!!  Just near the roots of them ol' trees. 

[Jonzjob]

The word 'pillock' comes to mind!!

Just have 'a accidental' spillage near the most offending ones. The lot dropping ded and he just might smell a rat? But if only a few go he may well take the hint??? If he doesn't then?

We had a couple of parasol pines cut down because they were too close to the pool/house/solar panels. I put some stump killer on the stumps to help them rot down quicker. The next thing we saw was the 3rd parasol start to look VERY poorly, oh dear, what a shame, never mind eh! It was also too near the pool. The point being that I never intended to kill the 3rd tree and the nearest stump was about 10 feet away, but within 2 months it was very sad and had to come down too. Shame really because they were lovely trees in the wrong place.

[Chancer]

In the past a friend discreetly "offed" a leylandi, on his side of the boundary he dug down a little around the base exposing the root, then drilled a 1" ish hole deep into it, this was filled with sodium chlorate and then the soil put back on top.

Worked a treat and totally undetectable until the dead tree stump was dug out and even then it would have needed a forensic scientist to find the cause.

[Jonzjob]

[6][6][6] like it!

[AnOther]

ChezTinns you have my sympathy but I hope your neighbour doesn't aren't reading this forum...............[Www]