Dman77

yeah thanks. Its a massive tree house. I'm hoping the nearby building doesn't cause the tree to move ;-)

you guys are braver than me. Keep paying for surveys for until you find the one I want so I don't have to tell the insurance guys? I still know there is a problem with the house. That doesn't change. Anyway, ive walked away 2 months ago and found a house since (fingers crossed on that one). Back to my original point. The law changed in 2013 so Estate agents should have to pass on information to potential buyers that could effect their decision. A surveyor stating in black and white there is clear movement likely caused by close tree would certainly qualify as relevant information. I bet the estate agent doesn't mention of of this.

No the house wouldn't collapse, but this tree sprouted over the last 15 yrs so its likely damage from that. As I say, the insurance would be a problem. I rang and checked with three of them. close trees and cracks are a big no no for them.

also, with regards to bargaining. its all pretty irrelevant when you wont get insurance. 'Dear mr insurance. can we have insurance on a property which the surveyor said has had definate movement and cracks likely due to a 60ft conifer which has its trunk 2 m away from kitchen which is showing the cracks'. Good luck with that.

good question. This is my problem with this.. A surveyor sees a few cracks. goes 'meh', good be old movement. Rewind a week or two. Surveyor sees a few cracks next to a 60ft lelandi. Changes things id have thought. no?

hi Wes. No, the point is, the new people who go to view the house, probably wont know the tree existed.

So the structural surveyor is wrong?

Well hello again guys, Its been a while but I couldn't resist. Thought you might like to hear this. The house we pulled out of remained 'under offer' for over a month until we just noticed (and this must have happened within a weekish) that its back on again as available.... ...and we had already guessed what they'd been up too. The new property profile picture now shows the property with that massive leylandi (and the smaller other three next to it - only about 40ft) completely missing. Yep, all chopped right down. I cant see if its completely gone because the shrubs in the front garden obscure the base, so it may have about 10-15 ft left. Or maybe not. So basically, given the structural surveyors recommendation of reducing the tree slowly over years to reduce/not make worse the movement and cracks/sinkage and me telling this to the Estate agent, this would appear to not have happened. Bit naughty this isn't it? I hope the next buyers have a good structural surveyor and I think there should be a law in place that if a surveyor finds something that 'could prevent you getting insurance' as quoted to me, they should have to disclose this to each other, or somewhere that flags for buyers. I would want to know that a 50-60ft tree 2m from the property I want to buy had just been hacked right down and had likely caused movement/cracks and this dramatic felling could make things worse. What say you guys?

If you were close, nothing would give me more pleasure than taking an axe and smashing that thing to a million pieces and do it free. (My thread should explain the reasoning :-) Good luck with it

Thanks guys. Appreciate your messages. Also very interested to hear about the liability of insurance. I was surpised by what the insurances conpanies said. Still, either way i can see insurance companies dragging their heels over expensive claims. hello rightmove my old friend, ive come to talk with you again, because a house softly subsiding, grew its roots while i was sleeping...." God i hope people get the reference.

You're probably right but it all looks grim and too much of a coincidence that there is a movement next to trees. Plus still not our bloody trees so i cant even do anything. God knows who would buy this now. Cash buyer invester maybe. Or someone gets 'lucky' and a surveyor oks the place.

No i didnt, or wouldnt take anything an estate agent said as fact as correct or accurate which is why we got a full structural off an independent surveyor with all the qualifications. Surprising how two surveyors came out with the complete opposite opinion. Didnt even agree on if the earth was clay or soil. Im not sure on how either knew with out analysis of earth. #doallprofessionalsjustmakecrapup?

No problem. I guess this all adds to the experience pot of the forum. May help someone in the future. Oh and i wasnt aware you cant claim against someone elses insurance for subsidence from their trees. Comes under 'peril' or something. But you can claim off your neighbours if the same tree affects your drains though. Funny that. So collapse somebody elses house with your tree through negligence (stupidity) of placement of tree or failure to tend to tree (lazyness) and you're not even responsible. Astonishing piece of law. Thats straight from two insurance companies.

Hi Everyone, Well an update to the ingoing saga. Had a full structural survey done today and the guy said there is definately movement in the property and cracks near the area of the question with the massive conifers likely to blame. Quoted lots of money to fix and wouldnt get insurance given the obvious movement. So thats the end of that. Dream house down the swanny. Month of two of going through the motions etc and will now have to pull out. Estate agents surveyor 'friend' who had a quick look after we had stated our concerns had originally said there were no problems at all and nothing to worry about. Who'd ya believe eh? Well, hats off to idiots who grows lelandii 2 mtrs away from somebody elses kitchen wall lets them grow to 50ft. You Fxxxxx tools. Excuse my french, im rather upset. Cheers for reading. Dave

Crikey this is all bit scary. -No, I stupidly didn't think to take photos of the ground around. The down pipe I think it just went to a drain. On the inside of the wall about 3 m to the left is the garage which has the sewage pipe running down inside it. The surveyor couldn't find the manhole cover while he was there. I totally agree with being as informed as possible but I guess we still wont know what can happen. Maybe the insurance will make the difference. Its silly to think that no one would buy this house because of this tree. so in a nutshell 1. Get the soil/clay/depth looked at. 2? er..can you find out the depth of foundations.

Thats really interesting Gary, useful information. Am I right in saying the Lelandii (if we have a cypruss) are not actually shallow root spreaders then? This seems to indicate that in clay they can grow quite deep. I guess it depends on the ground (eg soil/clay)

Update - if anyone is interested A surveyor came around for a quick check organised by the estate agent. He was relatively happy. He apparently knew the area very well. Claimed the soil was not clay (further down the hill 1/2 mile away was more clay he stated). He said the tree had already been cut at one point (hence the wide bushy shape and not the usually pointy end of the conifer at the top). He said given the age of the house, conifers less moisture hungry and shallower roots & no obvious cracks (possibly a few small settlement cracks inside the house) he said it wouldnt worry him but the trees do have to be dealth with (cropped down again). We still want an official building survey, an arboriculturalist to view tree and possible even cameras to look down the drains. We will also call insurance in the next day or two to get the low down from an insurance point of view. But overall, we seem a bit happier with surveyors report and will progress to more checks. Cheers all Dave

There are 4 of them in a row. That one is twice the size for some reason. So i guess it classes as a hedge row. Who wants to walk straight in to an argument/ court battle though?

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate everyones thoughts Well i drove down to the property owners house (hour drive) to chance a conversation with them as it is bound to happen at some point. Be good to see if they would be sympathetic and helpful. Nobody was in and their nice neighbours explained the owner was very elderly and the house is now vacated but they will call the owners neice to explain situation and whether i can cut/remove. See if i get a call who knows. Rang the estate agent agent and he has a surveyor colleague who will look this morning to give a good idea of whats what. Guess i cant do much more atm.

Yeah, all sensible comments. I guess one of our concerns would be that despite the surveyors and then specialist reports, there would still be shoulder shrugging all around as no one can see underground. I guess what im asking is -'How good/accurate/confident can these reports be?

Yeah my sentiments too. Not sure what the mortgage lender will think either. Think this move is doomed. Thanks for replying.

Lol why can i only see my image on your reply! Thanks for the answer. I actually asked the neighbour if it was a leylandi and he thought it was a tree. Ok one part of puzzle solved. Thanks

why on earth didnt pictures work? Copied url from photobucket. G Try again

Hi Friendly tree experts. Ive already checked in this section of the forum to see if my problem can be solved. There are similar threads but not exactly the same. Id appreciate some advice. We are buying a house (early stages) and we are really worried that the neighbours 50ft ish tree/conifer which is 2m (trunk) away from our potential property (kitchen corner of the house) has roots all around our foundations waiting to cause untold destruction/subsidence. No obvious cracks in exterior walls (no survey yet) but father inlaw has said to pull out the sale immediately as subsidence is a real possibility in ?years. First of all - can anyone tell me what this is? This is a view from a neighbour (next to tree owner). Thats my potential house side wall. (Never uploaded so hope that worked) Based on that tree, what roots are likely? Shallow/deep, known for damage? This is deep surrey near M25 and told clay is likely. House built mid 50,s. I really dont want to start a long process unnecessarly if you kind folk think id be nuts to touch a property with this massive thing 2 meters away Ps the neighnour also has 4 smaller ones half height of this 1 m each away along the boundary so probably root city down there Any comments welcome. We really are stressing over this. Cheers all Dave