I have a neighbour along the back fence (no back lane) and he has a tree in his yard that is only about two feet from the fence. I'm willing to bet that the tree existed well before his house was even built, which would have to be 15-20 years ago.
That tree has several branches extending over into my back yard. Some even come over top of my deck, and one just barely extends over my roof. I do have concerns that the tree is going to fall or have some branches break in a heavy spring snow storm or during very heavy winds... I do live in Lethbridge afterall. However, that tree gives my back yard some very nice shade from the sun and it also helps to shelter us from some of the wind. My only complaint is that it has a massive caterpillar infection, so last spring and this past spring I wasn't able to enjoy my backyard without killing hundreds of caterpillars.
My wife saw him in the backyard one day so she talked to him about it and he actually had looked into getting it pruned, but it was going to cost nearly $2000. We agreed that it was too much to bother with, but he did tell us to prune any branches we want, and spray the tree from our side to take care of any caterpillars or other infestations, and you know what? We were fine with that because we received benefits from his tree. Your neighbour is merely a jerk.
Now, I am still concerned about a spring snow storm breaking some branches... well, not anymore because I'm moving next week.
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