I'll try and keep this relatively waffle free as it's a complicated ongoing issue.
30 years ago my partners mums neighbours planted Leilandii on their side of their property wall at spaces of about 2 feet. After about 15 years they had grown to the point where their roots were affecting the structure of the then detached double garage. Solicitors and insurers got involved and they were asked ( and complied ) to remove the first 5 trees. They were also advised to top of the other trees to prevent further problems later ( did not comply with). T he neighbour to their other side had similar problems with them when they removed the trees from their booundary ( not our neighbours trees) with complaints about too much light coming in, lack of privacy etc.
Fast forward 30 years and we've inherited the house, the neighbours AND the trees. They are now some 50ft high with an overhang of almost 15ft over our driveway. Their 2m high boundary wall is now falling towards our drive, the capping stones are almost halfway off the wall forced by the trees. Picture attached shows the height / width of the issue. My partners mum had her gardener trim them back as high as he could reach a few years ago but even that is now a 3ft overhang. That half visible builders rubble bag is sat against the boundary wall and is a 1m x 1m bag to give you an idea of scale. Their falling debris blocks drains and gutters. The lack of light causes heavy moss and damp. It also blocks most of the sun to that side of the house so the rooms on that side are not as bright / warm as they could be.
We have attempted to open discussion with them about it to no avail. They say they are getting quotes for removal but never do for the last 18 months or so.
So we got a quote from a local tree surgeon and it was surprisingly good - we let the neighbours know by phone call that as it was such a good price, we would be prepared to pay half of the cost of felling and removing the trees. Initially this was gladly accepted. We both agree that the problem is only going to get worse and is not going to go away, must be dealt with, now is the time yadda yadda.
However then the questions started.
1. What are you going to do about insuring the wall from damage?
2. We don't want to be named as joint clients. We want you to be the sole client.
3. Any damage to their ( or ours) lawn / property ( although this is covered by the Tree Surgeons liability insurance)
The wall is in such a poor state that it's going to collapse no matter what happens. The tree surgeon is not prepared to cover damage to it as part of the job and we are certainly not going to cover it. If they were reasonable, i'd cheerfully give them a hand with labour to rebuild it after it falls ..... but as it's theirs, i am not paying money towards it. Our insurance will not cover it and nor i suspect will theirs.
I don't know why they want us to be the sole clients other than that they are hoping to either a: avoid paying their half of the cost or b: it's some kind of negligence opportunity on their behalf to sue us for the eventual collapse of the wall. I know from doing a bit of searching that there is a current IVA in place which might go some way to explaining this. Equally that also gives me some idea about how likely I would ever be to see any monies towards the cost of the job.
We really don't know where we stand with this. We can't shave the trees on our side as we'll be left with a 50ft wall of dead brown that will still drop r ubbish over the drive and the cars. We can't go ahead with any kind of removal without their written permission although we are prepared to swallow the whole cost of the job but not if they are going to then come back with some crazy claim for a new boundary wall.
So my feeling is that we get an independent surveyors report on the wall before anything is done. And if / when that stalls proceedings because we reachg stalemate we then submit a nuisance hedge claim to the council and sit back and wait for that to progress knowing full well that it could take 2 years to complete with no guarantee of success. If the wall then falls down in the meantime, we can then tackle him about that separately.
I think our options with the trees are:
1. Shave our side only and put up with the ugly brown mess that will remain and if the wall falls ... it's his problem.
2. Cut the trees down to wall height leaving enough green on their side to keep the remaining stumps alive and let that support the wall for as long as it can.
3. Full removal down to stump of the trees and see what happens to the wall.
My final statement to the neighbour will be that if we cannot agree to option 2 or 3 without ridiculous clauses that i will submit the nuisance hedge claim to the council and withdraw all and any future offer of financial help to do with removal of the trees and / or any help with the wall.
Does anyone have any input / guidance / painful experience that they can throw at this?
Again, the tree company won't be dealing with that - just what they have cut down.