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I'll go back and look at my state's case law. I read a brief synopsis of our laws and an Attorney General's opinion but I'm sure there are at least a few appellate cases where some variant of this issue arose and the opinions could provide additional insight.
I read that if the trunk is on both neighbors property, the tree is owned by both. Therefore both would shoulder the cost if the tree is a hazard and needs to be removed. I can see where bird planted trees could cause a dispute among suburbanites. (I figure farmers and foresters already know how to handle this.) Do you ever greet your neighbors, wave to them, or anything?
I can definitely see this in a neighborhood with old established trees, but a volunteer tree, or a tree someone planted too close to the property line shouldn't become the responsibility of the other party. IMO!
I've gone over to talk to them but they won't answer the door. I'm really not that mean and certainly don't look threatening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Debsi
It’s your tree and I think you should pay. She can hire her own tree trimmer to do the branches over her property. I had to spend money trimming my neighbor’s tree recently because he’s too negligent to ever trim out the dead wood and it regularly falls on my lawn. I didn’t bother talking to him because he’s very unfriendly. No way would I pay to trim any part of that tree not over my property.
I spent $300 late last summer to have my neighbors two trees trimmed as they were getting caught in my clothesline and just making a mess of that corner of the yard (I had an established garden there but have pretty much destroyed it with all this since). These are mulberries. Before the end of this summer it was happening again. Plus I spend a lot of time cleaning up the mess from the trees and removing the saplings that come up. I pay to dispose a truckload or two of mess just about every year. It's really annoying. My other neighbors have had much bigger trees that I never had issues with except for some leaves to rake up depending on how the wind blew when they came down.
I really can't afford to pay $300 or more every year to deal with this so I'm quite frustrated. I'm going to have to hire someone in the spring again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TinaTwo
Interesting thread. From reading the comments I’m perplexed as to why owners of the encroaching trees are not responsible? One poster said their tree ruined a neighbors fence but the neighbors had to pay to repair their fence and cleanup all the debris. Why would that be? Makes no sense. Then I’ve heard that you can trim trees encroaching on your yard but if something goes awry and their tree dies you can be held responsible. It appears that the owners that have the encroaching and or messy trees aren’t responsible for anything. This doesn’t seem right.
This is mostly a rant, about neighbors and responsibility.
One neighbor has trees that threaten his own home as well. The other has trees that threaten mine. These are maybe 80+ year old massive oaks and some pines. They NEVER pruned them and the canopy crosses over my house thickly, causing moss and mildew and ruined my lawn and roof. I trimmed branches at my expense a few years ago but it does not touch the issue. Now it appears the trees have root rot and they WILL destroy my house if and when they fall. Neighbor 1 I have not dealt with yet. Neighbor 2 knows of course since it is not a secret my house is disappearing under his trees, and takes care of the trees close to his home but not the ones that affect me.
Looking at google earth it looks like a small jungle in the middle of normal lots.
I am appalled that neighbor 2 does absolutely nothing about this. He is friendly if we see him but seems to expect me to take care of this. I do my own yard work so he sees me struggling with leaves, bark, debris, acorns, etc. ALL from HIS trees. He sees the moss on my roof. I will NOT be cutting his dying trees down or sharing the cost as they are hazard trees he neglected while taking care of his special trees. He got a new swimming pool last year and uses a landscape company for his yard.
I have no idea what will happen with neighbor 1 as I don't know him. He doesn't seem to care that it affects him too.
I guess I will approach them with the work that needs to be done as soon as I have a professional assessment, and if it doesn't happen I will start legal proceedings. It is just sad neighbors don't care if they kill you and destroy your house. It's bad luck for me to be surrounded by them, because others here do take care of such things.
Please, please take care of your trees, shrubs, fences and anything that directly affects your neighbors.
80 years, a 100 years is not old for an oak. Not even for many pines.
What is this American obsession with cutting down mature trees and planting spindly saplings in their place. You do know that mature treed-neighborhoods exhibit higher real estate prices than those without?
We have a road adjacent to ours which is a real avenue - ie a road lined either side with trees. Lindens in this case. They are bare a 100 years old, planted when the road itself & houses were built. The local authorities were going to cut them all down as "too old". There was a campaign which really only worked because our area has so many ex-pats from Europe - pointing our these trees live 400-500 years - and the obsession with cutting them down not only devalues the neighborhood but also takes away a cultural asset. After we had an expert in who educated the slash & burn proponents the council dropped the plan and just set up a yearly trim program for dead wood and tree-health check. Only one of those trees has needed to be removed in the last 5 years, and everyone could see the issues with the crown anyway.
I can definitely see this in a neighborhood with old established trees, but a volunteer tree, or a tree someone planted too close to the property line shouldn't become the responsibility of the other party. IMO!
I've gone over to talk to them but they won't answer the door. I'm really not that mean and certainly don't look threatening.
I spent $300 late last summer to have my neighbors two trees trimmed as they were getting caught in my clothesline and just making a mess of that corner of the yard (I had an established garden there but have pretty much destroyed it with all this since). These are mulberries. Before the end of this summer it was happening again. Plus I spend a lot of time cleaning up the mess from the trees and removing the saplings that come up. I pay to dispose a truckload or two of mess just about every year. It's really annoying. My other neighbors have had much bigger trees that I never had issues with except for some leaves to rake up depending on how the wind blew when they came down.
I really can't afford to pay $300 or more every year to deal with this so I'm quite frustrated. I'm going to have to hire someone in the spring again.
Tree laws are weird!
Yeah these laws need to change. The tree owner needs to be fully responsible for trimming their entire tree.
Some people seem to think it is the legal responsibility for the neighbor to trim the tree over their land but the law is just that they are allowed to trim it. The neighbor should be the one pruning and caring for their tree so the tree company can prune and trim the whole thing properly. I don't think they really care about their trees if they let someone else get at them because they are too cheap to take care of their own property.
This is why we need stricter laws which most of us hate to hear, because bad neighbors take advantage every chance they can to make someone else pay for something that they should be paying for.
I just dealt with this very situation. I had trees and giant hedgerow shrubs hanging over my fence from the neighbor next door and tree limbs from about a dozen trees from the neighbor behind. Last week, after about 10 years of doing nothing, I hired tree trimmers to cut everything to about 6" over my fence line. I notified one neighbor I was having tree trimmers come. He said fine and didn't come around to inspect or kibbitz. The other neighbor's house is about 500 ft. away so I didn't bother to notify him as that part of his land is dense woods anyway. I looked this up on the internet and apparently the neighbors have no legal obligation to trim their trees or hedges. We have the right to trim them on our property line but I went 6" further for good measure. Other than that there's not much else to be done. Our good neighbor across the street has more than a dozen giant oaks on his lot. Nearly all the leaves in our yard in the fall are his. According to the law, once they land on our property they are ours. I use the same gardening crew to cut the trees, rake the leaves, clean the gutters, cut the grass and shovel snow. It's not something we can do by ourselves any more. It was hard to give up the reins, but now I just enjoy that they do it all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tamajane
This is mostly a rant, about neighbors and responsibility.
One neighbor has trees that threaten his own home as well. The other has trees that threaten mine. These are maybe 80+ year old massive oaks and some pines. They NEVER pruned them and the canopy crosses over my house thickly, causing moss and mildew and ruined my lawn and roof. I trimmed branches at my expense a few years ago but it does not touch the issue. Now it appears the trees have root rot and they WILL destroy my house if and when they fall. Neighbor 1 I have not dealt with yet. Neighbor 2 knows of course since it is not a secret my house is disappearing under his trees, and takes care of the trees close to his home but not the ones that affect me.
Looking at google earth it looks like a small jungle in the middle of normal lots.
I am appalled that neighbor 2 does absolutely nothing about this. He is friendly if we see him but seems to expect me to take care of this. I do my own yard work so he sees me struggling with leaves, bark, debris, acorns, etc. ALL from HIS trees. He sees the moss on my roof. I will NOT be cutting his dying trees down or sharing the cost as they are hazard trees he neglected while taking care of his special trees. He got a new swimming pool last year and uses a landscape company for his yard.
I have no idea what will happen with neighbor 1 as I don't know him. He doesn't seem to care that it affects him too.
I guess I will approach them with the work that needs to be done as soon as I have a professional assessment, and if it doesn't happen I will start legal proceedings. It is just sad neighbors don't care if they kill you and destroy your house. It's bad luck for me to be surrounded by them, because others here do take care of such things.
Please, please take care of your trees, shrubs, fences and anything that directly affects your neighbors.
I just discovered that the tree owners are legally liable for injuries and damage due to negligence in maintaining their trees. This is a recent change in the local law which is good news. The failure to prune such that the tree and even just the overhanging branches causes damage, makes them liable, so it takes the onus off of the neighbor who is victim of this negligence.
Better check your local laws before expecting a neighbor to pay hundreds and over time thousands to trim your trees. He can know those limbs from your tree are coming down on his house and still does not have to trim them but you the owner, should, if you want to avoid a lawsuit. Depending on state and local laws and legal precedent of course. Morally and ethically, it is the right thing to do as well.
Wouldn't property insurance, yours and/or his, cover any damage to your property? Also, what if the tree never causes any actual damage. Are you willing to live with the nuisance, eyesore, debris for years or just bite the bullet and trim them yourself or pay to have it done?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tamajane
I just discovered that the tree owners are legally liable for injuries and damage due to negligence in maintaining their trees. This is a recent change in the local law which is good news. The failure to prune such that the tree and even just the overhanging branches causes damage, makes them liable, so it takes the onus off of the neighbor who is victim of this negligence.
Better check your local laws before expecting a neighbor to pay hundreds and over time thousands to trim your trees. He can know those limbs from your tree are coming down on his house and still does not have to trim them but you the owner, should, if you want to avoid a lawsuit. Depending on state and local laws and legal precedent of course. Morally and ethically, it is the right thing to do as well.
Wouldn't property insurance, yours and/or his, cover any damage to your property? Also, what if the tree never causes any actual damage. Are you willing to live with the nuisance, eyesore, debris for years or just bite the bullet and trim them yourself or pay to have it done?
These laws particularly come into play with serious problems, not just nuisances. Although I could see cases coming up for things like moss growth on roofs and lawns being ruined by the canopy. I think laws will catch up to force owners to maintain their trees which negatively affect neighbors or they can simply remove the trees. Too many people giving in and not fighting for their rights does not move this process along.
You can never count on insurance making you whole. And they will raise your rates and cancel you if you make more than one claim in a period. As of now it goes on the victim's insurance where the damage occurred. They don't always bother going after the person at fault, they charge you for it with increases.
If a yard is overgrown with weeds, or the shed is too big or the fence is on the wrong side, the town steps in and forces the owner to correct it, so I cannot understand why such a hazard as a tree should be on the neighbor.
My tree trimmer told me I would have to file with my own insurance if the limbs fall on my house. That is why I trimmed on my neighbor’s tree. His tree roots are probably mostly under my lawn, so you could argue that I’m not watering the tree enough. It is what it is.
if the tree is bought down by act of god, the tree owner not responsible, if damage was done by neglected tree, like dead growth, the owner responsible, and you can cut anything that hangs over the line
If you want your property to look well maintained instead of like an overgrown unmaintained jungle, you don't have much choice but to do it yourself or pay to have it done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by brownbagg
if the tree is bought down by act of god, the tree owner not responsible, if damage was done by neglected tree, like dead growth, the owner responsible, and you can cut anything that hangs over the line
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