Neighbour cuts tree exactly in half in dispute over overhanging branches in UK

The neighbours hired professionals to saw the tree in half. Photo / 123rf

A neighbourhood dispute over a tree in the UK has gone viral on social media, after one of the neighbours took matters into his own hands and sawed the tree in half.

Photos of the tree meticulously sawed down the middle have gone viral on social media and become subject of debate on UK television.

The Mistry and the Lee families in Sheffield have been in a dispute over the tree for a while and the Mistry family told The Sun they were "gutted" when the Lees cut half of the 5-metre tall tree, which is understood to have been there for 25 years.

According to Bharat Mistry, the Lee family had complained the birds in the tree were too noisy and made a mess of their driveway.

He says his neighbours hired a team of tree loppers to cut the tree in half as he watched in disbelief.

"It has been there for 25 years and we'd trimmed it into a ball shape with agreement with the neighbour and he has been fine about it," Mistry told The Sun.

"But recently there have been birds in the tree which you would expect at this time of the year.

"He started off by putting black bin liners in the tree to stop the birds sitting there.

"Last weekend he said he was going to get a tree surgeon to cut it down and we asked him not to but they came on Friday and did it."

On social media, many accused the neighbours of being "petty" and say that sawing the tree is a step too far.

I thought we had a neighbour from Hell, but this pretty much takes the biscuit😁 pic.twitter.com/Xh5euWVenM

— Derek Coates (@DerekCoates) June 21, 2021

Trees are not straightforward, depends who owns it. Neighbours! Mine was caught prowling near my car gluing red anonymous note to the side. I first reported them in 2014. It's a long time to co-exist with shabby people in your street. #HateCrime #CCTV https://t.co/YHFHmNXnhV

— Raffy Hamid Journalist and Publicist (@Raffy1011) June 24, 2021

🌳Two neighbours have cut a tree in half after a year-long row over bird mess in the driveway and noise issues escalated

Read the full story 👇https://t.co/3B2PnZbCMB pic.twitter.com/y3ZzdzXDUf

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 23, 2021

The Misty family say they are "absolutely distraught" with the neighbours' actions.

"We pleaded and pleaded with them not to do it, but their mind was made up. That tree was coming down," Bharat Mistry said.

"I believe he has the right to cut down anything that is overhanging onto his property.

"But you have to ask, why after 25 years would you do that? It must have been no more than 3ft onto his land."