Boundry trees?

Question

if a builder builds some houses and leaves trees intact as a boundry line between houses who is responsible for the trees if at a later date some of these trees look like falling down

Answer 1

Any common boundary,whether it's trees,fencing or a brick wall is jointly owned and is the equal responsibility of all who abut onto that boundary.

Answer 2

responsibility is not necessarity shared, if you have access to the land registary for your property (you usually get a copy when you buy a house) then it shows if someone has sole responsibility for certain boundaries. It will usually show a small arrow pointing to the side of responsibility.

For example, we are responsible for the boundary at the bottom, and to the left side of our garden, our next door neighbour on our right has responsibility for the right side boudary of our garden...(if that makes sence)

Would also depend how well you get on with your neighbours, if they are also concerned about the trees, maybe they could be trimmed and you could share the cost, then you will both be happy.

If its a dispute with a neighbour, then its a whole different ballgame though!

If you do get a 'treeman' in, make sure they are registered/licenced and have insurance.

And as said before, check the trees dont have a preservation order first, but even if they do, if you consider the trees may be unsafe as they are, you can ask the council to re assess this, and they may agree to change/lift the order.

Answer 3

each property own shares the tree, and you must come to a conclusion about trimming, and cutting down between the two of you!

Answer 4

Before you or the neighbours decide to cut down the trees,you should contact the department of the enviroment,because they might put a preservation order on them.  A kent land owner cut down some trees on his land and was imprisoned because they had a preservation order on them.