Trees

[Somerset Farmer]

If a tree falls from a property across a stream and onto your garden and in the process damages your garden, who is responsible for cleaning up the mess in your garden on your side of the river. The tree is 40ft tall and 2ft in diameter on the truck. The property the tree came from is social housing so is it the tenants responsibility or the landlords. The Environment agency are involved as the tree could cause flooding.

 

[phillipe]

What sort of tree

 

[sawdust]

If a tree falls from a property across a stream and onto your garden and in the process damages your garden, who is responsible for cleaning up the mess in your garden on your side of the river. The tree is 40ft tall and 2ft in diameter on the truck. The property the tree came from is social housing so is it the tenants responsibility or the landlords. The Environment agency are involved as the tree could cause flooding.

Your entitled to chop up said tree till it reaches your boundary, but you must return all bits to the owner not sure about whether you can charge for your time though

 

[milkloss]

I would say insurance claim against the owner of the property whose tree fecked your garden.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I see you mention the word Social housing. Since the days of Housing Associations the responsibility for trees appears to have changed.

I have a field adjoining what used to be a Council Estate, but now has a mix of private and housing association properties. The boundary belongs to either the private owner or the housing association, however all trees and shrubs have been moved to the responsibility of the property, whether they be the owner or the tenant.

I have had an issue with a large Willow tree that has branches falling off it and is in a dangerous condition that is in the garden of a Housing Association tenanted property. When I contacted the Housing association they told me that it was the tenants responsibility. I went to see the tenant who was an elderly lady and clearly surviving on benefits with no money to pay for the removal of the tree. I went back to the HA and suggested that as the tree is dangerous and if it falls over will damage, if not destroy two of their properties, it might be sensible if they arranged for it to be removed.
So far I have not had any success with them. It used to be a company called Amicus Horizon but now is Optivo, it is very difficult to find a phone number or anyone to talk to. When I did get hold of them they did not even know where the property was!!

 

[GTB]

sh!t happens. It's a pity that everything has to be someone's fault these days. As said claim on the owners insurance.

 

[Somerset Farmer]

What sort of tree

Sycamore

 

[Somerset Farmer]

I see you mention the word Social housing. Since the days of Housing Associations the responsibility for trees appears to have changed.

I have a field adjoining what used to be a Council Estate, but now has a mix of private and housing association properties. The boundary belongs to either the private owner or the housing association, however all trees and shrubs have been moved to the responsibility of the property, whether they be the owner or the tenant.

I have had an issue with a large Willow tree that has branches falling off it and is in a dangerous condition that is in the garden of a Housing Association tenanted property. When I contacted the Housing association they told me that it was the tenants responsibility. I went to see the tenant who was an elderly lady and clearly surviving on benefits with no money to pay for the removal of the tree. I went back to the HA and suggested that as the tree is dangerous and if it falls over will damage, if not destroy two of their properties, it might be sensible if they arranged for it to be removed.
So far I have not had any success with them. It used to be a company called Amicus Horizon but now is Optivo, it is very difficult to find a phone number or anyone to talk to. When I did get hold of them they did not even know where the property was!!

Does not look promising but the person who I have asked the question for will have to contact Magna Housing to sort the problem out. The firewood is no good to them as the house runs on oil!

 

[Exfarmer]

It will be the landlords responsibility no matter how much they may wriggle. They can charge the tenant but that is up to them. As the owner of a property you cannot legally shirk your responsibility.
However if it was my private property the tree fell onto I would claim on house insurance, especially if the EA do damage your property retrieving said tree.
Around here the EA are very good a removing fallen trees across the river, but then the local guy does burn a lot of wood

 

[Davey]

It depends if there was visibly something wrong with the tree?

The landlord / owner should have regular tree surveys and any suggested works carried out. If they do and a tree or limb comes down and causes damage or injury then it's considered an act of god and affected 3rd party's have to claim on their own insurance.

If the tree is visibly in poor health (ie would be spotted by a professional undertaking a survey) then it's down to the landlord / owner to prove they had properly discharged their duty to maintain the tree in a safe manner or it's their insurance.

Generally the above gets sorted out behind the scenes by insurance companies so if you have cover get your policy to cover your losses then they can take up the fight afterwards whilst you get on with your life!

 

[ollie989898]

So long as no property damage was incurred and no one lost life or limb, I'd chop it up offer it to whoever and be done with it.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

You’ve got free firewood what’s the problem

 

[Ramrod]

Ok! So if neighbours tree overhangs your property and you would like it trimmed, pollarded pruned etc. Who is allowed to do it?

 

[sawdust]

Ok! So if neighbours tree overhangs your property and you would like it trimmed, pollarded pruned etc. Who is allowed to do it?

You are but only to the line of your boundary, but you must give the tree owner their wood back

 

[sawdust]

You’ve got free firewood what’s the problem

 

[burr elm]

Ok! So if neighbours tree overhangs your property and you would like it trimmed, pollarded pruned etc. Who is allowed to do it?

You are back to the boundry

 

[HDAV]

You are but only to the line of your boundary, but you must give the tree owner their wood back

You have to offer them the wood can't just lob it over the fence back to em.......

Isn't there a recent change in legal duty re trees and tree inspections?

Can you report it to the council as a "danger" and they sort it and bill the owner?


Discretionary powers see below

http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/envi...nds_and_hedges/trees_on_private_property.aspx

Suggest writing to the housing association. They will dodge calls route you to a contact centre and waste your time a recorded delivery letter (keep a copy) much harder to dodge....


Or take the fight to twitter https://www.optivo.org.uk/about-us/our-people.aspx

 

[PostHarvest]

I rent grazing land that has a row of house gardens along the boundary. A large willow tree from of the gardens has fallen into my grazing field, smashing the fence and blocking access to the water trough. The landlord appears to have volunteered me to remove it as its owner doesn't seem to be making any effort to do so. The base of the tree looks to be pretty rotten as it split into 3 trunks just above ground level and water must have pooled in the base. Two of the trunks have gone one way into the garden and the largest one into the field. Any suggestions on how to persuade the owner to remove it as I can't put stock in the field until the fence is repaired and the tree is lifted off the water trough.

 

[milkloss]

If it was dry enough I’d suggest going in with a telehandler and giving it back as is.

 

[Longlowdog]

I'd be mortified if my tree landed on the fence of an adjoining property. I would also expect to repair any damage. When did it become morally acceptable to wait for the other person to get fed up and deal with it themselves?