Tree damage to building foundations

[BigAl]

What worries me is, as I said above, chopping down an established tree can (potentially) cause more problems than leaving it be. Let's hope the council officer knows what he's doing!

[Jo Pedder]

So Al, damned if I do and damned if I don't?

[BigAl]

Well, as I said in my post of 13/09, the TV

[BigAl]

Well, as I said in my post of 13/09, the TV programme called City Trees was quite unequivocal in its message. It said that trees could co-exist quite happily in quite dense housing, including London. In London, there was even a tree growing through a multi-story car-park. The progreamme was quite scathing about builders who quite thoughtlessly stash bricks and other materials around the bases of trees, thus causing quite needless damage to root systems. i.e. builders should have special training in tree cxonservation. But also, as I said, they mentioned the dangers of chopping down well-established trees which had 'reached a state of equilibrium' with their surroundings

Sorry to cause you confusion.

[Forthelove11]

Hello all, im new to this but i have a problem and you guys may be able to help me...

I have three trees in my garden, one Prunus Plum and 2 conifers (cypress) both 9m in height and 1m away from a brick wall for a garage. My mother (who passed away) used to sit under these trees. These trees do carry sentiment...

There is an 85 year old woman who has a obsessive compulsive manner when it comes to her garden. She has challenged me to cut down ALL 3 of the trees because of the following:

1)a tree services inspector stated that the trees were damaging her property
2) the actual damage has been done to the brick work of the garage and the carport.

The lawyers contacted me and stated that the tree services word is final CUT THE TREES DOWN...

However....

Tree services have stated that the roots have "trespassed" beneath the foundations of the carport and brick work causing subsidence to occur

MY ARGUEMENT... IS IT POSSIBLE TO ARGUE THAT THE ACTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE CARPORT DID NOT CONSIDER THE TREES ROOTS WHEN IT WAS LAID DOWN? ALSO IF THE FOUNDATION WAS NOT CORRECTLY LAID, DOES THIS MAKE THE OWNER OF THE GARAGE NEGLIGENT TO ASSISTING THE COURSE OF NATURE TO ALLOW THE TREE ROOTS TO "TRESSPASS" BENEATH THE FOUNDATION?

I mean is it possible for me to make a claim, to stop the trees from coming down, that the only reason the trees have damaged the carport is because the foundation has not been laid correctly, therefore making this neighbour of mine negligent for not laying a correct foundation?

i would really appreciate a response...

Many thanks for any replies, please contact me if you have any forms of advice on foundations and especially on what to challenge this woman to stop cutting these trees down..

Many thanks

For the love 11

[Besnard Lake]

Hi Jo,

I am a Local Authority Tree Officer and deal with these situations on a daily basis. The first bit of advice I would give is do not fell your tree on the basis of what someone writes on a forum. If the tree has not been inspected then an informed decision cannot be made. Secondly, there is no such documentation (at least in the realm of best arb practice) that tells you how far from a building a tree needs to be. There is a paragraph in NHBC Chapter 4.2 about tree influencing distance but that does not mean the tree will be causing damage.

If your neighbour wants to build an extension, they do not have the right to fell your tree. In fact you can object to the planning app on the basis that their extension will have a detrimental effect on your tree, which incidentally, you call a copper birch - do you mean beech? Beech have fairly poor response to heavy pruning. You have no legal obligation to prune your tree unless it is causing actual damage. Possible damage does not constitute an obligation to prune. We are all capable of murder so should we all be locked up.... just in case?

My final piece of advice is do not believe what the Daily Mail print.

All the best

Besnard

[Besnard Lake]

Hi For the love 11,

Is you neighbour alleging that damage has been caused, or has actual damage been caused? Do you you have building insurance? If no actual damage has occurred then ignore your neighbour as the trees cannot be guilty if no damage is evident. If there are cracks in her carport then contact your insurers who will fight the case for you (it's why you pay your premiums). If you are not insured, do not fret. Your neighbour needs to prove that your trees are the cause of damage and to do this she needs an arboricultural report. Tree roots must be present in close proximity to her foundations and they need to be analysed and the genus confirmed. She should have crack monitoring carried out. If the cracks open in summer and close in winter then it would point towards tree related damage (tree roots are dormant in late autumn/winter and active in spring and summer).

Unfortunately, and I have come across this many times, inadequate foundations is not a defence in subsidence cases, even though the NHBC has guidlines for foundation depths in proximity to trees.

Do not let anyone bully you into tree removal without getting professional advice, but if they are implicated in the damage then you must be prepared to lose them.

Good luck

Bes

[BigAl]

"Don't believe what the Daily Mail says"

I entirely agree - which is why I also included the source of their information, which was Bob Hooker of the Subsidence Claims Advisory Bureau."

In a later post I gave their telephone number.