Neighbour threw pile of leaves from my tree into my garden Can I legally return them?

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bullworth

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A neighbour to the back of me has thrown a pile of leaves from my tree over my back wall and into my garden . There was also a tiny amount of the neighbours' kids' small plastic toys and sweet wrappers inside as they had not done a perfectly careful job of it.

Do they have any legal right to do this without my permission and can I legally return those leaves over the back wall to them ?

I feel that throwing the leaves over was an aggressive act as I keep my garden spotlessly clean and the neighbour had no idea where those leaves would land on the other side.

Advice please ?
 
You seem to think its ok for a tree grown on your side to litter your neighbours garden, but its not ok for neighbour to return them. Great example of absence of consideration.
Thank god you are not my neighbour.
To answer your q, no its illegal, mountjoy is full of people convicted of throwing leaves over walls.
 
Legally they cannot throw them into your garden. They actually have to ask you if you would like them but you can say no and they must dispose.
 
kkelliher said:
Legally they cannot throw them into your garden. They actually have to ask you if you would like them but you can say no and they must dispose.
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That is incorrect. Legally you dont have to ask them, and you can just leave them on their property. Ideally in a bag-but its not necessary.
 
bullworth said:
I feel that throwing the leaves over was an aggressive act as I keep my garden spotlessly clean and the neighbour had no idea where those leaves would land on the other side.
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Well you can be sure this will be the beginning of a war if you go down this route. Personally I think your neighbour was wrong to do what he did. But from his point of view he considers the tree to be an annoyance, despite the fact that he too presumable gets enjoyment from the beauty of it. In the interest of future good relations maybe it's best to just dispose of them yourself and not be cross about it.
 
well whos a lawyer here and whos not ? Some of you may as well try to justify the neighbour stuffing those leaves through my letterbox ''out of consideration''

Is he legally allowed just throw those leaves over my wall and not care where they land etc ?


Am I legally allowed refuse his ''gift'' ?
 
Bronte said:
I think you need to take a deep breath bullworth.
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I just want to know where I stand thats all :)

The neighbour also included some of his own litter in there. He basically swept his whole garden and then assumed that it belonged to me. He has never spoken with me about it once.

But of interest here is the legal position. Can anyone tell me what it is ? I can find the UK legal position online but not the Irish one.
 
bullworth said:
He has never spoken with me about it once.

.
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Maybe it's time you invited him in for a friendly cup of tea. Or chat over the fence. If you are 'friend's he is unlikely to repeat his actions. You could offer to 'sweep' up the leaves in his garden if that will sort things out.

My neighbour who considered our hedge his, used to wait until I left the house and come into my garden and cut the hedge. And he left the clippings too. I just swept them up. He did this for years, until the hedge got killed there a couple of years ago by the severe cold.
 
I can't reason with a bad neighbour unless I am confident of what his legal obligations are and what mine are too. There are a dozen better ways to handle this situation than how he handled it. The judgemental can go stone someone else. I need a lawyer's know how here. I cant have this guy throwing garbage over a high wall onto my washing on the line etc. It took more effort to throw a pile of leaves over such a high wall than it would do to bag the damn things.
 
I can cut the branch that comes over the boundary at the boundary.
I must return the branch to my neighbour.
Q.E.D
 
For a QED light-bulb moment , I would need a reference to a case or legislation involving leaves. You cant just throw the branch in through your neighbours window I presume.
 
Don't have one, unfortunately, .
When my neighbour put up a tree, I kept cutting the branches as they came over the fence so I now get minimal leaves.
And, no I did not throw the branches back, just disposed of them.

Do your best to avoid discord..........but I see your point.
 
I keep my garden free of waste and hazards especially because my toddler plays there and I assumed I can leave her to play very safely. Now picture this lunatic shovelling leaves and stones over the wall without even looking where they land. How can that be right ? I need to know what my legal advantages and disadvantages are in any situation where I try to reason with this neighbour.
 
Luternau said:
That is incorrect. Legally you dont have to ask them, and you can just leave them on their property. Ideally in a bag-but its not necessary.
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I think you will fin I am not incorrect. They cannot throw them into you garden, and as the tree is yours they have to offer them to you but you are not obliged to take them.
 
bullworth said:
A neighbour to the back of me has thrown a pile of leaves from my tree over my back wall and into my garden . There was also a tiny amount of the neighbours' kids' small plastic toys and sweet wrappers inside as they had not done a perfectly careful job of it.
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bullworth said:
I keep my garden free of waste and hazards especially because my toddler plays there and I assumed I can leave her to play very safely. Now picture this lunatic shovelling leaves and stones over the wall without even looking where they land. How can that be right ? .
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So it's moved from being a "tiny amount of the neighbours' kids' small plastic toys and sweet wrappers" to "Now picture this lunatic shovelling leaves and stones over the wall without even looking where they land"
This is extremely serious. I assume you were watching at the time to
verify that your neighbours weren't looking at where the leaves landed?

bullworth said:
Am I legally allowed refuse his ''gift'' ?
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I wonder would the answer to this question be the same as the answer to
the question, Are they legally allowed to refuse your "gift"?
 
We are not in a position to give out legal advice, only opinions. If you need legal advise consult a solicitor.
 
BULLWORTH

-sorry, but you come across as rather ill-tempered and somewhat rude today. We all have our bad days so maybe you've got a bit wound up about this.

If,indeed, it is the case that your branches overhang another person's garden then your neighbour may feel that is is you who is causing litter and that you should trim the branches accordingly.

Maybe your neighbour is as grumpy and unreasonable as you seem to be today.

Is it something in the air there?
 
Perhaps ask a neutral party to discuss the issue for you. I don't think either of you are calm enough to discuss it.

You can't control where leaves go short of cutting down the tree and you can't be expected to clean up all the neighbours gardens. Your trees can't overgrown someone else garden but that's a different issue. If they overgrow, you should cut them back. You might ask why they suddenly started doing this. Has someone new moved in. How old is this tree, it didn't appear overnight I assume. Perhaps its the wrong kind of tree?
 
I always believed that the type of action of your neighbour was legally justified.

Kkelliher's post confused me. On a quick search I could find no actual irish law outlining the full position ,but on justanswer/com/ irish-law an Irish barrister avers ....

"... AS THEY ARE BRANCHES OF YOUR TREES, YOUR NEIGHBOUR IS ENTITLED IN LAW TO PLACE ANY CUT BACK BRANCHES ON YOUR SIDE OF THE FENCE"

A similar opinion is made on the Irish Times (property expert) site.

In fact I thought that not only was the neighbour entitled to return the branches to the owner of same, but was obliged to.

Whilst I find Bulworth's reaction OTT this is an interesting question that needs clarifying.
I think kkelliher is wrong but I'd be willing to be corrected with aources.
 
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