Is your neighbour’s tree damaging your property?

What should you do if your neighbours tree is dropping leaves into your yard? Perhaps you’re worried about your neighbours tree roots creeping towards your plumbing?

Your first step should be to have a friendly chat with your neighbour, because as per Local Court requirements, you must be able to show that you did in fact make reasonable attempts to reach an agreement prior to attending court. If you are then able to resolve your issues together, brilliant! However, you must ensure that you get approval from your local council before you commence any sort of pruning or digging, otherwise you may face serious penalties if a protected tree is damaged or destroyed.

Unfortunately, a quiet chat between neighbours may not always be sufficient to get the results you wanted. For these reasons, the NSW parliament has enacted the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2003 and the Dividing Fences Act 1991 to deal with this type of concern.

These Acts give the Local Court special powers to make orders regarding trees and fences without the parties needing to prove traditional property law concepts such as those found in the tort’s of “nuisance” or “trespass”. The Court can now make such orders ‘as it thinks fit to remedy, restrain, or prevent damage to property, or to prevent injury to any person, as a consequence of the tree…’

If you would like some more information on how we may be able to assist you if you’re in a similar situation, feel free to contact us so that we can help!