dodgy!

[martin p]

while dismantling a 40ft maple in a local garden yesterday I was asked by a lady passing by to quote for removal of 2 yew trees at a local chapel thats just been sold for development.

nice lady wanted a quick job done for cash, and preferably be done on a weekend!

anyway a quick call to the local planning office and lo and behold tpo's on both trees!

[Jony thicket]

Well worth checking!

[Shane]

One of my friends in Worthing was asked to remove a tree of heaven and a couple of other trees - must be done at the weekend and with hand saws. She told him there were no TPOs so get on with it.

 

He phoned up to check and guess what????

 

Then a few days later she phoned me with the same story.

I told her about the TPOs and what fine she might face and that I prefer to deal with customers whio are honest with me.

 

Checking costs nothing, not checking can cost a small fortune (and your reputation).

[martin p]

phoned lady this morning to inform her of the position.she immediately went into defensive mode.she insisted there was no orders on any of the trees and was going to speak to the council to put them right!

I politely told her I wasn't interested in the work .she said there are plenty of "tree fellers" who would be interested?

[treesnatcher]

i get a few like that every year. You do not need customers like that. Genuine customers that really do not know because either they rent or have no knowledge of conservation area and tpo regs are a different matter.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Related, we had a previous formal complaint made against an ArbAC who had, inadvertently, alerted the LPA to the possible loss of a large mature beech in a side garden (turned out the land owner wanted the tree removed to develop the land.)

 

The grounds for the complaint was that because the landowner hadn't instructed the contractor, he had no reason / grounds to enquire about the TPO and thereby alert the LPA to place one on the tree. We defended the contractor saying it was 'custom and practice' to do a TPO etc. check and that he could be prosecuted if he proceeded without such.

 

The complainant challenged this saying there was no contract and the contractor acted outside of his remit and wasn't instructed to do 'the checks' (obvioulsy he was aggreived as he now had to negotiate a TPO prior to a plannning application which he didn't have previoulsy.)

 

We again cited the 'custom and practice' and professional duty BUT, throughout, I felt uneasy to be honest and I'm sure if he pushed hard, whihc thankfully he didn't, we would have had to agree teh contractor acted outside of his remit.

 

Hence, we have now issued a directive to all ArbACs saying whenever you intend to check for TPO's etc. you should inform the client beforehand (not that you need toi disclose the possible outcome of such, i.e. TPO placement BUT out of professional duty / courtesy you should inform them.)

 

Something of a conundrum me thinks.

 

Cheers all..

Paul

[treequip]

Related, we had a previous formal complaint made against an ArbAC who had, inadvertently, alerted the LPA to the possible loss of a large mature beech in a side garden (turned out the land owner wanted the tree removed to develop the land.)

 

The grounds for the complaint was that because the landowner hadn't instructed the contractor, he had no reason / grounds to enquire about the TPO and thereby alert the LPA to place one on the tree. We defended the contractor saying it was 'custom and practice' to do a TPO etc. check and that he could be prosecuted if he proceeded without such.

 

The complainant challenged this saying there was no contract and the contractor acted outside of his remit and wasn't instructed to do 'the checks' (obvioulsy he was aggreived as he now had to negotiate a TPO prior to a plannning application which he didn't have previoulsy.)

 

We again cited the 'custom and practice' and professional duty BUT, throughout, I felt uneasy to be honest and I'm sure if he pushed hard, whihc thankfully he didn't, we would have had to agree teh contractor acted outside of his remit.

 

Hence, we have now issued a directive to all ArbACs saying whenever you intend to check for TPO's etc. you should inform the client beforehand (not that you need toi disclose the possible outcome of such, i.e. TPO placement BUT out of professional duty / courtesy you should inform them.)

 

Something of a conundrum me thinks.

Cheers all..

Paul

 

Not at all, if the LA in question is reluctant to put the TPO's online you can go to the council offices and do your own checks.

[Paul Jenks]

Immaterial as to whether the contractor acted outside his remit. Anyone can check the TPO status of any tree at any time.

Developers have skins thicker than rhinos. Trees stand in the way of profits, time is money and negotiating with the TO is a PITA.

An established local developer stitched us up a few years back with a couple of TPO trees. As it happened we have a good relationship with the TO and it was sorted out. Good, professional relationships with TO's are very important. Generally, as a contractor, one gets a feel for when trees are going to be contentious. I would have checked too.

[treequip]

Immaterial as to whether the contractor acted outside his remit. Anyone can check the TPO status of any tree at any time.

Developers have skins thicker than rhinos. Trees stand in the way of profits, time is money and negotiating with the TO is a PITA.

An established local developer stitched us up a few years back with a couple of TPO trees. As it happened we have a good relationship with the TO and it was sorted out. Good, professional relationships with TO's are very important. Generally, as a contractor, one gets a feel for when trees are going to be contentious. I would have checked too.

 

The only thing is the contractor wouldn't have checked if the (potential) client hadn't asked him to quote. If he had been instructed to do the job them clearly, the would have needed to check, prior to doing that it would have been prudent to advise the client that it could tip off planning and that a check in person would be wise.

 

Lets not forget that as a professional you have a duty of care to the client. If a contractor's action or inaction causes the client to suffer loss he could take legal action to recover that.

 

I think the AA have done the contractor a real service helping to fob the client off but I don't think it was what they ought to have done when clearly he was in an indefensible position and by their own admission the AA knew that.

 

A good professional relationship with a tree officer doesn't mean dobbing our client in, to do so is risky.

 

If the tree isn't protected then it is fair game, the tree officer would be unprofessional to hold it against you.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Immaterial as to whether the contractor acted outside his remit. Anyone can check the TPO status of any tree at any time.

Developers have skins thicker than rhinos. Trees stand in the way of profits, time is money and negotiating with the TO is a PITA.

An established local developer stitched us up a few years back with a couple of TPO trees. As it happened we have a good relationship with the TO and it was sorted out. Good, professional relationships with TO's are very important. Generally, as a contractor, one gets a feel for when trees are going to be contentious. I would have checked too.

 

Hi Paul, hope you're well.

 

Not so sure it was immaterial given the partciulars of the case, so to speak, but I do take your point that anyone can enquire.

 

Nonetheless, as a professional, I still think it's best to be open and transparent (within reason of course ) and disclose your intentions to the tree owner...even if you smell a rat.

 

Regarding TO relationships I absolutley agree you need to keep them onside, so to speak, BUT I come across many instances where I feel contractors are perhaps doing a dis-service to their clients by not pushing TOs for TPO decisions after 8 weeks (it's not unusual for me to hear of anything upto 3 months and a contractor very unwilling to push...to be fair, often because they're not aware you can appeal for none determination after 8 weeks...not to be made a habit of BUT.)

 

 

Cheers..

Paul