Tree Boundary & Neighbour Disputes

Overhanging Branches and Encroaching Roots

Where branches or roots from a neighbour's tree cross the boundary onto your land, you have a common law right of abatement — the right to cut them back.

That right is narrower than most people assume:

• You may cut back only to the boundary line, not beyond it
• You may not enter your neighbour's land to do the work
• The cuttings remain your neighbour's property. You should offer them back, and you cannot simply throw them over the fence
• You must not carry out works that would destabilise or kill the tree — doing so exposes you to a claim
• The right does not override a Tree Preservation Order or conservation area protection. Cutting a protected tree without consent is a criminal offence regardless of where the branches are growing

That last point catches people out repeatedly. A protected tree is protected wherever its branches happen to be, and "it was over my garden" is not a defence.

Where a tree is protected, see our guidance on protected trees.

High Hedges

A separate route exists for hedges, under Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003.

A complaint can be made to the local authority where a hedge adversely affects the reasonable enjoyment of a domestic property. To qualify, the hedge must be:

• Formed wholly or predominantly of a line of two or more evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs
• More than two metres above ground level
• Acting as a barrier to light or access

Three things are worth knowing before going down this route.

It is a last resort. The authority can refuse to consider a complaint where the complainant has not first taken reasonable steps to resolve matters directly. Councils expect to see that you tried.

A fee is normally payable, set by the authority, and it can be substantial.

Roots are specifically excluded. The Act deals with height and its effect on light and access only. Damage caused by roots falls outside it entirely and is a nuisance matter instead.

And the remedy is limited. A remedial notice can require the hedge to be reduced — generally to around two metres — but cannot require it to be cut below two metres or removed altogether.

We assess whether a hedge meets the statutory definition, what its effect actually is, and what reduction is achievable without killing it — evidence that supports a complaint, or a defence against one.

Damage from Roots and Branches

Where a tree causes actual damage — to a wall, a drive, a drain, or the structure of a building — the position shifts from abatement to nuisance.

The leading authority is Delaware Mansions Ltd v Westminster City Council [2001] UKHL 55, which confirmed that a claimant can recover the cost of remedial works where tree roots caused damage and the owner failed to abate the nuisance after being put on notice.

The word doing the work there is notice. A tree owner who did not know and could not reasonably have known is in a different position from one who was told and did nothing. Which makes establishing what was known, and when, part of the evidence.

Two things are commonly assumed and frequently wrong:

Roots rarely break sound drains. They exploit an existing defect and then proliferate inside it. So the usual finding is that the drain was already failing — which moves the question from the tree to drain maintenance.

Proximity is not causation. The nearest or largest tree is not automatically the responsible one. Where several are candidates, the roots involved need identifying rather than assuming.

See also our pages on tree root damage and subsidence caused by trees.

Works Carried Out Without Agreement

Where a neighbour, contractor or utility has pruned or removed a tree without consent, the loss needs quantifying before anything can be resolved.

The cost of a replacement sapling is not the measure. A mature tree represents decades of growth and an amenity benefit that cannot be bought back, and the recognised method for valuing that is CAVAT. Valuations for large, prominent trees frequently run into tens of thousands of pounds.

We assess what was done, whether it was appropriate arboriculturally, what the consequence is for the tree, and what the loss amounts to. See tree valuation reports.

Where a protected tree has been damaged, there may also be an enforcement or prosecution route through the local authority.

Dangerous Trees on Neighbouring Land

Where you believe a neighbour's tree is unsafe, the position is again factual before it is legal. An independent assessment establishes whether the tree genuinely presents an unacceptable risk, or whether the concern is not borne out.

Both outcomes are useful. An evidenced concern gives you something to put to your neighbour, or to the local authority, which holds powers under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 to deal with dangerous trees. An unfounded one ends an argument before it costs anybody money.

Independence

We carry out no tree works and have no interest in the outcome of any dispute.

That matters more here than almost anywhere. An assessment from a contractor who would carry out the resulting works, or from a party with a stake in the answer, is open to immediate challenge. Ours is not.

It also means our findings are as likely to defend a tree as to condemn one — and in a dispute, a report that concludes against the person who commissioned it is worth considerably more than one that always agrees.

Frequently Asked Questions