Jayawardena v Salvia & anor [2015] NSWLEC 1191

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Jayawardena v Salvia & anor [2015] NSWLEC 1191 Hearing dates: 26 May 2015 Decision date: 26 May 2015 Jurisdiction: Class 2 Before: Galwey AC Decision: The application is dismissed Catchwords: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours); damage to property; hedge; bamboo; obstruction of sunlight; application dismissed. Legislation Cited: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 Cases Cited: Yang v Scerri [2007] NSWLEC 592 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Joseph Jayawardena (Applicant) Robert Salvia and Francis Salvia (Respondents) Representation: Joseph Jayawardena, litigant in person (Applicant) Robert Salvia and Francis Salvia, litigants in person (Respondents) File Number(s): 20187 of 2015

Judgment

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

Background 1. The bamboo that is at the centre of this matter was also the subject of a previous matter involving the same applicant and the same respondents. The Jayawardenas say the bamboo is obstructing sunlight to their windows and is likely to damage their roof guttering. Mr Jayawardena has applied to the Land and Environment Court pursuant to both Part 2 and Part 2A of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 ("the Trees Act") seeking orders for the bamboo to be removed or, failing that, for it to be pruned to a height of 3 metres every six months. 2. The Salvias say they prune the bamboo when necessary and that the situation has not changed since the Court determined the previous matter.