TREES (DISPUTES BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS) — Pt 2A application — neighbouring hedge — applicants purchase date — bamboo — obstruction of sunlight — obstruction not severe — application refused
Quick Take
1Under Part 2A of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW), the obstruction of sunlight must be 'severe' — interpreted as 'extreme' or 'harsh' — and the Court sets a high bar for this threshold; undated and unstamped photographs that do not show shadows on nominated windows are insufficient to establish severity.
2Part 2A does not create a right to sunlight; where a hedge exceeded 2.5 metres before the applicant purchased the property and has since been reduced in height, the Court will not make orders that would give the applicant greater sunlight access than existed at the date of purchase.
3The maintenance impost principle from Barker v Kyriakides [2007] NSWLEC 292 — that dropping of leaves and debris from urban trees ordinarily will not ground orders for tree removal — remains consistently applied, and claims of property damage from shading require evidence establishing a causal nexus per Fang v Li & anor [2017] NSWLEC 1503.
