The Owners - Strata Plan 52066 v Trudgian

Land and Environment Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: The Owners – Strata Plan 52066 v Trudgian & anor [2015] NSWLEC 1017 Hearing dates:28 January 2015Date of orders: 04 February 2015 Decision date: 04 February 2015 Jurisdiction:Class 2Before: Fakes C, Galwey AC, Durland AC Decision: The application is dismissed Catchwords: TREES [NEIGHBOURS]: Damage to property, location of previous stump, sufficiency of evidence, contributing factors Legislation Cited: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 Uniform Civil Procedure Act 2005 Cases Cited: Awad v Hardie (No 2) [2010] NSWLEC 1258 Baker v Grabovac [2010] NSWLEC 1289 Drolz v Sinclair [2008] NSWLEC 34 Robson v Leischke [2008] NSWLEC 152; (2008) LGERA 280 Smith & Hannaford v Zhang & Zhou [2011] NSWLEC 29 Category:Principal judgmentParties: The Owners Strata Plan 56066 (Applicant) Karen and John Trudgian (Respondents) Representation: Counsel: Applicant: Mr B McKenzie (Agent) Respondents: Mr J Doyle (Barrister) Solicitors: Respondents: Robert Silberberg File Number(s):20935 of 2014Judgment COMMISSIONERS:   The applicant contends that trees growing on the respondents’ property in Bellevue Hill have caused damage to a stone retaining wall on the applicant’s property. The applicant asks the Court to make the following orders: That the respondents, at their own costs, remove the trees (T1 and T2) causing damage to the applicant’s retaining wall. That the respondents, at their own cost, create a trench close to the boundary between the lands to prevent invasive roots from trees causing damage to the applicant’s retaining wall in future. That the respondents contribute 80% of the costs to repair...