Claire Bennett

Hi everyone, Thanks so much for your responses, they have been really helpful! The insurers are totally adamant that our tree is the issue, and we are adamant that it is not and the conservatory is falling apart due to a myriad of other issues/ reasons. However, given that we don't want the stress (or even more costs!) of a legal battle we are reluctantly having the tree felled. Your comments around Ash dieback actually make us feel better about it, and that it would probably have to be done in the future anyway... plus the point around the cost of hiring consultants to assess the risk probably isn't worth it. I'll make sure I check our insurance docs for heave coverage though, that's a good shout. Sad to lose the tree for no real reason, but we'll crack on and get it felled and the neighbours conservatory will still continue to suffer from subsidence (or basically continue to fall apart as it's 30 years old).. but at least they can't point the finger at us anymore 🙄 Thanks again

Hi, I'm new to this forum and looking for a bit of guidance! Our neighbour's insurers have asked us to remove a large ash tree due to it being the cause of subsidence in their conservatory. We don't want to get into arguments about whether it is the cause or not, or how well their conservatory was built, so to keep the peace we'll get the tree removed and have had quotes already. We were only advised in December, so we are moving things along as quickly as possible. We are just nervous about ground heave, and this is has so far stopped us booking the appointment to have the tree removed. The tree is on heavy clay (Cambridge) and next to a brook, which fills to around 3 feet in winter with field water run off. The garden slopes down away from the house so we are thinking this may reduce the risk of heave? I've attached some photos so you can get an idea of the size of the tree and proximity to the house, along with some excerpts from the insurers report re soil plasticity. Any help or guidance would be really appreciated We are just not sure where to turn to for guidance as our arborist doesn't want to get involved!