We just bought a house and are putting in an above ground pool. We have to fence in the yard. I had a survey done. The neighbor behind me had thuja greens or leylands (not sure which) planted along just about the entire length of the back property line between our houses. He said he had them planted about 12 years ago. They provide a nice privacy barrier between our yard. Here is the issue though. They sit right at the edge of the property line. Their trunks basically sit just inside the line on his property. The branches sit about 2 feet over my property line. If I have a fence installed behind his trees, its going to be eating 2 feet off of my property at least. We have small yards (only 50 feet deep plus I have a 15 foot deck plus the 18 ft pool!). So that 2 feet is a lot to lose. Also, my fence would not meet up with the other neighbors' fences now.

Anyone have any advice. If I prune back the trees off my property will that kill the trees? It certainly will not look too good but I don't think it would affect his view. Could the fence just be pushed up against them? Or would that affect the trees or knock the fence down eventually?

I'm at a loss. The people behind me are a really nice senior citizen couple but they definitely will not remove the trees. And I don't want to make an enemy of them.

Another option I though of was for the back part of the fence installing a picket fence and pushing it up against the trees so most of the branches will fall between the slats.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!