Some years ago we sold a farmhouse and buildings but retained the surrounding farmland. Recently the person who bought the farmhouse has asked us to remove a branch from a tree on our land which overhangs his buildings. What is our legal responsibility?
You should remove the branch: in legal terms it may amount to a “nuisance”. If you don’t comply with the request the owner of the farmhouse can cut the branch himself however: it’s one of the few occasions when the courts don’t object to people taking the law into their own hands. Alternatively, if the branch is causing damage to his land or property, your neighbour can go to court for an order to get you to cut the tree back, but it’s an unnecessarily complicated and expensive procedure for so minor a matter.