Autumn is in full swing, the clocks have changed, it’s getting darker earlier, the weather is getting colder, and the trees are turning wonderful shades of orange, brown and red and whilst this might be lovely to look at it does mean one thing – the leaves are beginning to fall.
You may have seen the viral video on social media recently where someone dumps fallen leaves back over the fence onto their neighbour’s land. But the leaves came from their neighbour’s tree, so this is the correct thing to do, right? Well technically, yes. The leaves would constitute a trespass onto your property, and you are entitled to remove them and even return them. This also applies to any overhanging branches from a neighbour’s tree.
Trespass occurs when someone or something enters you land without permission. Where there is a trespass dispute, you firstly need to establish where the boundary actually lies, to ensure there has been a trespass. Land Registry documents and title deeds can assist with this, but it is important to remember that they are not always the most accurate way of defining a boundary. Therefore, expert evidence may be required from an independent expert surveyor who can plot out the boundary on a plan. Once you know the true position of the boundary then you will know whether there has been a trespass. If you then cannot reach an agreement with your neighbour in relation to the trespass, then you can look at taking legal action.
But are you going to go to have a neighbour dispute and consider court over some fallen leaves? With the wind and various other factors, it is inevitable that leaves (and even other debris) may get blown around and end up in your garden, even when you have no trees yourself. If a neighbour’s tree is overhanging then yes, you are more likely to get leaves in your garden but is that really such a terrible thing? This runs the risk of you getting on the wrong side of your neighbours and creating worse issues for you both in the future. Do you really want to fall out with your neighbour over a few leaves?
We would always recommend taking practical steps before taking legal action, which arguably would include picking up the leaves and returning them to where they came from. But in reality, this is just causing more stress and work for yourself and potentially antagonising your neighbour. It is true that not everyone wants fallen leaves in their garden. They can be messy, slippery and just plain annoying but in reality, the easiest thing to do would be to just pick them up and put them in the bin. Trespass or not, it really is just a leaf.
By Alysia Leigh from our dispute resolution team
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