Council Tree Damages Private Property

[justplain]

I recently bought a house that had been unoccupied for some time (around 12 months). The house is still unoccupied under my name (6 months) due to having to rip the house back to the four walls to rennovate it.

Now the weather is improving, we are doing the garden up, and as we have removed large trees etc at the back, it has become apparent that a Council Tree on Council Land has damaged our fence and now needs replacing. It has pushed a hole through some of the joints and unsteadied the foundations.

I sent a request for Compensation to the Council but they have rejected this saying that they have not been "negligent in carrying out [their] duties". They statethat they only deal with trees on a reactive basis and because I called them about the issue with the tree and they reacted promptly (which they did) that they are not liable for any damage caused by the tree. On inspection of the tree, they decided it needed totally removed and nothing is left, however, my fence is a mess and unsafe.

They have said that they dont dispute that the incident occured or that the fence is damaged.

Is this correct?

Can the council just decide not to maintain their property until someone tells them it is causing damage and then state that because they had no complaints there is nothing to do to prevent it because they only deal with reactive complaints? I would have thought that their decision to reactively deal with trees rather than reactively would be a risk on their part and shouldn't then mean they can't be negligent.

Does the fact the house was unoccipied and remains unoccipied make a difference? They would have known this due to the council tax levys and discounts they were giving. How can they expect complaints from an unoccupied property.

[des8]

The council are partially correct, in that it will be for you to show the damage was reasonably forseeable and the council failed to remedy the situation.
You would need to show that they knew, or ought to have known, that such damage would arise.

Generally the owner is only liable for repair costs if they fail to remedy the situation after the claimant has notified them of the damage.
However if the tree was very close to the fence the risk of damage should have been forseeable or the council ought reasonably to have known about it and so your costs may be recoverable

Don't expect the council to roll over without a fight, altho' if your claim is relatively small they may make a contribution rather than face a court claim
It may be worth involving your local councillor.