How do i find out who a tree belongs to?

[kira000]

Hopefully a straight forward question.
Over the other side of the boundary fence of our garden is a blo*dy tall sycamore tree, which is like 30ft tall and putting our whole garden into shade, which is killing our lawn and dropping sycamore pods which keep turning into seedlings.

Also of concern is the fact that should it get blown down, it is tall enough to go right through our house, which does our insurance no good. (it asks about tall trees)

Pest of a tree!

Anyway, we would like to at least get it cut back so we get some light, but we dont know who it belongs to to either ask them to do it, or ask if we can do it.

The tree is not in anyones garden, which means it could be council, but it sits right next to some parking areas for the houses to the side and back of ours. The parking spaces arent attached to their land, ie. are not drives in front of the houses, rather little nooks at the end of the culdesacs.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whose they might be, how we can find out, or if we can just get them chopped?

[kira000]

Silly question Zac, but how would i get the O.S ref for the land?

[kira000]

Just looked at the OS site, and found our area with our postcode at entre of grid reference but it wont zoom in enough to be able to identify where the tree is.

[Twenty20]

It does seem a shame to cut down a perfectly good tree just because it's shading your lawn. I'd guess that the tree was there before you bought the house?

The tree is unlikely to get blown down unless it's diseased or dying. You could however lop off any branches that encroach over your boundary.

I don't think that because a tree is shading your garden is good enough reason to chop it down.

[kira000]

Twenty.
Dont get me wrong, i love the fact that there are trees around, and I'd be happy to have a tree there- i'd even pay for a new one myself. Just not a huge sycamore.

It is a totally unsitable location for such a huge tree. The developers appear to have bought the quickest growing trees they could in order to save time properly lansdscaping the area.
We have a similar problem on our other boundary where they planted a whopping great big willow right on the fence line which makes problems having fences built or repaired without having boundary disputes as fences have to veer around trees. Bear in mind the gardens are not big ones, being in london- about 3m across, so we are literally overshadowed by branches.

And as for the tree not being blown over if its healthy, that makes no difference to the insurers. They specifically ask if there is a tree of over X height within y metres of the house. And it is.

"A tree shading your garden" might not be a problem for you, but having a totally shady garden (not just a little bit)means you cant grow a lawn as it dies, and we cant grow many plants successfully as they cant get enough sun. So anything you plant dies.

If the tree has a TPO fair enough, but trimming it down would help alot.

[Fenlander]

You can't chop trees down - hefty fine could be levied !!!!
I'd phone the Council - they have a department that deals with any issues relating to trees - odds on it's on their land but if not they should be able to tell you whose land it is.

[kira000]

Just rang the council. They said, "its not ours, its showing as grey on our plan". Which means that it is the responsibility of anyone with acess to it. Hmm. Given that it is by a footpath, and lots of houses, that would mean it is anyone and everyones tree. Including ours.

I explicitly asked the council if there would be a problem if i had it cut right back, and she said, no, its not a council tree, you could talk to your neighbours and ask them if they want to contribute to paying for it.

[buildersmate]

That's an interesting response from the council.
I'd be inclined to write a gentle note back, thanking them for their information and in a cunning way, try and replay what they said to you, back to them.
It's more than someone's jobsworth to get them to put it in writing, but if you are cunning enough, you should be able to get effective 'clearance' that 'its up to you, pal'.
Legally I don't understand it - if you live on a relatively modern estate - one where all the land wasn't developed and then a developer did the business on the whole site, the ownership of the land got split between the individual parcels for the houseplots and 'the rest' which essentially became adopted as part of the public highway. The public highway includes the footpaths and verges. In some situations, part of the developed land can become part of the formal council ownership - parks, for example.
So I conclude that if this is just a strip of land between your fence and a footpath, is is probably technically part of the highway.
Nevertheless, if they say it's OK, best get that chainsaw revved up quickly.

[buildersmate]

Sorry - I should have added, the public highway is not owned by the council - it is just maintained by them.
No-one owns the public highway.

[kira000]

Buildersmate.

I think the estate was probably built in the 80's. 70's at the latest.

What we have is a range of maisonettes, back to back terrace, 2bed terraces, and one bed terraces, to the rows are not all the same width and depth all the way along, with the added confusion of little culdesac spaces and roads curving back on themselves.

So some houses have drives outside, others have dedicated parking areas next to or just by their houses.

So what our sitution is, is our righthand neighbour has a garden half the length of ours, so our right boundary is half next to next ddor, and the rest adjoins one of these parking areas. Our rear boundary has a path running behind the fence which joins up two of the little closes.

The tree in question is therefore on a patch of land about 2ft wide between our fence and the parking spot.

All very complicated.

Anyhow i may well take your advice, writing to the council "confirming our conversation, in which you confirmed that the tree is not on council property, and does not have a sole owner".