Tree Trimming - Not My Trees (HOA, insurance, attorney)

[MortonR]

This is a tale of the proverbial trees that encroach onto my property and who's responsibility it is to maintain them.

Here's the deal:

I live on a property that borders a heavily wooded area. The heavily wooded area is owned by my HOA and is part of a common park for ours and an adjacent neighborhood (who shares ownership of the park with us.)

There are a number of large trees, some of which are dying, that are located on the park property next to mine. In the next year or two, I am almost positive that one or more the limbs on the dead tree(s) will fall, as some have already, and possibly damage my house in the process.

I realize that as a property owner, I can legally trim the portions of the trees that encroach on (over) my property. However, I do not have the ability to do this myself, nor financial resources to pay for an arborist to do it.

Since these trees are not growing on my property, but that of the HOA, I have asked them to trim them. The initial response has been, "You can trim anything that's over your property, but we don't pay to trim trees."

I have received advice that I should do the following:

Write a letter to the HOA expressing my concerns about the encroaching trees with any and all documentation I can produce, such as pictures. In this letter I should request that they trim the trees so that they do not extend over my property. Should they choose not to do so, if any damage should result to my home or property from said trees that encroach, I will consider this as notification of my concerns and if any failure to act on their part results in damage(s) I will hold them and their insurer liable.

I should copy their insurance company as well as mine at the same time.

I am waiting for a response from the HOA attorney for a final ruling before I send the letter.

I am curious to know if anyone out there has encountered similar situations, and if so, how was it resolved?

RM

[FloridaKash]

Pretty sure you are out of luck. HOA legally doesn't have to do anything... probably won't and likely has more money to spend in court than you do.

Call someone on craigslist to trim the trees. It may be less than you think.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

Pretty sure you are out of luck. HOA legally doesn't have to do anything... probably won't and likely has more money to spend in court than you do.

Call someone on craigslist to trim the trees. It may be less than you think.

Legally they may not have to do anything, but if I put them on notice that the trees could potentially pose a threat to my property, their insurer will be on the hook should they choose to do nothing and damage results.

For what it's worth, the HOA has a surplus of $60k. I just went through their balance sheet. They can afford a few thousand to avert potential liability. At least that's I suspect will happen when their insurer is put on notice.

RM

[Trackwatch]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

Call someone on craigslist to trim the trees. It may be less than you think.

DO NOT DO THIS, if you hire a private party to cut trees and they do damage or are injured themselves, YOU(or your insurance company) will have to pay damages, possibly thousands/hundreds of thousands.

If you hire anyone, make sure it is a real tree cutting company and they can prove license, insurance/bonding.

If the HOA knows or should know about the tree's condition(diseased/rotted,etc), yes, they will have to pay for any damage, but any regular "act of god" stuff is taken care of by your insurance.

[chi_tino]

Originally Posted by Trackwatch

DO NOT DO THIS, if you hire a private party to cut trees and they do damage or are injured themselves, YOU(or your insurance company) will have to pay damages, possibly thousands/hundreds of thousands.

If you hire anyone, make sure it is a real tree cutting company and they can prove license, insurance/bonding.

But a "real" tree company won't cut the trees on land that the client doesn't own. The poster is in a real pickle.

If it was me, I'd have an attorney send a letter. If there is no response, I would do it myself or hire someone to do it on the sly. You have to weigh the high probablility of the trees doing real damage vs the minisclue chance of worst-case-scenario. Then again, I don't stay awake at night thinking about people filing nuisance lawsuits against me.

[MortonR]

I will say that the advice I received was from my attorney, who is also the spouse of an HOA president (not mine), so he has direct knowledge of the scenario and has dealt with similar situations.

I am just curious to know if others on the list have encountered similar situations and how they dealt with them.

RM