Hi All,
Over the weekend I cut back my neighbours' tree branches which were hanging over my backyard and clogging up some of my gutters. The next step is disposing of them and how should I dispose of them?
Cheers
Neighbours' Tree Branches
L5POT on 19/10/2020 - 16:54
Poll Options
- 92Take to the tip myself
- 17Ask neighbour to dispose of branches
- 10Bikies
Comments
was thinking this but will probably a few months as there is quite a lot and of decent size. Cheaper than the tip though!
Put it on Gumtree. Someone might want some cheap fire wood.
Excellent idea - thanks!
Especially if the tree was a gum tree
Isn't green waste free at the tip?
Unfortunately not - $110 for a trailer load
Depends on the local council rules.
Brisbane city Council generally provide X number of vouchers per year. My side of the street is considered a different council and I get unlimited tip usage for pretty much anything except hazardous materials.
Put them out for disposal..
to be picked up by? hard rubbish collection?
Throw them back over, they have to dispose of them legally I believe but depends your relationship with them
not much of a relationship but doesn't feel very neighbourly to do that
My neighbor used to do that. Not reccomended.
I got pretty lucky. The neighbour heard me trimming back the trees and offered take them. Otherwise it would have taken a couple of days to borrow a friends trailer.
Yes legally the neighbour is supposed to, I wouldn't just dump them over.
It's equally as neighbourly as having your trees grow over in to their house and make them take time to cut them and then use up bin space . I think it's a fair thing to do
Sure, but bear in mind, most people don't look at that side of the tree. Out of sight out of mind.
So even if dumping the branches over, it's worth a knock on the door before you do so.
@dizzle: Yeah sure, and if you speak to your neighbours a bit it's not hard to let them know.
My point is the onus should be on the tree owner to deal with their tree, not the neighbour.@timthetoolman: I have the same matter to deal with, but haven't got around to it. It''s the neighbours trees, so they'll definitely be getting them back.
I'll let them know that I've had enough of thier trees over my lawn, and give them the chance to deal with it.
If they don't, they'll be chopped at the fence line and thrown back over the fence. It's thier property - it would be stealing for me to take them.
They are still legally the neighbors' property, so he should at least ask if they still want them.
Throw them back over the fence.
No need to feel bad about it. Why should you have to constantly dispose of clippings from a tree that your neighbour isn't maintaining?
Overhanging branches
Property owners are responsible for branches that overhang a neighbour’s fence or roots that grow onto neighbouring property. If these cause damage or affect the neighbour’s enjoyment of their property, the neighbour can take the property owner to court. If branches from your neighbour’s trees hang over your side of the fence, you can cut off the overhanging branches and place them on the neighbour's side of the fence
https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/find-legal-answers/disputes-…
My neighbor used to do that. Not reccomended.
It's totally recommended. And even more recommended is you maintain it yourself to save your neighbour from doing it.
Wow, I had no idea this was a thing. It would be super convenient but not worth ruining the relationship with the neighbours for me.
Take a snapshot of this comment and throw it along.. So they know you are not being a pest but just following guidelines
Haha… nah, we’re lucky to have wonderful neighbours on both sides. One side is very over grown and it’s a lot to chuck out when we do trim it back, but they inherited that issue when they bought it. As it’s stands we get on great with our neighbours and they help us when we need and vice versa. Tbh if we asked them to come over and help us clear it they probably would. If we didn’t get along with the neighbours I’d still be hesitant, as the last thing anyone needs is a vengeful neighbour.
@morse: It's not about vengence, it's about what is right. If the neighbour wanted to cause trouble, he could ask for his trees back.
A good neighbour doesn't mess up your yard.A good neighbour would initiate the offer to remove the trees and clean up the mess.
We have an otherwise fine relationship with our neighbour, but I definitely feel resentment when I'm cleaning up the mess from his trees. Rather than let that fester, I'll tell him the trees need to go.
I was hoping when we did a big cleanup, that would give him a concious check and he would initiate the conversation, but it didn't happen.Also, we were concerned the roots of our tree would do damage to the other neighbour's property, so I went over and let him know it was coming down, which would result in making a mess on his side of the fence. He let me know the side gate was open so I could go in and clean up my own mess.
Just seems like the right thing to do if I want to be a good neighbour.@SlickMick: You're definitely right - it is the right thing to do. I wonder if sometimes people are just oblivious. I suspect that's the case with the neighbours we have with overhanging branches. Our neighbours on both sides and multiple neighbours across the street help us out in different ways, looking after our dog, bring our kid gifts, one neighbour helped me break in when our lock failed, we've watered others gardens and offered showers when someone's water was out. We don't live in each others pockets or socialise outside of being neighbours, but we all look out for each other. Yes, some things are still annoying that neighbours do, but for me, I'd rather deal with the green waste than lose the relationship. Every street is different though, so whatever works in your circumstances.
Many people underestimate the value of a good relationship with your neighbours. You don't have to be best buddies but it is so much better if you are on good terms.
If nothing else, you may be able to turn to them if you need help.
So while legally the branches belong to them, there are so many friendlier alternatives to dumping them over the fence.
The point some people are missing is, dumping over the fence isn't unfriendly. As indicated above, it's the legally correct thing to do, and that's because it's also the do-the-right-thing-and-don't-be-a-pushover thing to do..
My neighbour's palm fronds go back over the fence. What kind of a chump would I be to dispose of them for him? Our relationship is fine. He really should take it to the next level and offer to do something about the trees he has over my yard, and ultimately I will do the assertive thing and ask him to deal with it.
If I eventually do it myself and put the rubbish over the fence, I wouldn't expect our relationship to be damaged in any way. If I scattered the rubbish all over his yard (like what his trees do to mine), that would be aggressive. But a reasonable person would expect thier rubbish to come back over the fence, and a good neighbour would thank me for doing the pruning that he should have done.
Must depend on the council. Pretty sure mine says you have to bundle them up, inform the neighbour you're about to put them on his nature strip/frontage, then do it.
I was told by council it was a civil matter between two parties that they do not get involved in, therefore the legal aid link applies. Ie your trees = your waste.
Bin meaning to post this
Find a skip bin nearby?
How thick are the branches? I usually lay them out and mow over them a few times
Isn't that bad for the mower?
If a hedge trimmer can cut the branches = a mower won't have any issues. But if they are thick, like you have to saw them off, then I wouldn't use a mower. so, depends how thick the branches are.
You can legally chuck them over the fence and let your neighbour look after it but do you really want to have that relationship with somebody that can be a friend?
Do unto others…
Hopefully all those have trees on their property (and own the property) will go and inspect whether their trees are encroaching over boundary lines and deal with them if they are. You know, to be a 'friend', instead of relying on those own don't own the tree to do the hard work.
All it needs is a conversation between both parties.
The giant 10 metre Lilli Pilli that my neighbours had was great hanging into my yard. It kept the chooks out of the sun and screened our house from theirs. I was really annoyed when the new neighbour removed it.
I don't understand the need for confrontation and antagonising each other. That just gets you on ACA.
Yeah, the person who owns the tree could ask the other person if they want it removed from their side.
In your case, you'd say you're happy to have it. No issue. If the person who owns the tree hasn't asked the other party and some cuttings get put over the fence - it's pretty clear that they do not want the tree on their side, and the tree owner shouldn't really let it happen again.
@bohn: Yes, they need to give the tree a stern talking to, "no growing into the neighbours yard again!". Always works.
@brendanm: If the owner is your typical overweight and lazy average Joe I'm sure that is the approach they would use. In that case they can just pay an arborist and go without some eneloops for awhile.
@bohn: They don't have to pay an arborist. They don't have to do anything, except dispose of the cuttings if the neighbour throws them back over the fence.
I cleaned up my own mess when I had trees going into a neighbours property, and totally agree with do unto others.
I'd expect my rubbish to come back, and I'd go and apologise that they had to do that.I would not be offended at all if the neighbour put my trees back on my side. (Unless they did it aggressively, damaged something or threw it all over my yard or driveway). It is an inconvenience that I have placed on them and they have already done the work to trim it down.
Check with the council?
Ours does a free green waste collection servicecheck with local council ours will pick up tree branches tied together up to certain size
Step one should always be discuss with the neighbour before cutting if you aren’t going to dispose the cuttings yourself.
Yes, you can toss the back over he fence, but not discussing it first is a quick way to cause issues.
It's only an issue if the tree owner doesn't understand their responsibilities.
I’d be pretty ticked off if my neighbour decided to chuck a bunch of branches over my fence without any warning, my responsibility or not. Come check with me first so I can make arrangements to get rid of it.
The branches will be waiting for you. You can make arrangements with them anytime… ;)
Your rubbish is in my yard, and you'd get ticked off if I clean it up and put it back in your yard?? I'd expect you to be embarrassed and ashamed and make sure it never happens again, but I thought we could still be friends.
The Law in Adelaide is quite clear. That is presuming , the tree trunk is NOT in your yard ALL overhang is not yours therefore you are legally allowed to put them back in his yard. BTW this is also the case for fruit that overhangs the fence. It legally is not yours & is to be returned BUT realistically who brings it back!!Check your local council laws as they are different in each state
Dumping over the fence is a penis move. Be a decent human and deal with it yourself. Chucking it over will cause issues, or at least taint their view of you substantially.
I had a neighbour do this to me once, so he ended up with half his tree sitting in his back yard in one piece. Needless to say, he didn’t throw anything over again. Legal? Yes. Douchey? Yes
Well aren't you a nasty one ;)
I guess if someone was living next to you, instead of dropping the branches over the fence, they'd just drill a hole in the trunk and put some poison in.
Ct them up more and simply place within one of your bins appropriate for such waste
That's some tiny trees you've got where you live ;)
Here is my real life situation. Our neighbour's have trees along the boundary which encroaches all along our driveway making it hard to park the car properly. Fed up with the overhang we spent last weekend cutting back all the branches. We put as much as possible into the green bin and the left over branches went back into the shrubs where they came. Yes perhaps letting the neighbour know would have been nice. When I saw it however, my partner had already cut everything back and put it back to the neighbours side. My partner felt that the neighbour would not notice given that they had no interest in maintaining their overhang and it was all along our boundary.
The next day, I had a knock at the door. It didn't help that I was on a work call and my partner thinking it was for me did not answer the door and told me to go and get it. I open the door and there is the neighbour, hand on her hip; she had thrown all of the branches all across my driveway and complaining that I should not put tree branches on her property. I said to her it is my understanding that as they are her trees it is our right to put them back on her side of the boundary. She was adamant this was not the case. I said I would look it up as I was pretty sure it was. She then stormed off. I clarified via the legal aid page per the OzBargain thread above that it was indeed the right thing to put them back on her side. I wrote down the site on a sticky note and took it over to her place. She refused to open the screen door or take the site I had written down. I had also explained that our bin was full and we had tried to put them in our bin in the first instance. Her response was "everyone's bins are full" and "you should dump your own waste". I clearly pointed out that it is in fact her waste. She sarcastically said "thank you" and slammed the door.
What pisses me off immensely is that after her whinging about doing the neighborly thing, she felt it was within her right to throw her branches all across my driveway which prevented me from reversing my car. Further her kids are always knocking on the door to play outside with our kids and her husband has also been around to our place for a drink at a party we had.
Not sure what to do at this point. Any ideas.
Any ideas.
You could try chatting to the husband about it to clear things up (although you shouldn't have to)? Maybe she is the unreasonable one. Hopefully she can investigate further what her responsibilities are and then apologises to you. But not likely.
So what happened to the braches? You kept them and didn't throw them back again I'm assuming. The whinging one wins (for some reason I also pictured her in my mind as obese, but may not be)?
I have started packing as much as possible into my green bin, but seething the whole time. I don't want to escalate the situation as we are "neighbours". Technically, I could dob her into council as all her shrubs are also growing onto the footpath. No doubt she thinks that's council's responsibility too.
What upsets me is the fact that she thinks its acceptable for her kids to come over all the time and we were on good terms before. But she wants to completely throw a neighbourly relationship down the drain because of some shrubs.
lol not obese at all.
Sounds like this is a perfect example of where a lack of communication ends in years of issues.
You had a good relationship with the neighbours, which is now soured.
A simple conversation - and some rational fairness, rather than falling back on legal grounds - would have prevented this happening. A quick knock on the door, "hey we need to cut back these branches on your tree because it's causing us issues on our driveway - there is too much to fit in just my green bin, is it OK if we put some in yours?" would have likely prevented that.
I'd suggest that you head over with a (cold) six pack and a box of Favourites on Friday arvo at a time you know they'll be home - apologise for the breakdown in communication (you can blame COVID fever, had a rough week etc), and try and rebuild good neighbourly relations.
I'd suggest that you head over with a (cold) six pack and a box of Favourites on Friday arvo at a time you know they'll be home - apologise for the breakdown in communication (you can blame COVID fever, had a rough week etc), and try and rebuild good neighbourly relations.
Yeah Lousy,
Go and apologise to those snowflakes.
I'd probably just let it be. They(she) isn't worth spending any more time over.
Green bin?
.