TPO trees and ground heave?

[TPOandHeave]

I’ve got 2 questions, hopefully you guys can help me. The first is a legal question regarding TPOs and liability and the second is about ground heave risks.

 

1. I’m buying a property in South East England in a rural village that’s a conservation area. It’s an end terrace built in the mid 90s, and my conveyancer found a TPO on 2 horse chestnut trees in the back garden. Here’s the snag, the trees are gone, only stumps remain.

I found planning permission for 2 crown lifts in the early 2000s, one for 3 meters and one for 6. I also found and old estate agent advert for the house from 2014, when the current owners would have bought it, and the trees are gone. 
 

But on Google Streetview the trees are still there, and the date is marked 2009.

so sometime between 2009 and 2014 the trees have been illegally cut down, and there’s no hiding it as the property is on a hill visible from the road, and they were the only trees.

 

I don’t think I’ll be liable for the removal of the trees, but I may be liable to replace them. So my question is, without grassing on the current owner, should I consider indemnity insurance (if applicable), I don’t mind replanting saplings but if the council want the old stumps removed and new trees of a certain size planted I’d rather not have to pay for that, and instead come to an agreement with the current owner or something.

 

2. These trees were massive, taller than the 2 storey house. I’m rubbish with guessing measurements but the stumps looked about 3-4ft wide. One of them was very close to the house, touching the patio area, the other was a bit further down the garden. The garden itself is a bit odd, a large patio area followed by a a turfed area that’s mostly steep hill, the house itself is on the hill, but the parking area and the rest of the garden are at the bottom of the hill, about 7ft below. The trees were at the top of the hill.

 

My survey didn’t find any evidence of subsidence or ground heave, but that’s not to say it won’t happen in the future. 
 

So I’m wondering how to proceed, we first made our offer in August, it’s now December and exchange is looming, so I’d really rather not pull out at this stage unless I had to.

 

Could this be solved by a bit of indemnity insurance? Or do you think I should pay for a tree survey? But even then I don’t think the survey could predict future problems, only state they were possible which leaves me where I started.

[mtt.tr]

On 03/12/2020 at 11:40, Khriss said:

You have documented evidence, they  aint gonna chase you. For yr conscience, plant two or three suitable trees in their  stead. Native broadleaf such as Oak or Beech ( yr on a hill so Beech should thrive) k

 

horay im not alone