Lo v Ji [2023] NSWLEC 1603

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Lo v Ji [2023] NSWLEC 1603 Hearing dates: 26 September 2023 Date of orders: 26 September 2023 Decision date: 26 September 2023 Jurisdiction: Class 2 Before: Galwey AC Decision: The Court orders: (1) The application is refused. (2) The exhibits are returned, other than Exhibit A. Catchwords: TREES (DISPUTES BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS) – Pt 2 application – damage caused by neighbouring trees – risk of damage and injury – whether trees have caused or are likely to cause damage to the applicant's property – whether other matters are within the jurisdiction of the Trees Act Legislation Cited: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006, Pt 2 ss 7, 10 Cases Cited: Hui v Gu [2021] NSWLEC 1335 Texts Cited: Parramatta Development Control Plan 2023 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Yuk K Lo (First Applicant) Fong C Hui (Second Applicant) Rong Ji (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: D Hui (Agent) (First Applicant) L Matheson (Agent) (Second Applicant) H Murdoch (Solicitor) (Respondent)

Solicitors: Parish Patience Legal and Migration Services (Respondent) File Number(s): 2023/227371 Publication restriction: No

Judgment

This decision was given as an extemporaneous decision. It has been revised and edited prior to publication.

Background 1. COMMISSIONER: Yuk K Lo and Fong C Hui (the applicants) have applied to the Court seeking orders relating to four trees growing on the neighbouring Epping property of Rong Ji (the respondent). Pursuant to s 7 (Pt 2) of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (the Trees Act), the applicants seek the following orders (as copied from the application): 1. The Respondent shall prune the Crepe Myrtle in his front yard, and ensure that the height of the Crepe Myrtle remains below the Applicant's cables. The said plant is growing too lush, which may affect the Applicant's cables. 2. The Respondent shall ensure that the height of all plants is, and continuous to remain below the fence's height on both sides of 73 Oxford Street and 2A/2B Derby Street. The Applicant concerns that the roots of those plants may damage Sydney Water underground pipelines. 3. The Respondent shall reimburse the costs occurred regarding this application. 1. The claim details form (Form H) accompanying the application includes a plan showing four trees. Tree A is the Crepe Myrtle near the front of the respondent's property. Trees B, C and D, which are small unidentified trees, are along the respondent's western boundary, beyond that section of the boundary shared with the applicants' land. The plan shows a sewer line running north from the applicants' property along two properties to the north, adjacent to the respondent's western boundary and close to trees B, C and D. Despite only four trees being shown in the plan, and further to order (2) sought by the applicants, the applicants submitted onsite that they seek an order preventing the respondent planting any more trees near their common boundary. 2. The hearing took place onsite, allowing the Court to inspect the trees. I determined earlier tree dispute proceedings between these parties in 2021 (Hui v Gu [2021] NSWLEC 1335). Orders made in that decision have been carried out.