Local laws to deal with neighbor's tree roots growing into your property? (city hall)

[pagetrip29]

Hello,

We have about 4 feet distance between our foundation/siding and fence. Looks like our neighbors have a tree (some kind of Juniper tree, I think.) pretty close to the fence. Out of four feet, three feet next to the foundation is a concrete walkway and rest of one foot to the fence gravel/mud/mulch. This winter we had lot of drainage issues from our yard and also a lot of water was pooling and flooding towards the foundation. We wanted to add some perimeter drainage so water can stay away from the foundation. Images of the tree:

https://imgur.com/zl4y5G9

https://imgur.com/sjhMkbX

Upon inspection, we realized that the concrete walk way has lost its slope which is one of the contributing factors for water pooling near the foundation. When we started to dig near the fence (1 foot area between fence and concrete walkway), we found that there are way too many roots. Most of the roots are dig or install any drainage.

First, do roots from this type of tree cause any damage to the foundation or concrete walkways? The roots are pretty thick (up to 3-4 inches). We do not have any other area for us to dig to install drainage. This winter we had water seep into our garage and crawl space so we do have to install yard drainage. We were told that we need to rip off all of the concrete walkway and reinstall with proper drainage. We thought of doing a lot of digging and other prep work ourselves to save some money.

Even before we proceed to do any digging or talk to the neighbors, I wanted to know what is the general etiquette for dealing with these type of issues and what are the local laws? Their tree is not tall so there are no issues with respect to structural damage.

Thanks.

[Hemlock140]

Speaking from what I have seen, local laws vary, but in most cases, you can sue for property damage caused by a neighbor's tree roots, but the definition of damage varies. In some cases just a bump on your lawn or even raising up a concrete walkway slab wouldn't be considered damage. In all states you may trim or cut off any portion of a neighbor's tree that crosses the property line onto yours. So, you could cut the root(s) at the property line. On the other hand, if that kills the tree, they could sue you for killing it. Normally with an evergreen such as that one cutting off one major root will not kill it.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

You can trench and dig and cut any roots that are in your way.

[rjshae]

If they have an extensive root system, I would think that cutting the roots on your problem shouldn't be an issue. City governments do it all the time to avoid pavement damage. You could probably call your local city hall and ask.