It's a Leylandii!!

[Cariad]

Hi

 

A neighbour has planted a leylandii tree bang up against his own house wall (as in less than a foot away from it!). This tree is now taller than me and growing fast. It's only a few feet away from my own back garden wall and not much further from my house wall. The law on leylandii is so "full of holes" that it's totally useless - particularly as this is just a single tree.

 

1. How soon can I expect to see damage occurring to his own house (ie its planted right next to a single story modern era extension) and what sort of damage will be visible to me from outside his garden. (I can see his back extension wall - and, to date, there's a couple of hairline cracks in it that I presume are caused by the tree roots pushing at his foundations). I ask this because I am wondering how long it will take for the tree to cause so much visible damage to his own house that he will remove it for his own sake.

 

2. My main concern for my own property is that the tree is pretty close to me and I am wondering if the tree will have the chance to send its roots out underneath any of my foundations before the damage to his own house has become so visible that he HAS to deal with it.

 

3. Obviously I am in process of making official requests to him to remove the tree and will follow up with a written one (ie so that I have a copy I can keep on file of when he was officially notified - ie by me - that the tree is a problem and I require action on it). Will this be enough to protect me in the event of needing to put in a claim for damage against HIS house insurer (to make sure that I have NO costs whatsoever falling to me because of his actions).

 

4. Even if no physical damage has happened to my property from this tree - I am already in a position that any prospective buyer of my house might be put off on spotting this tree. Is there anything I can do to get compensation from him for any buyer that "gets lost" because of him (ie that would have otherwise bought my house for its proper price)?

 

4. Any other thoughts on this situation very welcome please.

[skyhuck]

If its only just taller than you it sounds like a fairly small tree (at the moment) I would be very surprised if a tree of that size has caused any damage.

 

You cannot claim against your neighbour for his trees putting off potential buys of your property.

 

My advice would be to speak to your neighbour about trimming the tree and thus keeping it at a size that will not cause damage to the surrounding properties.

[Cariad]

Thank you for replying.

 

My concern is that the tree will, in the future, damage the house and I might be the one that gets lumbered with the resultant problems. I intend to sell the house anyway if I ever can (hence the potential buyer concern) - but, I'm still stuck here for the foreseeable future and cant see when (or even if) I can definitely manage to move. So - I could have years worth of having to live with that darn tree for all I know if he doesnt remove it.

 

If I have to continue to live here for years - then the tree will certainly grow during that time - first to standard tree size and then onto "giant" size.

 

I have spoken to my neighbour -hence the problem - as he clearly doesnt wish to remove the tree and I can see he is trying to "leave it be".

 

What I need most from this forum right now is an estimate of what damage the tree will do:

a. Shortly - to his own house and when I can expect to see more obvious signs of this damage from outside.

b. How long it will be before those roots would get to my own property (ie only a few feet away) and start damaging that.

[raafbeard]

Have you any pictures of the offending tree?

[Tom D]

It is actually very rare for trees to damage house foundations, walls are more easily damaged as they have shallower foundations and are much lighter than houses. I have seen buildings damaged by branches rubbing in the wind and trees can cause damp problems if they are right up against a wall. It will not damage the foundations of a house though, not for a very long time anyway. An extension with say a thin dwarf wall could be damaged, it is the weight of the masonry that protects the building, and the quality of the foundations.

It could cause damage to the wall although I would say it will take 10-20 years, and only if the stem or buttress roots are in direct contact with the wall. If the stem is even 50cm away that will be enough to protect the wall as the roots will be thinner by that distance, by the time they are 2-3m away they will be no thicker than your thumb and of no cause for concern...

[Canal Navvy]

Damage to buildings usually occur when foundations are not deep enough on shrinkable clays. Your local building control will be able to advise on the local soil type.Keep a watch on the cracks, if they open and close seasonally then you will need professional help.

[likeitorlumpit]

Have to say damage to houses from conifers round here is fairly common

Many houses built in the 30's have only 6inch foundations often only 6-12 inches down. Plus lots of shrinkable clay. I've seen two houses (built in the 70's) about 100ft apart both damaged by conifers - one was a large macrocarpa and the other a much smaller Lawson- both now underpinned and conifers removed.

Check your soil.

Our road had no history of subsidence until someone let a small ash develop one dry summer- resulting in a subsided bay.

[Cariad]

Thank you very much everyone for your thoughts on this.

 

To answer the various points to date:

 

- I don't have any means of taking photos I'm afraid

 

- - Re the walls - the 1st wall of mine the tree roots would get to is a 6' odd high back yard wall (ie apparently shallower foundations than my 2 storey house extension???). That being the wall of my property that is only about 6' away from that tree.

 

- I estimate the tree is possibly already causing him damp problems in his own house (ie as I see the window in that single storey extension that the tree is next to seems to be permanently open - whatever the weather - so think it possible he is trying to "ventilate" that room because of damp smell??)

 

- Re a 10-15 year time span - if he remains/I have to remain in our respective houses for the rest of our lives - then we will be going on beyond that time span. We are both late middle age - so I assume I'm stuck with this problem for, say, the next 30 years or so if I can't manage to move and I think he probably will be "around" for long enough to "feel the effects" of what the tree will do to his own house (with it being that tiny space away from it of 2 inches!!)

 

- The soil in this area is clay soil - which, I gather, is the worst it could possibly be from my reading about this....

 

- Our respective houses are: main part is Victorian and our extensions are 1970 or thereabouts. The tree roots are that 2 inches away from his single storey modern era extension and 12 feet away from MY modern era two storey extension.