Some neighborhood disputes drag on for years, while others disappear in under two hours with the right permission and a very motivated chopping crew.

We all know someone who enjoys making life difficult for the people next door, but when their badly placed tree becomes your responsibility, would you preserve the grudge or quietly remove the problem?

That opportunity arrives when one nephew lets the neighbors cut down his aunt’s troublesome conifer before anyone can object.

Let’s see how this played out.

My aunt

My aunt was the sort of person you wouldn’t want in the neighborhood — nice enough, but very picky and judgmental.

Anyway, she hated the neighbors and their large trucks.

I thought they were good people, and I liked their trucks (actually a lot).

I had to put her into care. I was around her property clearing up in preparation for letting.

Her aunt had planted a tree the neighbors grew to hate.

My aunt had planted a conifer on the edge — and I mean right on the edge — of her property.

Anyway, I got chatting to them. They mentioned the tree.

So she gave them the go-ahead to finally get rid of it.

I said, “If you can remove it and clear up before tomorrow, go for it.”

I have never seen a chopping crew move so fast. Within two hours, it was gone. In fact, it was like it had never been there.

My aunt never knew.

What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her, right?

What did Reddit think?

These types of trees can be particularly cumbersome.

Tree roots can be very stubborn.

This reader wants the neighbors’ side of the story.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about neighbors who intentionally tank an open house sale because they want to buy the property themselves.

Well this revenge was simple, practical, and completed at a speed usually reserved for emergency services.

The neighbors removed the awkward tree, cleared everything away, and made the property line look as though the conifer had never existed.

Best of all, the aunt never discovered that the people she disliked had been given permission to solve the problem themselves.

Nothing motivates a cleanup crew quite like legal approval and years of bottled-up neighborly enthusiasm.

Readers who liked this also read this story about a woman who refuses to confine her dog for days on end because building management can’t schedule a more exact inspection time