Lewis and anor v Tilney and anor [2009] NSWLEC 1042

Land and Environment Court of New South Wales

CITATION : Lewis and anor v Tilney and anor [2009] NSWLEC 1042

APPLICANTS Patricia and William Lewis PARTIES : RESPONDENTS Oswald Tilney and Andrea Coburn

FILE NUMBER(S) : 21028 of 2008

CORAM: Moore C - Thyer AC

TREES (NEIGHBOURS) :- KEY ISSUES: Bamboo Need to prove which tree(s) caused damage when multiple trees potentially involved

LEGISLATION CITED: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Regulation 2007

Yang v Scerri [2007] NSWLEC 592 CASES CITED: Robson v Leischke (2008) 159 LGERA 280; [2008] NSWLEC 152 Barker v Kyriakides [2007] NSWLEC 292 Black v Johnson (No 2) [2007] NSWLEC 513

DATES OF HEARING: 28 January 2009

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 20 February 2009

APPLICANTS In person LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: RESPONDENTS Mr T Jessop, solicitor

JUDGMENT: THE LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES

MOORE C THYER AC

20 February 2009

21028 of 2008 Patricia and William Lewis v Oswald Tilney and Andrea Coburn

JUDGMENT

1 COMMISSIONERS: Mr and Mrs Lewis live in a house built some 30 years ago. The house to the east is owned and occupied by Mr Tilney who has lived in these premises for over 50 years. Mr Tilney has a large number of trees, including many mature trees, on his property. Ownership of this property is shared, in proportions that are not relevant to this decision, by Mr Tilney and his niece, Ms Andrea Coburn, who lives with him. It is convenient, for the purposes of this decision, to refer to the property as Mr Tilney's property and, as a consequence, to various trees as Mr Tilney's trees.