Neighbour wants us to thin out our tree, should we pay?

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traderstu

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#2540156 13-Aug-2020 12:51

scuwp:

If the tree is not overhanging then I am in the 'it's entirely your choice' camp. What I will add however is how much you want to get along with your neighbors. A mutual agreement may help in the long run, but come to a clear agreement on exactly what will be done, and who will pay. They have approached you in good faith so be kind back and see if you can come to an agreement you both can live with.

It may not be as simple as this. The pohutukawa is a native, it may be protected and you may need to get special permission to remove it or even prune it.

1101

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#2540227 13-Aug-2020 13:49

surfisup1000:

This is only an issue for maybe an hour in the early morning.

If thats the case would be reluctant , if its going to butcher your tree .
Seems they arnt being reasonable if its only an hour or 2.

Just tell them its a Council protected ( it may actually be ) :-)

Part of my house is shadowed in winter mornings due to trees . I didnt go & chop them down .

Bung

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#2540297 13-Aug-2020 15:35

Pohutukawa may be a native but it has been artificially moved into many more parts of the country than it occurred naturally. Some councils had blanket rules covering trees but I believe the law was changed recently such that protected trees had to be specifically listed. Even before this some councils like Wellington had the attitude that unlisted trees were private property and it was the owner's choice what happened to them. Even with listed trees vandals like the Chow brothers would just pay some idiot to cut them down

It surprises me that northern councils seemed to have the most restrictive policies given the speed that most trees grow there. On smaller sections there should be limits on how big a tree you can inflict on the neighbours.

Handsomedan

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#2540333 13-Aug-2020 16:32

Bung:
It surprises me that northern councils seemed to have the most restrictive policies given the speed that most trees grow there. On smaller sections there should be limits on how big a tree you can inflict on the neighbours.

Yeah sometimes is quite the opposite - the bigger the tree the more restrictions there are on whether it can be trimmed. felled or otherwise (although it does change from time to time as the councils see sense).

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surfisup1000

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#2540349 13-Aug-2020 16:48

Thanks for the opinions. This is one of those situations where my personal bias may cloud my ability to see things from the other persons perspective. So good to know what others have done.

We're on good terms with the neigbours, i'm pretty sure it will stay that way even if we say no. But, maybe we can chop a few branches back so they feel they have a small win.

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