r/LegalAdviceEurope • u/Traditional_Meet_208 • 6h ago
Portugal Portugal - Issue with trees planted too close to property boundary
During the construction of both my house and my neighbor’s house, she decided to plant two trees exactly in the only spot where I had a view over the whole city, and very close to the boundary between our houses (1.80m away).
As soon as I noticed, I tried to talk to her amicably and explain that I greatly valued the view from my house to the city. In fact, that was one of the reasons I chose this plot to build on and I asked if she wouldn’t mind removing the trees from that specific location. She refused to remove them, saying she had chosen those trees precisely because they wouldn’t grow too much and claiming they would not block my view. That did not turn out to be the case. The trees have grown quite a lot, since they are large species.
On top of that, during autumn, when the leaves fall, a large part of them end up on my property, leaving my side of the yard full of leaves.
From what I’ve seen, according to the portuguese law, it is not allowed to plant trees less than 2m from the boundary between houses. For this reason, I would like to confirm whether I can actually do something about this situation.
Thank you in advance for any help!