jvc

We have some land next to our house which is arable, but there are a row of trees which are on the boundary of their land and our garden. I have spoken to our Mayor who gave us the name of the proprieter (who isn't very local) to send a letter to. He also gave us some info on the law of overhanging neighbouring trees. Apparantely he cannot intervene in this matter. It (the article) states that they are obliged to prune these from what I understand.
The only thing i didn't do, was send the letter by avis de reception. The Mayor suggested I resend a second letter by avis, although the initial one was only sent 3 or 4 weeks ago. I also enclosed our email address but not received a reply yet. Has anyone over here had similar concerns?
The trees are not close to the house but are very tall and during the snow in the winter we lost a few branches from these trees, which came down in our garden. They are also so overhanging that we cannot do alot with it at the moment. It is a seperate fenced area, so not a safety issue for anyone in the garden, but can anyone give us any pointer on this matter svp?

dmu

Hi, according to
Voisinage : le point sur les obligations d’élagage des branches d’arbre dépassant chez le voisin - Actualités - Service-public.fr
you can't cut the overhanging branches yourself, but you can oblige your neighbours to do so. If they don't comply after your LRAR, (the Avis de Réception being extra proof that they received your letter), you can take them before the Tribunal. Take a lot of photos to justify, in case it comes to court proceedings....

Chatter Static

The first letter will have little impact as the avis de reception was not used they could happily ignore it. Plus if you go to a tribunal the age of the trees will play an important factor and if the trees are old I doubt they would have to cut back all the overhanging branches just tidy it up generally. Personally I would resend the letter with the "Avis de Réception"

jvc

Ironically, as with a previous posting, we have just been outside gardening and a car has pulled up and people were looking at the trees
The trees must be about 60ft high, and the overhanging branches that need cutting range from around 6ft high upwards, so is a massive job and they range over the space of around 80 feet along the garden perimeter.
thanks for the info

bigglesworth

Sorry jvc, only just logged on, or I would have counselled patience.
We had a not dissimilar issue, two enormous fig trees in the field at the back, but right up against one of our ancient and crumbling stone wall where the village has a right of way of sorts.
We discovered the owner, who was not particularly interested as the family had let the land some years ago to an agriculteur. When we passed the suggestion to him through a mutual acquaintance, the response was that if we wanted to we were welcome to chop them down.
By this time however we had discovered that the chemicals he sprays are quite toxic , so we decided to do nothing.
In the summer after he had harvested. he came along and chopped them down himself. Unfortunately just a week before the figs were fully ripe.