The 4 unknown laws you need to know if your neighbour's tree hangs over your garden & the weird ‘branch' rule

The Irish Sun

3 days ago

Not everyone was convinced the rules were a good idea
PLANT PROBLEMS The 4 unknown laws you need to know if your neighbour's tree hangs over your garden & the weird 'branch' rule
IT can be pretty annoying if your neighbour has overgrown trees in their garden than hang over yours.
But before you start chopping off branches, there are four little-known rules you must follow.
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Michael shared the four little-known rules on Instagram
Credit: Instagram
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Not everyone agreed with the controversial rules as some slammed them as outdated
Credit: Instagram
Taking to Instagram, gardening pro Michael Griffiths explained all you need to know, including a bizarre branch rule you've probably never heard of.
In the viral video the gardening whizz suggested that your first port of call should always be talking to your neighbour about the issue.
You never know, they might be reasonable and sort it out themselves.
"Ultimately, everyone is responsible for the trees on their land, but that doesn't mean they need to cut it back," he added.
If your neighbour doesn't want to deal with it, you can cut back the tree your self, but Michael warned to always check if the tree is protected first.
This is because it could be in conservation area or have a tree preservation order on it, meaning you can't touch it.
Once you've double checked that, you should be in the clear to cut back anything that's hanging over your side, but only up to the boundry.
"You can't jump the fence and cut it at the trunk," Michael warned.
Finally, the gardening whizz shared a little-known rule about what you need to do with any branches you do cut down.
According to Michael, you can't simply throw the cuttings back over the fence, or even dispose of them straight away.
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That's because you need to offer the branches to you neighbour first.
Of course, they most likely won't want to them, so you'll be safe to chuck them out then. But you must ask first.
After sharing the rules on Instagram, not everyone thought they were fair and some fumed that they need to be changed.
One commented: "How fair is it that your neighbours can plant trees that over shadow your garden, depriving it of light?
"The rules need updating to consider everyone's quality of life."
And another said: "My neighbour removed all the beautiful lilac trees that formed a barrier between our gardens without consulting and killed the baby birds nesting in them.
"The trees were on my land, I was furious and heartbroken."
And another chimed in: "Everyone moans about trees hanging over their garden but trees are natural, they like to grow.
"I absolutely love my neighbour's tress hanging over my fence."