When it comes to neighbors behaving badly, Reddit is generally full of good (or not-so-good) stories. And while some of them may make you thankful for your neighbor whose only real crime is the fact that they leave the trash cans at the curb entirely too long, some of them will make you question what you would do if you found yourself in one of the situations that constantly get posted on the message board.
Take U.K. Reddit user SnooPets5575, who recently turned to the platform to ask for legal advice about his neighbor. The OP’s conundrum? He says that his neighbor cut back some of the trees on his property, leaving them badly misshapen.
Now he wants to know if he should call the police on his overreaching neighbor, or if this is something best handled through the courts, especially if the OP has to pay to have the trees professionally shaped up.
Fortunately, Reddit was quick with advice, as hundreds of people left comments about the situation.
Advice needed about my trees being cut by neighbours! (England)
by
u/SnooPets5575 in
LegalAdviceUK
The Trees Were Trimmed Back Along the Property Line
The OP posted a photo of the trim job, which was clearly an aggressive hacking based on the stumps that were left behind by the neighbor. “We had agreed previously that I would sort these out as they were overhanging in his garden, considering my partner and I have just moved in a few weeks ago things have been hectic so I haven’t gotten round to doing this yet,” he wrote. “So to my surprise today as I walk into my garden I see a mangled mess of some trees that I was really quite attached to.”
Later in the post, the OP asked for some advice on how to proceed, especially because he feels like the neighbor trespassed to get to the trees.
“Important to add I have approached a tree surgeon friend of mine to give me a quote to repair but I have a feeling my neighbor isn’t going to be receptive to paying it, even though I have it recorded saying that he will,” he finished the query.
Redditors Offered Plenty of Advice
There was no shortage of suggestions in the post, which quickly received a lot of feedback from folks who were adamant that the neighbor literally crossed the line when trimming the trees. “You are allowed to cut back only the parts that cross the boundary line between your properties,” one person wrote. “The neighbor has essentially cut back at a point inside your property that is illegal.”
But when it came to the next steps, the responses were a bit more mixed. For example, one person suggested that the OP consider what kind of relationship he would like to have with the neighbor moving forward before he calls the police.
Meanwhile, others were definitely pro-police involvement, telling the OP to file a report with the non-emergency line. However, even that caused some hedging, since some believed that it could cause bigger problems down the line. “If you report it, you will have to declare as dispute when you sell the house,” one person wrote.