Prowse & anor v Porter & anor

Land and Environment Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Prowse & anor v Porter & anor [2016] NSWLEC 1135 Hearing dates:17 March, 6 April 2016Date of orders: 12 April 2016 Decision date: 12 April 2016 Jurisdiction:Class 2Before: Fakes C Decision: Application granted – see [38] Catchwords: TREES [NEIGHBOURS] Damage to property; spread of bamboo onto applicants’ land; damage to plants, paving and rockery. Legislation Cited: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 Cases Cited: Dias v Vaswani [2011] NSWLEC 1274 Robson v Leischke [2008] NSWLEC 152 Category:Principal judgmentParties: Richard and Robin Prowse (Applicants) Gary Porter and Christine Heberlein (Respondents) Representation: Applicants: Mr G Farland (Barrister) Respondents: Mr G Porter and Ms C Heberlein (Litigants in person)   Solicitors: Applicants: Hones Lawyers File Number(s):21100 of 2015Judgment COMMISSIONER:   The applicants own a property in Castle Cove. In 2009 they widened their driveway at the front of their property and reconstructed the garden beds along their eastern boundary, the boundary they share with the respondents. The replacement of the garden beds included the removal of soil and a root mass of rhizomatous bamboo which had moved into their property from the respondents’ garden. The applicants took the advice of their landscape contractor and had installed what they believed to be a root barrier at the back of the garden beds along the existing stone wall along the boundary. The product used is a type of drainage cell not usually used as a root barrier but can be used to assist drainage along vertical and...