On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 10:33:59 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Everything you said was very helpful. Thank you for the substantial
reply. I feel much more in-the-picture after reading:

When we demolsihed te house, that corner, despite having foundations
that seemed to consist of three rows of bricks laid straight onto wet
clay :-) were in no worse shape than the rest of the house.

So in PRACTICAL terms, if you are triming your leylandii below riudge
height, and they are better than 3m away, I don't think they will cause
you much real trouble. OTOH any surveyor who sees em is going to putrse
his lips in that peculiar way, and teh incoming residents insurance
company is going to want to see them removed or lopped, or possibly ebne
refuse insurance, so the potential reslae value of the house will not be
good. Moral is to remove them well before you sell, so that all traces
are gone, and teh actual decay of the roots hasn't caused visible
problems yet. Say 2 years :-)

Or, if you just want to play safe, no trees of a heght greater than
their distance from the house should be allowed to grow.

Period.

Many thanks!

Frank