dangerous yet? Question from the Czech Republic

[Dances With Snails]

Hello all, where to start? I'm looking for advice as to whether a tree in my garden is a present danger.

I'm English, living in the Czech Republic, in a rural area where very few people speak English. I don't yet speak enough Czech to have a complex conversation. Such as one about tree safety pluls local beaurocracy.

OK, we have a big birch in our garden, that started to lean over. It's leaning towards our neighbours house. My own feeling about it is that it has to come down now. But I don't know and accept I could be wrong. I'll insert some pictures and then write the rest.

 

here he is, leaning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there's our neighbours house that it's leaning towards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The garden was relandscaped maybe a year or two before I moved in. (I've been here about 4 years myself now). I'm told that the base of the tree grew from the level of the lower lawn here. Then the retaining wall was built around it and the trunk was encased with soil up to about 4 feet - which is the situation that you see here in the photo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the trunk looks ok at the base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but higher up we have this wound

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this old broken limb in the middle here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and recent winds blew some small branches down that look a bit rotten - as this one for example.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall I can see no fruiting bodies anywhere on the tree.

 

OK, back to the situation...

I need the agreement of the local council to get this tree cut down - that's the law here about trees of more than a certain size. But in order to ask them I need first the agreement of the other flat owners in the block. One of these owners doesn't communicate. And of course, I need to do all this in Czech, which is fair enough, unless the tree falls on someone while I'm working on my Czech skills.

If the tree is dangerous NOW then the situation changes. I could simply have it cut down without any one's permission.

I had a tree surgeon come and have a look at it maybe six months ago. He said it would become dangerous but wasn't yet. The problem is that I won't know when it does become dangerous. I would have pointed this out to the tree surgeon, but that was beyond my language skills at the time. So I'm posting this to ask for general advice - for people's views - 

is this tree already dangerous?

If you feel that it is, please post to let me know. If I get a clear message from a few people about this then I'll feel justified in pressing for an immediate felling.

Many thanks in advance.

[Mick Dempsey]

I have heard that felling oaks in the growing season affects the quality of timber, because of the sap or something.

 

Don't know if it’s true, but I’ve heard it from some peeps.

 

Clearly your tree isn’t going to be made into planks.

 

Thanks for the update anyway.

[Stere]

Maybe its the birds nesting etc

[Dan Maynard]

I believe that timber is better felled in the winter, summer wood has higher moisture content and sugary sap in which can cause mould.

The only rule about summer felling being banned that I know of is in SSSI woods, this I believe is to preserve nesting habitat. (Site of Special Scientific Interest). Outside of that, if there is an active bird nest then we can't fell but that is true whatever the time just more likely in summer.