Select to expand quoterod_bunny said..
with great trees comes great responsibility.
Sounds like you've been pretty wound up about this Rod. But nothing compared to this fellow. This is his green neighbour's yard.
I happened to chat with one the tree loppers at work a few weeks ago, turns out his girlfriend lived in the neighbouring house, the house that now has this stump, I got the full story. Neither the girlfriend, her housemates or Wollongong council wanted the tree gone. He fought in the courts for over 10 years! Persistence paid off, the girlfriend's sold up and moved out, Wollongong council folded. Two ~ 200 year old blackbutts, almost a metre in diameter at the stump came down.
Earth moves. Trees redistribute moisture, roads, roofs and pavers redistribute moisture. Tree roots expand, decaying roots from the trees preceding development decay. Put down good foundation and hopefully ride the storm. Pavers? They're only 100 mm deep, of course they'll move.
Our environmental footprint is a bigger threat to earth than the extra CO2 we pump into the atmosphere. There's scope for suburbia to retain a bit of ecosystem, moreso than our prime agricultural land even? We've got to get over this need to sanitise our surroundings. There's 7 billion of us, it adds up. Go on, you can tolerate a few cracks in pavers or leaves in the swimming pool.
IanK, I wish it was just a few leaves. 
Top left is less than 2 years before we discovered it had taken over the garden bed. (She knew about the issue at this stage from the other neighbours)
Both garden beds were relined and new dirt added in late 2010.
The sand pit was less than a year old
The yellow circle shows it suckering from a root that had been cut and poisoned 2 months after being cut and poisoned.
Bottom panorama is what happens when it suckers from 1 tree that was removed...
Yeah... pretty wound up, cause its been pretty much every weekend (plus a couple of weeks off) for 9 months and I'm 6 grand out of pocket!
If it was a 200 yr old tree, it was there l o n g before I got there.... You know what your in for.
The tree in this case was less than the age of the house <8 years. It was planted long after the development was clear felled and largely reclaimed land. It wasn't a native tree, it comes from North America.
As for scope for ecosystem, there are 5 parks with 3 blocks from my house, about 10 with 1km. 1 right out the front. RAMSAR listed sanctuary at the end of the street. We don't suffer from lack of trees. (I have one in my front yard)
A few lifted pavers and leaves is easy enough to deal with. My other neighbours plants hang over my fence and drop leaves all the time. They get cleaned up when I do the lawns. Due to where our block is, I get all the leaves from the whole street blown into my bin area (knee deep after a storm was the record so far 
). Again you deal with it.
What I cant deal with is the death of the lawn, not being able to grow things in my own garden and the retic and paving being damaged.
The tree coming out was the result of the independent determination of the Arborculturist - not my decision.
In his words - "it is a totally unsuitable tree for close urban development and should have never been planted."
Does any of the above pictures seem like something you would be happy to live with in your yard?
Do you think you'd be happy knowing it was entirely avoidable - but your neighbour couldn't be arsed?
It is not the question of responsibility. I'm ready to take it. I want prove that it is MY tree, because there is another tree next door is blamed too. Second, I want to solve this problem without killing the tree. In matter of my attitude to her, you're right; I do not like this person. Since she came here she started to change our lives. Anyway, I'll do everything what is necessary according to the law. I ask advice how to save the tree, since my neighbour does not accept ANY other solution.
Select to expand quoteGalina said..
She bought this block 8 years ago, shopped all vegetation on the land, covered with tiles, lifted her level by 60cm, damaged the fence, built the ugly wall retention on my side. Than she built extension of her house to 1m from the fence with two big windows. She does not live there, she has two sets of tenants. Young men are walking around with their heads above our fence. I never complained. This part of her house is new, so the pipes should be new, made of PVC.
Each has their own responsibility. If they are your roots, you have to deal with it. But you can of course ensure that are definitely your roots first.
As for building a retaining wall on your property...plainly that is her problem, and you can have it removed if you are so inclined....?? Retaining walls typically have to be wholly contained on one property, and that is the property changing the natural level....
Frankly, the fact that you never complained is irrelevant, and gives you no special privileges now. Get rid of any emotion, understand your rights and responsibilities and document everything in writing.
It is not an old tree. It was planted may be 20 years ago. It is almost in a middle of my back yard. giving massive shade, what let me and my family to enjoy to be outside. It did not damage anything. A bit of mess. But in spring the flowers are so beautiful and it gives joy. 
Select to expand quoterod_bunny said..
In his words - "it is a totally unsuitable tree for close urban development and should have never been planted."
How close is close urban development? This is the view from my backdoor, our block is only 500 sq m, this tree is ~ 25 metres away, beyond our immediate neighbours and in a townhouse complex, it's ~ 26 metres tall, if it fell this way I'd be done for. If it was in WA, sandy soil, low rainfall, I wouldn't be able to keep a lawn green either. You can't have it both ways over there, it's either shade or a green lawn. I'd go for a shady tree and kookaburras in the morning any day.
Take the noxious weed approach, it's displacing native species. Don't bring the up the ground distorting/asset damage argument. All trees do that. Offer to buy a local euc seedling as a replacement.
The burden of proof rests with your neighbour... unless she can prove unacceptable risk to person or property. There is nothing you need to do.
In the interests of getting along with your neighbours however...
Don't just go off her photo (it might not even be from her property 
), go have a look.
Check out what the Neighbouring tree process is with your local council. If it gets nasty, you have to be seen to have follow that.
Pass this information on to your neighbour. It shows you're willing to engage and that you aware of what she needs to provide to you.
If you're both amenable to it... contact a Arborculturist (The local council should have a list, explain why you need it).
Ask the Arborculturist to consult on the situation, offer to split the costs if that helps progress the situation. (From memory it was $80 for our consult - for all 3 properties)
Less than an hours work in total in you both know where you stand.
Let him decide how it goes from there. Without the report from him/her (which she will have to pay for) she cant progress any request to cut down your tree.
Then feel free to trim your tree into the shape suggested earlier 
Select to expand quoteParadox said..
Each has their own responsibility. If they are your roots, you have to deal with it. But you can of course ensure that are definitely your roots first.
Oh who owns a tree? Try and chop it down without permission and see if you own it. About time average Joe recognises trees as having a layer of tenancy on a parcel of land. Along with mining rights, grazing rights, native title etc. If a tree spans a residential boundary so what? All you've got is the right to build an approved house on a separate division of the landscape.
Select to expand quoteIan K said..rod_bunny said..
In his words - "it is a totally unsuitable tree for close urban development and should have never been planted."
How close is close urban development? This is the view from my backdoor, our block is only 500 sq m, this tree is ~ 25 metres away, beyond our immediate neighbours and in a townhouse complex, it's ~ 26 metres tall, if it fell this way I'd be done for. If it was in WA, sandy soil, low rainfall, I wouldn't be able to keep a lawn green either. You can't have it both ways over there, it's either shade or a green lawn. I'd go for a shady tree and kookaburras in the morning any day.
Take the noxious weed approach, it's displacing native species. Don't bring the up the ground distorting/asset damage argument. All trees do that. Offer to buy a local euc seedling as a replacement.
I have 6 houses around mine, the furthest is just on 5m eave to eave; the closest is about 2m. So kinda close
If all trees damage assets by virtue of their existence, should they be bought into an environment where there are already assets to be damaged?
There are different plants that can be grown to provide a natural environment around your home.
Planting something like a Morton Bay Fig in the very corner of a yard that is less than 5x5 then claiming that its a tree and should left alone to blow out to a 50m radius is a bit a stretch...
Choose something suitable for the area. It doesn't just affect your place.
Replace "tree" with "loud music" or "3am parties" in the thread title, its that same thing. People need to be cognisant of their actions on the people living around them.
Select to expand quoteIan K said..
Paradox said..
Each has their own responsibility. If they are your roots, you have to deal with it. But you can of course ensure that are definitely your roots first.
Oh who owns a tree? Try and chop it down without permission and see if you own it. About time average Joe recognises trees as having a layer of tenancy on a parcel of land. Along with mining rights, grazing rights, native title etc. If a tree spans a residential boundary so what? All you've got is the right to build an approved house on a separate division of the landscape.
Trees already have a layer of tenancy on a parcel of land.
If its on your land, you are responsible for it, but Responsible <> Ownership.
If the tree was there first or had been there a long time, you would have to go through the same process of "proving unacceptable risk to person or property" to the Council before you could cut it down - on your own property!
Responsibility for the tree doesn't just extend to the liability for damage to others. Its also being responsible for not putting the tree in a position to be damaged itself in the first place.
Over here you can legally plant anything anywhere, there's just a recommendation not to plant within 1.5 metres of a boundary or 3.0 metres from a house. Either way, once it gets to 3.0 metres (unless it's a declared weed) council owns it. You still pay to maintain it, they have a bit both ways there I think.http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/services/household/trees/Pages/treesonprivateland.aspx
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Select to expand quoteIan K said..
I'd go for a shady tree and kookaburras in the morning any day.
it's displacing native species.
Hey, Ian......
you do know that kookaburras are an introduced species that has wreaked havoc upon local species, don't you?
========================
as for the wrong tree in the wrong location,
Back when I was in the game of maintaining rental properties around South Perth / Kensington, the landlord of a subdivided [shoebox] block found a cute little tree to plant in the spacious 3m x 2.5m yard.
She couldn't understand why I insisted they remove their cute little NORFORK BLOODY PINE 
stephen
Select to expand quotesn said..Ian K said..
I'd go for a shady tree and kookaburras in the morning any day.
it's displacing native species.
Hey, Ian......
you do know that kookaburras are an introduced species that has wreaked havoc upon local species, don't you?
========================
as for the wrong tree in the wrong location,
Back when I was in the game of maintaining rental properties around South Perth / Kensington, the landlord of a subdivided [shoebox] block found a cute little tree to plant in the spacious 3m x 2.5m yard.
She couldn't understand why I insisted they remove their cute little NORFORK BLOODY PINE
stephen
Kookaburras are an introduced species? From where? I thought there are heaps of varieties of kingfisher in Australia.
I find it amazing that blocks of land are so small now. When blocks were bigger, it didn't matter as much when it comes to how close trees are. Now they seem to as small as 300m, and everyone wants to use as much as they can.
I am amazed that WA has so much land but developments have such small block sizes.
Select to expand quotesn said..Ian K said..
I'd go for a shady tree and kookaburras in the morning any day.
it's displacing native species.
Hey, Ian......
you do know that kookaburras are an introduced species that has wreaked havoc upon local species, don't you?
========================
as for the wrong tree in the wrong location,
Back when I was in the game of maintaining rental properties around South Perth / Kensington, the landlord of a subdivided [shoebox] block found a cute little tree to plant in the spacious 3m x 2.5m yard.
She couldn't understand why I insisted they remove their cute little NORFORK BLOODY PINE
stephen
Sort of recall that now.
Read a book recently "The sixth mass extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert. We're right in the middle of it. A component of the current mass extinction is that our spread of species across previous boundaries interferes with the fundamental species vs area relationship. We've created a new Pangea.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species-area_curve
It's not linear, doubling the area increases but doesn't doesn't double the number of species that will exist in that area.
So it's possible that the Kookaburra will drive a WA bird species to extinction if it's not controlled. Have the Kookaburras bolted or is control possible? For many escaped weeds or pests it's too late, we just have to go with the flow and let a new species equilibrium sort itself out.
kookaburras were imported to W.A. from t'otherside, when some dopey git decided we needed the extra noise.
IIRC, local [W.A.] kingfishers are smaller and less aggressive than the imports, and have either been pushed out or are battling.
Most West Aussies wouldn't have a clue - I only found out from one of my girlfriends wot had propa uni learnin' about animal/birdy stuff.
Dunno about controlling them - they don't taste good enough or have enough meat for a decent feed to make it worthwhile [intentionally] shooting them.
stephen
Does the dishwasher or whatever u call her know about these other girlfrends, all hoity toity types nonetheless 
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
Does the dishwasher or whatever u call her know about these other girlfrends, all hoity toity types nonetheless
well before the awesome and beloved Sandwichmaker came along and hobbled me, there were a few lasses of the "bunch of letters on their business cards" types,
the archaeologist redhead [nearly married her]
the constitutional law lass
the zoo-ological fruitcake,
the confused greenie,
and a whole mess of others [without the letters]
Sandwichmaker pretends she doesn't know about this stuff
I try not to upset the applecart by getting her name right most of the time
stephen
I asked my neighbour to trim her bush, it seems her husband liked the garden to grow wild.
Sometimes is may be quite a good idea to cut a small tree and replace with grass.
I just bought few grass seeds on eBay.
Not cheap, $8 per just five seeds but this grass ( called black bamboo) suppose to grow 30 meter high !Now I am looking for the best place around home to plant my new grass and avoid mowing it.
www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/tallest-bamboo/
then kids can play hide and seek in the grass
