A long-running neighbour dispute over the size of trees blocking million-dollar river views has ended with a tribunal ordering their branches be lopped and they be kept to a height half of what one owner requested.<\/p>\n
Angus Graham McDougall and wife Alissa Ann McDougall, who live in Graceville in Brisbane\u2019s southwest, took their rear neighbour, Louise May Arvier, to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) in July 2022 in a bid to get her to cut or remove trees growing in her yard that blocked their view.<\/p>\n
Four years later, in his decision handed down on August 18, QCAT member Vass Poteri ruled that Mrs Arvier has an October 30 deadline to prune and maintain five trees – waterhousea floribunda and viburnum – to three metres.<\/p>\n
She must also prune and maintain the lateral branches of one of the trees on her riverfront property on a quiet culdesac in Long St, and prune the five trees at least twice a year for the next decade.<\/p>\n
Mrs Arvier, whose home has views of the river reach stretching for over a kilometre, unsuccessfully requested she be allowed to grow the trees to six metres high.<\/p>\n
She denied that the trees were a substantial interference of the McDougalls\u2019 view of the river from their Molonga Tce abode.<\/p>\n
The McDougall\u2019s wanted the trees lopped to 2.1m.<\/p>\n
But Mr Poteri ruled that allowing the trees to grow higher than three metres would be a \u201csubstantial, ongoing and unreasonable interference with the McDougalls\u2019 view and their use and enjoyment of their property\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe subject trees would be a severe obstruction of the view from the McDougalls\u2019 balcony,\u201d he opined.<\/p>\n
The waterhousea trees can grow as tall as 16m, the tribunal heard.<\/p>\n
The McDougalls purchased their property in late 2019, four years after Mrs Arvier bought hers in 2015.<\/p>\n
She demolished the Queenslander she paid $2.2m for, and rebuilt a new house in around 2020.<\/p>\n
To protect her privacy she planted trees along her common boundary with the McDougalls, she told the tribunal.<\/p>\n
The McDougalls\u2019 submitted to the tribunal that their river view was an important and valuable feature of their five-bedroom home which they purchased for $2m.<\/p>\n
The views are from their upstairs bedroom and the balcony where they regularly entertain guests. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was evident that both parties feel strongly about their respective positions,\u201d Mr Poteri wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A long-running neighbour dispute over the size of trees blocking million-dollar river views has ended with a tribunal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[46517,122333,122297,122342,122293,122327,122315,122335,39152,122306,122332,122330,71598,75038,122348,122301,122291,38219,122310,122308,49889,122328,122346,22,98052,21,122295,57339,99,122288,37991,122292,37081,122351,122326,122329,122318,122325,122350,50460,115068,122304,122290,122324,122334,122299,122314,122338,122323,122339,29844,122331,122316,15048,122347,122343,70129,122320,122300,122303,122340,122307,76201,87815,122345,47592,122349,59798,38253,122322,49501,122294,122321,122302,122298,46626,122344,122313,122312,122319,122336,122317,122289,122337,1364,122296,33486,41298,122305,122341,122309,122311],"class_list":["post-79467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-southwest","tag-2-2m","tag-2m-the-views","tag-16m","tag-2-1m-but","tag-2015-she","tag-a-substantial","tag-a-2m-home","tag-a-bid","tag-a-height-half","tag-a-kilometre","tag-a-long-running-neighbour-dispute","tag-a-neighbour","tag-a-new-house","tag-a-quiet-culdesac","tag-a-severe-obstruction","tag-a-substantial-interference","tag-a-tribunal","tag-an-important-and-valuable-feature","tag-an-october-30-deadline","tag-an-order","tag-angus-graham-mcdougall","tag-around-2020-to","tag-au","tag-august-18","tag-austrlia","tag-balcony","tag-both-parties","tag-brisbane","tag-five-trees","tag-four-years","tag-graceville","tag-guests","tag-her-common-boundary","tag-her-privacy","tag-her-riverfront-property","tag-her-yard","tag-high-she","tag-higher-than-three-metres","tag-his-decision","tag-july-2022","tag-late-2019","tag-long-st","tag-louise-may-arvier","tag-mcdougall","tag-mcdougalls","tag-million-dollar-brisbane-river-view","tag-million-dollar-river-views","tag-mr-poteri","tag-mrs-arvier","tag-neighbour","tag-one-owner","tag-ongoing-and-unreasonable-interference","tag-qcat","tag-qcat-member-vass-poteri","tag-six-metres","tag-the-balcony","tag-the-five-trees","tag-the-lateral-branches","tag-the-mcdougalls","tag-the-next-decade-mrs-arvier","tag-the-queensland-civil-and-administrative-tribunal","tag-the-queenslander","tag-the-river","tag-the-river-reach","tag-the-size","tag-the-subject-trees","tag-the-trees","tag-the-tribunal","tag-the-tribunal-the-mcdougalls","tag-the-view","tag-their-branches","tag-their-five-bedroom-home","tag-their-height","tag-their-molonga-tce-abode-the","tag-their-property","tag-their-rear-neighbour","tag-their-respective-positions","tag-their-river-view","tag-their-riverfront-view","tag-their-upstairs-bedroom","tag-their-use-and-enjoyment","tag-their-view-four-years","tag-three-metres-she","tag-trees","tag-twice-a-year","tag-view","tag-views","tag-waterhousea-floribunda","tag-waterhousea-trees","tag-whose-home","tag-wife-alissa-ann-mcdougall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}