Neighbors LARGE trees hang over to my lot, LEGALLY, can I trim the branches that hang over on my side ?

[jaroslaw.litwinski]

please give me a break.On your side means is your responsibility to cut the branches ,so i don't think you have to look for any law or regulation and giving call to city because they have more bigger problem that day have to take care of it.
Ps.
That lady should smart up and cooperate with good neighbor like you,because life is to short.
Good luck my friend.

[Jonas70]

Originally Posted by Spokane26

I've posted this question before and received a lot of opinions (for which I am grateful) but...no one seems to have any LEGAL advice to ofter.

Here's my situation in a nut shell:

My former neighbor built up his lot and then planted some trees and "leaned" them towards my property, but thankfully, he has since moved.

The people that moved in last year, are a nice older couple, early 60s, semi retired I believe. We've chatted for a few mins here and there, but I really have no interest in socializing beyond polite chit chat.
Here's the problem, those trees, that were planted about 8 years ago have become overgrown and now over hang onto my property (well, I think the "airspace" is my property, but I'm not sure....DO I OWN THE AIR SPACE ?) and I'd like to plant a flower and vegetable garden there, as the rest of my property is already landscaped with lawn, flowers, etc., but this free area that I have is almost 100% shaded because of the trees whose branches hang over my lot, totally blocking any sunlight.
The branches hang anywhere for 3 feet to 10 over.
I spoke with the wife and she agreed to let me trim a FEW branches last fall - just a LITTLE bit. And she discussed having the trees staked so that the tops of the trees fall over the her side, but nothing was ever done about it.
Now those branches are even bigger and I really have very little light on that side of my house.

I spoke with the wife again on Tues and even showed her how much the trees were blocking the sun to my yard, but she really didn't care.
She said she "loved the trees and NEVER wants to cut them" and directed me NOT to cut them under any circumstances. And said she would talk to her husband and he would trim a "few branches" - but not for "two weeks."
I told her that I would hire a professional tree trimmer and she said "NO, no, don't do that, don't touch those trees"
I explained that I only wanted her to trim the trees back to the property line, but she said she would "absolutely not" cut the trees back that far back and told me to grow shade plants instead !

I gotta admit, for a little old lady, she's got some big ....ahmmmm..."nerve" on her to suggest that. lol

She's truly not interested in doing what's right, and being a responsible neighbor, she's only interested in doing what works out best for her and her property.
BTW, did I mention that these 6 or so trees have 100 of thousands of TINY leaves on them that fall for about 2 months of the years ? And of course, since the trees were planted to lean to my side of the property, ALL those leaves fall on MY property and I have to spent my weekends in the Fall raking them up.
I mentioned this to my neighbor and she said, "Oh, that's ok, it's not that bad" and when I explained I really didn't care to spend all that time raking up after HER trees, she said I could use them as "mulch". When I said I "prefer a tidy appearance", she said, "Well, just don't trim my trees"

My question is :
AM I LEGALLY ALLOWED TO CUT THE BRANCHES OR DO THE BRANCHES THAT HANG OVER TO MY PROPERTY BELONG TO THE NEIGHBOR AND THEREFORE I AM NOT LEGALLY ALLOWED TO CUT THE OVER HANGING BRANCHES ?

I'm going to wait the 2 weeks that she asked for , but since she said that her husband was going to do it, I can't imagine how he'll be able to reach high enough. Aside from that, she's made it clear that she's really not going to cut all have much because she will lose her privacy (she doesn't seem to care that I'm losing the full use of land to do with as I want to ...."plant shade plants instead" pppfffftttt ! lol )

Thank you to anyone has any WA state legal advice they can offer me !
PS: Sorry, guess that "nut shell" was larger than I thought . lol

Dear Spokane,
Hope this helps! Have found somewhere located in the Washington State RCW, but was looking today and can't find it???? Found this article when I googled "Living | Stately trees can be friends or foes | Seattle Times ... " It is date June 11, 2004. (clip and place the name of the article in google it should come up)

Good Luck!
Camano Island

[Tree hope]

I live in California and this neighbor's persimmon tree hangs a great deal in my yard. I want to trim the branches up to the fence line and there will be fruit on those branches. Every year her daughter climbs the tree and hits the fruit down with a long stick and shakes the tree vigorously. The fruit falls onto my Mercedes in the driveway. I want to trim it to prevent more dings in my car. Can I legally trim the tree?

[Yakscsd]

Originally Posted by Tree hope

I live in California and this neighbor's persimmon tree hangs a great deal in my yard. I want to trim the branches up to the fence line and there will be fruit on those branches. Every year her daughter climbs the tree and hits the fruit down with a long stick and shakes the tree vigorously. The fruit falls onto my Mercedes in the driveway. I want to trim it to prevent more dings in my car. Can I legally trim the tree?

An old thread resurrected in the Washington forums for a person living in CA.

If you really wanted the answer you would have much better luck starting your own post, plus its just good forum manners. You might also find a more specific answer in the California forum regarding a persimmon tree, or even in the garden section. of course, if you really want the answer you would see it answered numerous times in the previous 4 pages in this thread

[nelly1420]

Since she doesn't want to do the nice neighborly thing and trim the branches back so that the tree looks nice and you guys can both enjoy it, you have all the right to do the ugliest hack job you want as long as you do it on your side of the fence/property line. I just went through this all myself and know the rules. I'm in Pierce County Washington. They don't want to play by the rules and be fair and neighborly, I say go out and hack away, you'll sleep like a baby tonight :-)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by nelly1420

Since she doesn't want to do the nice neighborly thing and trim the branches back ....I say go out and hack away, you'll sleep like a baby tonight :-)

Night-time is when I do most of my 'covert-trimming'. (Hopefully the neighbor sleeps like a ROCK (and not a baby).)

[Ultrarunner]

Just don't kill it...

[pinebaron]

I'm not a nasty guy in fact the first to help neighbors with technical issues or tools no one has. I had a similar issue when a neighbor, despite having over 1/2 ac lawns in his back yard, planted a tree entirely on my side of the property line to give them shade; in fact when it grew to almost 50' tall, it's entire trunk was on my side property line. Though I was initially tolerant, having to consistently clear up leaves and live with yellow grass below, I flipped when I discovered giant roots had burrowed into my land bacause I have an extensive sprinkler system and the roots bent my tractor/mower blades. I gave my neighbor a week to remove any piece of the tree he wanted to salvage; he was not happy. The following weekend, I cut the giant tree down. We did not talk for about a year though we are friends again. Since then he has not enroached on my property.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by pinebaron

I'm not a nasty guy in fact the first to help neighbors with technical issues or tools no one has. I had a similar issue when a neighbor, despite having over 1/2 ac lawns in his back yard, planted a tree entirely on my side of the property line to give them shade; in fact when it grew to almost 50' tall, it's entire trunk was on my side property line. Though I was initially tolerant, having to consistently clear up leaves and live with yellow grass below, I flipped when I discovered giant roots had burrowed into my land bacause I have an extensive sprinkler system and the roots bent my tractor/mower blades. I gave my neighbor a week to remove any piece of the tree he wanted to salvage; he was not happy. The following weekend, I cut the giant tree down. We did not talk for about a year though we are friends again. Since then he has not enroached on my property.

haha, wow. It never ceases to surprise me how landscapers never seem to take into account the fact that their plantings will grow to many times the size of the shrubs they first plant into their neat little arrangement.

I had a neighbor once who left me a nasty note threatening to take out a shrub I'd planted that she considered was too close to the property line. She said she was actually going to trespass and uproot it and throw it out if I didn't move it. Sheesh. I put up a fence along the property line, instead.