We have a large plot of land with many mature trees on it. in 2023 a neighbour left us a handwritten note asking us to trim the height of a massive and very old oak tree which she claimed took the light from her garden. In respect of her request we did have an arborist come to do work in April but they refused to trim the height in case that allowed infection to penetrate the tree, They DID thin out branches to take out old wood and allow more light to filter through the canopy. Once the work had been done I phoned the neighbour to explain and she seemed happy with the outcome.
This year she again says she wants the tree trimmed in height, and we have explained that we have already had the arborists in who have done what they are willing to do for the health of the tree.
She has now handed me a card with the name of a Conciliator de Justice on it.
(According to Google map measurements this tree is 10 m from the boundary and approx 60m from her property. The branches and canopy do not overhang her garden and the tree is ESE of her property).
My French is good but rational discussion with this neighbour is difficult and I am unclear as to what we should do having received this card - I think we probably dont need to do anything until contacted, and I also I think that the initial stage is that we should have received a registered letter from her stating her complaint and advising of her requesting conciliation.
Does anyone have advice for us please?
You might check with your Mairie to see if the tree is “protected”, or maybe have it deemed as such with the help of an expert. That would make it all but impossible to cut down, although I’m not sure about topping. Also, trees that are over 30 years old have a special kind of protection, which usually requires a permit to fell, or if indeed toppable, then the neighbour would usually have to foot the bill. Again, much will depend on a number of factors, whether it is a protected species or of cultural heritage, the PLU/POS, etc, so probably best to start by asking at the Mairie first for copies of the documentation referring to any specific protection of locally planted trees/species in the commune.
Is that the same for emails Shiba? I’ve seen emails being stated as “durable” communicaton method therefore acceptable and bring counted as having communicated, in other contexts.
I wouldn’t like to say yes or no but would think with reference to the addressee and the email of the sender on it, it might be valid, I signed for my house via electronic signature on a screen at the Notaire’s office which I suppose is much the same thing and my daughter sent her signature from the US for the other stuff via email. In our big court nightmare, the scammers sent stuff by ordinary post and the judge at the CGI ruled it null and void because it was not LRAR and signed for as being received byus.
I’d wait until something official came in the post & call her bluff.
If you do see the Maire or a C-M, don’t take all they tell you to be true, there maybe family ties etc.
A couple of weeks I had a run in with my neighbour who isn’t the best of people; they had been yelling very aggressively at my teenage son for something he most definitely hadn’t done. I was pretty angry at the time with their sense of entitlement to speak to anyone like that, and particularly without any shred of evidence… Anyway, I kept my cool and eventually got an apology (a rare thing coming from them), but they immediately turned the topic towards the very large mature tree that is on the border of my garden, and very close to their garage and house. I was a bit peeved at the way he used this to turn the conversation around, and they basically wanted me to remove it… I politely explained the 30 year rule, and that the tree was there before his newbuild, and I had no obligation to have it cut. He also knew this information so that stopped his conversation in its tracks.
I do worry he might attempt to kill the tree, as he once complained about a willow tree (also more than 30 years old) that was also up to the border of his garden. A year later, that tree mysteriously died, along with a conifer that was planted next to it, but none of the other conifers along that egde were touched.
Good luck, might be worth taking a photo of the healthy tree to compare the dated photo against any taken of a dead or dying tree. Luckily the fence between us and our neighbour is high and in good condition, plus a 10m gap to the tree in question.
If you’re worried I’d actually ssy so directly to him. Otherwise it sounds like he is a nasty piece of work snd almost guarnteed to do it, based on what you ssy of earlier history.
Any way you could engineer to bring it up when there’s a decent witness present?
Normally I would shy off thst but it seems almost a foregone conclusion. Awful 2 or 3 similar cases of this type of proposed environmentsl vandalism for no good resdon ave popped up on here just today. No wonder the planet’s in triuble.
Go on, mske my day… tell me he’s not a hunter as well ?
I am very sorry to hear your living tree was maliciously killed. There are some people in this world like that.
For the benefit of anyone reading this later, I might add that in my experience with neighbour bullies it may be be wise to arrange for an avocat to send them a registered letter reiterating the law and your refusal to remove the tree (gate/shed…)
This will be a matter of record that goes a long way towards stopping the neighbour from taking any other action in this regard.
Thanks Wendy, Karen and Susan. He’s a farmer, but doesn’t have time to hunt, however I’ve seen how he abuses his dog, and how he treats his cows, so I know he’d have absolutely no qualms about doing that if he had time on his hands. We’ve lived next to each other for more than ten years. We’ll wave or say hello, but beyond that we’re indifferent to one another, as we have nothing in common. We haven’t had any fallings out. My son has possibly said hello to him a dozen times over the years, and that’s the only interaction they’ve had, so I don’t know what possessed him to start screaming as he did. I said to him, you would never speak to my wife or I in that manner, so what makes you think you can speak to our son like that; he’s well behaved and quiet in nature, not that our neighbour would know.
He claims the tree is causing lichen and moss on one side of his roof, which is a joke, because the lichen is present on all sides of his roof! He also claims it’s causing humidity issues, but I also explained that’s because that area is north facing, and we have the same humidity on our north facing terrace, where there are no trees. I understand it is a big tree, and pretty close. I said he could cut on his side, but I wouldn’t be paying for it.
He is the type of farmer that rips out hedgerows, and clears woodlands. His house is positioned much further down our garden (which is quite large), and his garage is positioned close to the boundary. In the past two months (prior to all this), I’ve found two dead hedgehogs (two weeks apart) positioned just over our fence, laying in the grass. I very much suspect he puts poison down in his garage for rats/mice, and has inadvertently killed them and thrown the bodies over. That’s the sort of level of his passive/aggressiveness, but I suspect it wouldn’t really escalate beyond that. He’s not liked by our other neighbours, and his own sister in the neighbouring hamlet avoids him like the plague. Even his own children visit less and less.
