Who trims trees, landlord or tenant?

Who is responsible for trimming big trees (4 Metres +). Is it the landlord or the tenant?

Jean-Pierre

Are we on about trimming REAL trees here son???

If the garden is in the contract, then you are responsable for trimming!
Major cutting back or down of the tree is then up to the landlord!

What else could I be referring to other than real trees? You don't tend to trim a plastic Christmas tree. You say that major cutting back is the landlord's responsibility, but what about if major cutting back is required because the tree hasn't been trimmed for ages?

Jean-Pierre

If the trees pose a threat (like they might not make it through the next storm) and you got an expert valueation on that, then it´s the landlords job to remove them.

If there´s nothing wrong with them then you can hope that your landlord is an understanding guy and removes them...it´s very expensive though. (Depending on accsess to the trees and all that stuff)

So get an estimate before you agree to remove them at your expense.

Hmm, yeah but I was really thinking of trimming them, rather than removing them. And it might be quite an expensive job as it hasn't been done for years. I might just leave them if I have to stomach the costs.

Jean-Pierre

Thought It might be one of those "what do you prefer" topics

as mickey says, Watch out, as "erlaubnis" is needed for cutting trees when they are over a certain height!

Interesting link on "mietrecht" and Tree cutting! sorry all in german

landlords and trees

something about the girth as well .. fat trees can't just be hacked at.

Maybe a daft question but why don't you do it yourself? Gives you the perfect excuse for buying that chainsaw that can rust in the garage after being used once.

Which in turn, gives you the perfect excuse to buy that "kamin" (fireplace) and saw your own wood and get on the neighbours tits all spring long!

I'm pretty sure any garden work is down to you. That's what this would imply:

Regelmäßige Gartenpflege gehört zu den umlagefähigen Betriebskosten. Das schließt Beseitigung von Ästen aus dem Baum oder Fällen einiger Bäume mit ein. Werden hingegen sämtliche bäume gefällt, stellt das eine Gartenumgestaltung dar, die nicht auf die Mieter über die Betriebskosten umgelegt werden kann. (AG Köln, Az. 207 C 213/00, aus: NZM 2001, S. 41)

so even if the landlord did it, he could add the costs to your Umlagen/nebenkosten. I once had a neighbour who trimmed my tree for me (without asking), because he was sick of the leaves falling in his garden.

Now, that is very naughty!!! I´d have taken a piece of that tree and do this [img]http://www.spankingclassics.com/discus/messages/109/6416.gif[/img]

@jaygee... glad I wasn´t the neighbour.

Our landlord does our trees, usually at the same time that he does his own though he made an exception when one fell down. I think he does it because the neighbours moan that they are completely shaded. We just cut the trees back as far as our ladder reaches and leave the tops until the landlord gets around to it.

I don't think our contract says anything specific about trees.

So, as with most things in Germany it's damn complicated and as clear as mud. At the end of the day it will come down to a big discussion/court case about whether its Gartenumgestaltung or Gartenpflege.

Why do Germans make everything so complicated?

Good grief this seems like a complicated business glad I don't have as much as a window box

NONONO you brits get it all wrong: it means that if you cut it down everything is hoopy but if you call your landlord to do something about it he can add the costs (if he´s calling a pro) or a part of it to your nebenkosten.

so...grab the saw and show this tree who´s the master

Be careful with window boxes ... they can also be against the rules.

This reminds me of a story about Peterlee, the source of all fire and brimstone.
The architect responsible, a man called Roy Gazzard if I'm not mistaken, when taken to task about the totally concrete environement he'd created, suggested the insallation of plastic trees and some plastic cows too. They wouldn't have had to trim them either.

He or she could have done that in UK too. There you have the right to cut off all branches overhanging your property but you must put them back into the owners garden as they belong to him/her. Irritating leaf fall can simply be gathered up and thrown back over the wall/fence.

So what about this one then:

There is a tree in the garden next door to us which has overgrown into our garden (our private bit as well as the communal garden) plus one large tree which is in the communal garden. They are both blocking our light into the living room

They are also blocking our satellite signal but I assume even if they were trimmed we'd still not get much of a signal - the dish needs to go on the roof...

@PurpleMuffin,

I would ask the landlord first what his relationship is to the neighbor (good, bad, doesn't know them?) and then broach the subject with him.

We had 3 of our trees 'trimmed' in spring. We have a garden that is not accessible by any type of machinery (ie a cherry picker) so we hired a guy who comes and climbs the tree and trims what is needed. He did 4 hours of work on 3 trees including picking up all the branches and taking them away for a few hundred Euro. Which, in my opinion, is a deal. We had a few branches that were probably dead (an expert can tell you) and were in danger of falling onto our dach fenster during a storm.

It costs less to get one of these tree climbers than a company that comes with a truck.

A word to the wise, do not try to hack at your own trees unless you really know what you are doing. Cut too much and you can kill the tree, cut in the wrong way and you'll end up with all kinds of weird sprouts growing in different directions.

Oh no was definitely not going to give that a go they are too high and would need to be done professionally...