Sendro v Goodings [2018] NSWLEC 1454

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Sendro v Goodings [2018] NSWLEC 1454 Hearing dates: 20 August 2018 Date of orders: 20 August 2018 Decision date: 20 August 2018 Jurisdiction: Class 2 Before: Galwey AC Decision: The application is dismissed. Catchwords: TREES (DISPUTES BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS) – obstruction of views – whether the trees form a hedge Legislation Cited: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW) Cases Cited: Johnson v Angus [2012] NSWLEC 192 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Thomas Sendro (Applicant) Cathy Goodings (First Respondent) Simon Goodings (Second Respondent) Representation: T Sendro, litigant in person (Applicant) C and S Goodings, litigants in person (Respondents) File Number(s): 2018/129394 Publication restriction: No

Judgment

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

Background 1. Thomas Sendro ('the applicant') enjoys harbour views from several levels of his Bellevue Hill dwelling. Downslope from his property, trees grow on the property owned by Cathy and Simon Goodings ('the respondents'). Mr Sendro unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the Goodings to remove or prune the trees so that they do not obstruct his views. He applied to the Court, pursuant to s 14B of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW) ('the Trees Act'), seeking removal of a dead tree (species unknown), removal of an African Olive tree and reduction pruning of an Illawarra Flame Tree. 2. The Goodings had removed the dead tree by the time of the onsite hearing.