FBNK

Hi Neil, Thank you for your response. Next door neighbours insurance have consulted an arboriculture company who have said that "given the movement recorded to date, if new growth is allowed to develop in 2023 there is a high and foreseeable risk of further movement/damage occurring and our position remains that the tree should be removed as soon as possible." We are attached to the tree and it gives privacy to many of the flats in the surrounding area. Do you know who would be responsible for putting in a root barrier, would it be our neighbour with the subsidence issues or ourselves? Have you ever been in a situation where insurance companies have covered this? Thanks again for your help

Thank you for your help. Our insurer is aware of the issue, but have not given us any further support and have advised that we remove the tree. There seems to be no regard for the environmental and social benefits of the trees, would we be within our rights to ask for a root barrier to be installed because otherwise there will be no tree left in the area! We are in North London. The soils are clay. The tree in our garden is a False Acacia. The extension was built in 2007. Foundations are concrete, depth 1300mm. Our tree is 4.95m from extension and before crown reduction was approximately 11m tall, 3.7m diameter, and 11m crown spread. I do not know whether the foundations were designed appropriately. In the first site investigation, roots were found to a depth of 2.2m bgl in TP/BH1 from a shrub from the family Oleaceae. These roots were not considered to be the primary causal vegetation. The second site investigation recovered roots to a depth of 2.3m bgl and recovered samples were identified as Leguminosae and Salicaceae. They said the source of the Leguminosae roots are our tree, and confirmed that this is because of its influence on the soils below the foundation level. The source of the Salicaceae roots is probably from a tree further afield. They are recommending that the false acacia (our tree) alongside many other shrubs and trees we recommend that the False Acacia along with many other trees and shrubs are removed (Norway Spruce, Ash, shrub and laurel).

Thank you for your help. The tree in our garden is a False Acacia. The extension was built in 2007. Foundations are concrete, depth 1300mm. Soil clay. Our tree is 4.95m from extension and before crown reduction was approximately 11m tall, 3.7m diameter, and 11m crown spread. In the first site investigation, roots were found to a depth of 2.2m bgl in TP/BH1 from a shrub from the family Oleaceae. These roots were not considered to be the primary causal vegetation. The second site investigation recovered roots to a depth of 2.3m bgl and recovered samples were identified as Leguminosae and Salicaceae. They said the source of the Leguminosae roots are our tree, and confirmed that this is because of its influence on the soils below the foundation level. The source of the Salicaceae roots is probably from a tree further afield. They are recommending that the false acacia (our tree) alongside many other shrubs and trees we recommend that the False Acacia along with many other trees and shrubs are removed (Norway Spruce, Ash, shrub and laurel). The tree is in North London and there seems to be no regard for the environmental and social benefits of the trees.

I realise there is a similar thread in this forum, but I wanted to hear what people thought in a situation where our neighbour's insurance company has 'strongly recommended' that a large tree in our garden is felled due to subsidence to their extension. In this case, roots have been found below foundation level that come from the same family of tree in our garden. The insurance company is asking that several trees in our area are felled. Our tree had a 50% crown reduction this summer, and we thought this might be enough to satisfy the insurer with a promise of regular pruning (this had unfortunately been neglected for several years before we moved in last year). Do you know how long it would take before the crown reduction would have enough effect that it stops causing damage? Is there any way of satisfying the neighbours insurers without removing the tree? Thanks in advance for your help!