Costs for conifer removal? Get free advice!

Questioner

Dear Sir/Madam, We have been living in a social housing unit for 12 years. We have a fence at the back of the house as a boundary and approximately 17 meters of conifer hedge. The conifers were already there when we signed the lease. Our lease is actually a standard lease from the housing corporation. We have neatly maintained the conifer hedge and our garden for 12 years by pruning it twice a year. The hedge still looks neat. But now we are starting to get a nuisance from the roots. Our paving now has holes and bumps and a huge piece of root is growing through our lawn. In short, the roots are/have now really become enormous and are growing under everything (lawn/paving). In addition, the conifers are starting to turn brown from the inside. We have contacted the housing corporation about this and the caretaker came by for 5 minutes. We explained that we have fulfilled our obligation and have neatly pruned the conifers for 12 years. And that we are aware that we are expected to maintain our backyard neatly. We would also like to do this and have everything re-tiled next spring, but this will be very difficult with all those roots. Cutting off all the roots is an option, but of course this will grow back, so we will continue to tile. The caretaker took a look, thought it looked neat and did not see the problem: The conifers look neat and if you want to get rid of the problem, you will have to see to it yourself that you remove those conifers and put up a fence at your own expense. Now I have read that the maintenance of these conifers is indeed for us. But that major maintenance is for the landlord's account. My question: Who is responsible for the costs of removing the conifer hedge? Kind regards,

Lawyer

The landlord, as owner of the home, is also the owner of the plants and/or the conifer hedge. Removal must therefore be at the landlord's expense. However, maintenance is for the tenant, including for protruding roots. The APV may contain provisions regarding the maintenance of such hedges. It is therefore advisable to consult this. If you cannot reach an agreement, I would be happy to look at your case.