A bitter neighbourhood dispute in one of Sydney's leafy suburbs has ended in court after a gum tree dropped branches on a man's home, car and garden, leaving the family concerned for their safety.
Court Ruling
Chun Cheung Robert Wong, of Pymble on the city's North Shore, took on neighbour Miranda Chan after years of falling branches from a 13-metre blue gum located on her property. The falling branches cracked roof tiles, dented Mr Wong's car and smashed garden lights.
The dispute escalated after Mr Wong claimed his pleas for help, and attempts at mediation, were often ignored or dismissed by Ms Chan and her property agents. The blue gum, on Ms Chan's side of the boundary, had not been properly maintained for years, leaving large dead branches hanging over Mr Wong's house and driveway.
Mr Wong told the Land and Environment Court he had been forced to pay for numerous repairs from falling branches. Even the State Emergency Service raised concern after one branch flattened a child's playset, while another damaged a neighbour's parked car.
Evidence Presented
Acting Commissioner John Douglas heard how, despite some sporadic past compensation, attempts over the last three years to get Ms Chan to take responsibility for the tree were fruitless. Ms Chan, an 'absentee landlord' who has rented out the property since 2006, argued she did 'continuous maintenance' through her tenants and had reduced their rent to compensate for the extra garden work.
But Mr Wong provided evidence, including photos of shattered tiles, receipts for repairs, and eyewitness accounts of the damage. Even the property manager's arguments, claiming the branches weren't heavy enough to break concrete, were rejected by the court. The judge noted that the blame couldn't be shifted to Mr Wong's own pine tree or random branches from council nature strips.
'Although I accept that concrete roof tiles continue chemical hardening processes for decades after manufacture, the court has recorded various instances where dead sticks like those displayed in Mr Wong's photos have cracked concrete tiles, presumably after dropping vertically, butt-end first,' Mr Douglas said. 'In the absence of other plausible causes such as the trees in the applicant's yard, I am satisfied that sticks from the tree are the probable cause of damage.'
Order and Compensation
Mr Douglas ordered Ms Chan to pay Mr Wong $1,523.22 for the damage caused by the blue gum. He also ordered that a team of certified arborists be hired at Ms Chan's expense to prune every dead branch over 10mm thick from the tree within 45 days, and to repeat the pruning every two years. Mr Douglas found Ms Chan had a 'duty of care' and that the damage was 'foreseeable and avoidable through responsible tree maintenance'.
