a giant tree from my next door neighbor is covering my yard. what can i do? (Seattle: lawyer, house)

[seattlefun]

Hey everyone....

I have a huge problem and don't know what to do.... or if I can do anything at all.

My neighbor has a giant walnut tree. It has to be 60 feet tall. It's bleeping HUGE! The branches are coming about 25 feet onto my property. It's literally covering my roof, filling my gutters with walnuts. The walnuts are dropping out of the tree like crazy. One of them hit my 3 year old daughter last week. I asked the owner if he had any future plans to trim the tree. At first he said yes. Then a couple days later he said he wasn't going to and told me that "legally I have the right to chop it back to the property line". More or less he wants me to pay for it. Now normally I would have just said screw it and paid for it. But the problem is..... It's bleeping HUGE!!! I got one quote that was $3000.00. This tree is a total safety hazard for my kids and for my house due to his negligence. So I'm thinking about giving him notice that it's a safety hazard and then calling an attorney.

Any suggestions?

[jjinla]

I don't know about his legal requirements, but yes you can cut it back. However, you'd be creating a potential hazard for him by cutting half of a 60ft tree. If I were him, I'd find an amiable solution since I wouldn't want to be on his half of the tree after a big storm.

[RVD90277]

I'm not a lawyer but I think he's basically right. You can cut the tree as much as you want right up to your property line. You will likely to access his yard as well though to cut parts of it but it sounds like he's going to let you have access as long as you pay for it.

Sounds like at that size, it might be cheaper to cut it down than trim it but it doesn't sound like he's going to give permission for that. If he is, maybe you can split the cost of getting it cut down.

RVD.

[kyled]

I've actually looked into this since my brother's neighbor has a large tree covering his roof as well. Granted, this is California law but I think, in this matter, laws in most states are similar (at least, that's what I've seen while looking). You should double check anyway, though, especially since none of this was found on a government website...think they were just realty websites/forums.

If the tree looks like it might fall over or is otherwise in poor condition it's your neighbor's responsibility to either rehabilitate it to good health or cut it down...any damage it has caused in that state is your neighbor's responsibility. If, however, it's in good health, your neighbor has no obligation to remove it, or trim it, and any damage it causes in a fall is not your neighbor's responsibility since at that point it's considered an "act of God" or nature, whatever you prefer. You are able to trim it away from your property line but if that trimming damages it or results in any property damage YOU are then responsible for the cost of the tree and/or cost of any damages it has caused. Any leaves, nuts, fruits, pods, etc... that falls from it are not your neighbor's responsibility to clean and any damage they cause are not his responsibility either as they are considered "natural" occurrences. Also, any fruit ON the tree are his property and taking them can be considered stealing -even if they're on your side - (how that applies in conjunction with trimming the branches I don't know...maybe you have to give the nuts back after cutting down the branches) but if they fall on the ground they're considered up for grabs (I've read mixed reports about that so you might want to double check if you're the type to eat the nuts).

Very strange property laws in this matter, in my opinion. My brother hasn't done anything about it since I did the research but I think your best bet is to find someone to inspect the tree to see if it's healthy or if there are any branches ready to fall in a storm and make sure you get that in writing. If there are problems with it then your neighbor is obliged to do something or else be prepared to pay for damages and/or criminal charges if he ignored the inspection and a member of your family was injured. If nothing comes up there's nothing you can do except have it trimmed (provided it's safe to do so).

Oh, keep in mind trespassing laws. You still need his permission to perform the inspection/trimming...I might leave out the part where if something is wrong he has to fix it...I'm not sure if he's liable if he disallowed an inspection and something happened...so it's probably best if he didn't know the intricacies of the law regarding his responsibility until after you establish the tree's health.

[homesinseattle]

Hug it.

[seattlefun]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

Hug it.

I'd like to hug it with a can of gasoline!

[seattlefun]

Originally Posted by kyled

I've actually looked into this since my brother's neighbor has a large tree covering his roof as well. Granted, this is California law but I think, in this matter, laws in most states are similar (at least, that's what I've seen while looking). You should double check anyway, though, especially since none of this was found on a government website...think they were just realty websites/forums.

If the tree looks like it might fall over or is otherwise in poor condition it's your neighbor's responsibility to either rehabilitate it to good health or cut it down...any damage it has caused in that state is your neighbor's responsibility. If, however, it's in good health, your neighbor has no obligation to remove it, or trim it, and any damage it causes in a fall is not your neighbor's responsibility since at that point it's considered an "act of God" or nature, whatever you prefer. You are able to trim it away from your property line but if that trimming damages it or results in any property damage YOU are then responsible for the cost of the tree and/or cost of any damages it has caused. Any leaves, nuts, fruits, pods, etc... that falls from it are not your neighbor's responsibility to clean and any damage they cause are not his responsibility either as they are considered "natural" occurrences. Also, any fruit ON the tree are his property and taking them can be considered stealing -even if they're on your side - (how that applies in conjunction with trimming the branches I don't know...maybe you have to give the nuts back after cutting down the branches) but if they fall on the ground they're considered up for grabs (I've read mixed reports about that so you might want to double check if you're the type to eat the nuts).

Very strange property laws in this matter, in my opinion. My brother hasn't done anything about it since I did the research but I think your best bet is to find someone to inspect the tree to see if it's healthy or if there are any branches ready to fall in a storm and make sure you get that in writing. If there are problems with it then your neighbor is obliged to do something or else be prepared to pay for damages and/or criminal charges if he ignored the inspection and a member of your family was injured. If nothing comes up there's nothing you can do except have it trimmed (provided it's safe to do so).

Oh, keep in mind trespassing laws. You still need his permission to perform the inspection/trimming...I might leave out the part where if something is wrong he has to fix it...I'm not sure if he's liable if he disallowed an inspection and something happened...so it's probably best if he didn't know the intricacies of the law regarding his responsibility until after you establish the tree's health.

I have read exactly what you said... But, does the law change if it is a safety hazard for my family and my house?

[homesinseattle]

That's what I meant . I believe current
Seattle city code mandates the use of biodiesel
In situations of this magnitude.

[Yakscsd]

I don't think you will win any litigation about safety as it is not really doing anything but being a tree. Unless it is in imminent danger of falling over or otherwise causing catastrophic damage, injury or death. You are basically proposing suing a guy because his walnut tree drops walnuts? See how silly that sounds.

Cutting it back enough to make any real difference is also not really a viable idea, even if it was affordable. Cutting it back substantially may cause it to die and that would be your fault.

Trees are necessary for life. You have what sounds like a great tree that provides shade and comfort for your house and family. Every year it drops nuts. Some of those nuts might land on you or your family's head. I don't ever remember reading or hearing about anyone being killed or seriously injured by a falling walnut, but it might be possible. This is a first world problem if ever there was one.

[flyingsaucermom]

You should sue the neighbor for the walnut hitting your daughter. If he objects tell him you'd be willing to settle out of court if he cuts down that nut-throwing tree.


If that doesn't work, make sure your daughter uses an umbrella to and from the car when nuts are being dropped on her. To appease her, embroider her name on it.

Do you have a neighborhood facebook page? You could always shame them on it. People do it all the time where I live....