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This. "Hey neighbor, I noticed some of the trees on my side of the fence have been trimmed. I was pleased with the privacy those branches were providing..."
Then take it from there. Who knows what he'll say? I doubt he'll say the fence is x feet inside his lot line. He probably just trimmed them because debris was falling in his pool?
If the limbs were hanging over his lot line, he has a right to "manage" that part of the tree, within certain parameters. But most homeowners consult with neighbors before doing things. Ask that he do that if he just took liberty, but don't go ape on the neighbor. Neighbor wars are he[[.
First a little background. We live in a generally wooded community where about 70% of the homes have natural wooded landscape rather than a traditional lawn. Neighbor to the right of me has cleared his backyard and has a nice pool and a vinyl fence.
Came home yesterday to notice that the neighbor had reached over his fence and cut the tops off some young wild grow trees on my side of the fence. I liked that these trees had naturally started growing where they had because it made for a nice privacy border between the 2 yards.
My first reaction was anger but now I'm wondering if he placed his fence a foot or two inside his property line that maybe these trees are actually on his property. When we bought the house the fence was already there so I don't really know exactly where the property line is.
Should I just let this go? I would never even think of touching anything on his side of the fence without talking to him first. It does kind of tick me off but we have had no problems as neighbors so far and I don't want to start WWIII.
Do most people put fences right on the property line or do most ordinances require them to be a foot or so inside the actual property line. Any thoughts or similar experiences?
Rather than making assumptions or jumping to conclusions I'd suggest the OP pay to have a stake survey of his/her own property as to determine where the property line lay.
Absolutely, just have a conversation with the guy. Find out what the deal is.
Hey, he's your neighbor, you should be talking to him anyway!
There is always the possibility that the neighbor hired somebody to do the trimming - that was not familiar with the property line? That is probably not the case – but you would not know; unless you talk to the neighbor.
Silence is golden..sometimes avoiding contact is better- If I smell a potential feud coming on I try NOT to react - but if you sense that this neighbor is even mildly reasonable ..then of course talk to them....They may be willing to learn--- When my son was living with me-- we had drums base and guitars set up and on a Saturday night we would rock out- An old gentlemen next door- stopped talking to me- He hated my guts....so the kid moves out and all is silent - I re-make friends with the neighbor..It's not as friendly as before- but it is civil...and civil is good enough.
I've been the "trimmer" in a similar situation. From the window of his house behind us, it might have looked like the small wild trees were not hanging over the fence. In our case they were crape myrtles that were most definately hanging over the fence and were even pushing on the fence! They were dropping all sorts of debris and clogging up our pool filter. I never could catch the neighbor at home so I took lots of "before" pictures and then trimmed all branches that were hanging over into our yard. He complained to our POA saying that none of the trees were over the fence. I'm thankful that I had those "before" pictures to show them.
I agree that its always better to speak about an issue between neighbors when possible. If not possible, be sure to document, document, document before taking any action. It will come in handy in the case of a dispute!
Trimming back to the property line is generally allowed most places. What I think happened here was that the neighbor reached over the fence and topped the trees, which is not allowed in most places.
They probably talked to the next door neighbor and got shot!
Or maybe they found out that the neighbor cut his own trees....
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Just kidding. Hope that it all worked out.
