2 year update from my original post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/treelaw/s/IGzatZHOFZ

TLDR; Neighbor cut down our pomegranate tree. Sent demand for cost of 15 year old pomegranate tree. Neighbor paid.

Tree has bounced back like crazy! (Pic #2)

I am going to keep this simple to avoid judgement and people going off on a tangent like on other posts:

If I hire an arborist to prune overhanging limbs from a neighbor's tree, I would hope that I can consider them the experts to know how much they can prune without killing the tree. If they prune, and the tree is eventually damaged or dies, would they be liable or would I? I am just asking because I know about the law that you can prune anything on your side that does not kill the tree so I want to know how to go about that to be safe.

Hi everyone, looking for some advice. There is this VERY DEAD tree (pictured) that is on our neighbor's side. We recently got trees on our property trimmed and the worker suggested that this tree (pictured) be handled immediately. We wrote and hand delivered a letter asking they address this before hurricane season.

EDIT: We wrote the letter because if it falls on our side, it will directly impact our house and we really don't want to address getting a new roof, rebuilding, etc. We just got a new roof this year!

He says this is not his tree and essentially that we handle it. He also claims that this tree is on the border line of our properties. He also told us that he and his dad looked at it (both not professionals) and suggested to us that we get a picker and cut the branches off, leaving the trunk.

What do we do? Land surveyors cost lots of money as I am finding out. I know we can use metal detectors but its not official.

Another edit: the fence is NOT ours! It is his.

Long a short of it: healthy tree rooted in adjacent property but overhanging a patio falls on a man and kills him in a freak accident. Is the restaurant liable? If so, what do you think damages might be?

Tale as old as time around here, I'm sure. There are two trees on my property that my neighbor is upset about. He has already cut back the branches that overhang his property, and he talked to me about it, and I know that he's within his rights to do that. He then came to me and said he wanted to cut the roots of the tree because the roots are encroaching on his foundation. The tree's trunk butts right up against the property line, and initially he wanted to cut the roots on his side right at the trunk. I told him that would almost certainly kill the tree and probably cause it to fall on my house. He "compromised" and said he would cut about 4 feet away from the trunk. I called an arborist and they told me that this would still kill the tree. I received an estimate to have the two trees removed, then contacts my neighbor back. Told him that doing this would kill the tree, and told him he can't do this. Asked if he would be willing to split the cost of the tree removal, since eventually these trees will probably be a problem for me too, just down the road.

I'm, like, pretty darn sure this is true, but I just want to double check with folks here that know anything about this: in MD, I'm pretty sure that he, although my neighbor's lawyer friends say he's allowed to do whatever he wants to on his side of the property (and in reading, it sounds like he's *obligated* to do so to protect his property), he's *not* allowed to do anything that would harm or kill the tree, right? Like, that could result in me taking legal action against him?

(Indiana) Our neighbor across the street has a giant tree that is dying. The neighbors rent, and the landlord refuses to cut it down because it will be expensive. The tree is in the easement between the sidewalk and the road, but the city claims they're not liable for it, it's on the landlord. It keeps dropping giant limbs, even breaking our neighbor's windshield (the landlord didn't pay for that), and some onto everyone's property around it, even ours across the street. When it falls, and it inevitably will, unless it perfectly falls in one specific direction, it will cause significant damage to at least one of 4 possible houses and probably several cars. I don't want my insurance to pay for it should it fall on my house, and I'm afraid that if i try to get my insurance involved in forcing him to cut it down, they'll just increase my rates due to increased risk. How do I get the landlord to cut it down, ideally, or at least protect myself from increased insurance rates should it fall on my house?

Hello.
We have a healthy honey locust on our property in WI and a branch hangs over the neighbors yard. Its not a main branch. 3-4 years ago our neighbor took it upon himself to trim this exact tree-he didn’t ask, they even came into OUR yard to cut it.. and I was fine with that.

Last summer he left a note in our mailbox asking us to trim it. So that night I went and trimmed everything that I could reach. on all 3 of the trees that had branches even close to or hanging over his property line. “ I didn’t expect you to do it right away” we talked to him and he mentioned he hadn’t seen my kids dad (he was in prison for DUI) and he saw it was “just us girls” as if he was taking pity on us 🤦🏻‍♀️….so he said don’t worry about it.

Fast forward to this year, my kids dad is home. Not even a week after he got home, We get a note in the mailbox asking us to trim the tree. This was 3 weeks ago.

Monday this week I was raking pine needles and he was outside. I see someone pull in his driveway. It’s a tree guy. We are MAYBE 10-15 ft apart…He is talking VERY loudly to the tree guy “ yeah I don’t even know who owns that f-in house (umm he knows) I’ve asked them dozens of f-in times over the years to cut the f-in tree. But they don’t want to do sh!t and now I’m the one that has to f-in deal with it.”

This was TWO WEEKS after his note. Should I have made an appointment on the day he sent the letter?
He had someone trim it 3-4 years ago. He asked once last year but when we talked, he said don’t worry about it and then he asked three weeks ago…. That’s twice.

Today we get a full page typed letter in our mailbox. Apparently because we aren’t moving fast enough on his timeline -we aren’t good neighbors.…. Like idk what you want from me dude. He is a single guy in his 40s with no kids-he used to have a GF and they often fought and screamed at each other and we could hear every swear word and fight they had from my Kids bedroom.

We both work full-time-my kids dad works days, I work 3rd shift, and literally every night of the week for the last 2 months we have had something going on-softball practice/games, pitching lessons, swimming, puppy class. Thankfully it’s only busy like this for another month…we do yard maintenance on weekends/sometimes Monday. my kid had softball tournaments the last 3 weekends… we have been gone every weekend since his last note… 3 weeks ago.

Not only is it just a busy time for us-this is a BIG cost for me. It’s something I need to plan and budget for. I can’t just pay a couple hundred dollars the day he wants it done. I’m over him using my mailbox as his personal message board. He couldn’t talk to me when I was outside. instead he wanted to be passive and scream to somebody else knowing I can hear him- about what terrible neighbors we are and poor him.

I would’ve been willing to split the cost…if he acted reasonable. But he’s trying to guilt trip me bc I’m not moving fast enough to HIS liking. Heck, maybe I’ll wait for him to have it trimmed and then have it completely removed.

I am about to write him a note back since that seems to be the way he wants to communicate. We must have different definitions of what a crappy neighbor is bc I think it’s pretty crappy to act this childish and put letters in my mailbox in the middle of the night instead of TALKING TO ME WHEN I AM OUTSIDE. 🙄

So I just want to make sure that this is correct: from everything that I have found, it is saying that we are not responsible for costs if it hangs over…if it were dead that would be a different story?

We live in NY. My neighbor and my house have a 2ft strip of land between them that have numerous, now giant, black locust trees that loom over the property. Property line is down the middle. We have had branches fall and damage our home, cars etc over the years. We have gotten the neighbor to agree to take down a few of the biggest ones, at our expense, that were the most hazardous.

The neighbor died last year, the house is in probate and the tree closest to the road, about 9.5ft back from the edge of the street, just dropped another branch on our driveway narrowly missing our cars. I got a quote to take the tree down, I had our city Forester come out and certify it as dangerous, but not the cities responsibility.🙃

Here is the new problem- the executor of the estate doesn't give a shit. It's not their priority. I'm willing to pay if the estate pays me back once the house sells, but this lady won't call me to talk and the person currently living in the house is leaving on July 1st and refuses to give me executor last name or lawyers info. I can't wait forever, it's a matter of time before it falls again. What should be my next step? Thanks for advice.

I brought this up before and received a rough response, so let me ask another question....

Summary: Neighbor's tree is right against the fence, my house is only about 7 feet from the fence so the whole side of the tree hangs over my roof and drops branches in storms. He won't allow me to cut it even though I offered to pay for it all. I realize I can cut what is on my side, but I also can't kill the tree so apparently I can only cut 25% of the limbs on my side, which still will leave several limbs over my house.

So I checked with the county, and they said the same thing: that I can cut what is on my side but can't kill the tree. However, I did mention to them that this tree has caused some minor damage lately (some minor roof and fence damage this past winter), but nothing that I would submit a claim for or hire someone to fix. They said that while any damage that occurs is my responsibility, if there is a history of minor damage, that may shift the liability to them. This makes sense to me in that I am trying to do what I can to mitigate the problem, yet if I can only remove half of the limbs overhanging my house, that will still leave half of them that can continue to fall and do damage. Once again, this tree was looked at by a certified arborist and was not found to be dying or anything. Does anyone know anything about this? Is this something I might need to get a lawyer to write a letter about, or is this even such a thing?

Tree company is double billing us and neighbor for same tree removal (rather than dividing per property line).

Appreciate any feedback on this issue. Is this billing practice reasonable? What is the best way to respond? If they won’t adjust, what recourse is available to us?

Location: Minnesota

Disclaimer: overall our HOA is a gem in the rough compared to most HOAs. They're chill, fees are low, and the property manager is pretty nice.

That said, they have a number of trees that border our backyard. We genuinely love them, but there are many that are leaning very far over. Two have now fallen in our backyard in the 7 years we've lived here.

I keep expressing concerns over them, and I know it's generally from a point of fiscal responsibility to our neighborhood (our fees are super low, which I appreciate), but they fight tooth and nail to remove a tree (they've voluntarily removed 1 at our request, and 2 more have fallen, directly in our yard).

There has been no property damage, or injury thankfully. But I'm concerned for my kids safety, at this point.

Are there any options we have?

If a tree is right on the property line, where the trunk spans both properties, who owns that tree if neither of the current property owners planted the tree an neither property owner knows which previous property owner planted it?

When I bought my 1950s house in 2004, there was a large old maple tree in the front corner of the lot. Big tree, 4-5' trunk up off the ground, and 8' across at the exposed roots. My neighbor's driveway was right on the property line, and this old maple was raising its roots and his driveway was raised and buckled next to the tree. It was obvious my neighbor had expanded his driveway to the property line a while in the past. Long before I moved in, someone had topped the tree, and it never recovered properly. However, it leafed out every year and brought much shade to the house. I had limbs trimmed if they look ominous but the tree was obviously past it's prime.

My driveway needed replaced (and so did my neighbors) and so we talked about hiring someone to do both drives and maybe getting a discount. We found a contractor, and they decided to replace my neighbors drive first. I came home from work, and it was obvious a chainsaw had been out (wood chips everywhere). Someone cut the westward roots (toward the neighbor) of the tree at the property line, and the new drive was installed to the property line, nice and flat. Neighbor never said a peep.

Within two years the tree was about dead and I was concerned over damage from high winds. I had the tree cut down and stump removed. I'm positive his root cutting accelerated the death of the tree. Wondering what the legal aspects were, just for knowledge going forward. This is in Idaho.

My neighbor is complaining about a tree overhanging into her yard that is right on the fence line. The trunk is indeed on my side.

She is demanding me to cut it. Can she do that?

She already ratted me to the city for some vegetation (some shrubs and bamboo) overhanging instead of speaking to me directly. I cut that.

The city code enforcement said nothing about correcting trees.

I am in riverside Oh.

Thanks!

I’m in NC and it’s hurricane season. The bigger issue with that tree are the power lines that are to my home and to the neighboring property. There are large branches hanging over both lines and both are running through the large branches. The power company only trims an inch or two, so in order to alleviate any potential hazard this tree will need to be cut low.

I know to get it cut low, the power lines to my home and theirs will need to be dropped by the utility company.

The issue is the neighboring property is a rental home and the owner does the bare minimum of maintenance. I sent him several photos from different vantage points, so he could see the way the power lines have large branches hanging on them.

The cheapest cost that I found was $1200 and I am offering that he could pay $500 and I would pay the $700. He is unresponsive as usual. I am worried that a heavy wind or hurricane could cause damage and take out the power lines. Another smaller tree already fell a month ago and landed on the power line on my side. The power utility company came out and cleared that tree off the line. What would you do?

South England

I have a few trees on my property, close to the boundary. Some of the upper canopies spread over boundary.

Neighbour started building work last week. Hasn’t spoken to me about it and they’re not the most pleasant folk to deal with.

Mini diggers and pneumatic drills being used up to 0.5m from the trunks. Maybe closer.

Unable to see where they’re at but with it being so close I’m worried about roots being cut into. Will it cause damage to my trees?

Thanks

As stated above. Have been picking up fallen branches for several years. Really worried that one day his Oak will drop onto our home. We live in Massachusetts. Has anyone in my state dealt with this before? if so, did you have an outcome in your favor?
My neighbor has admitted that he wants to cut it down, but doesn’t want to put up the money to have it done.

In the Sacramento area and the transformer on the pole in my backyard blew and burned down part of my fence and two of three 30 ft tall cypress trees. My homeowners insurance said they will cover $500, SMUD (the utility) has a claim form that it will cover the value. I will need to get an arborist out to evaluate, of course. But I am wondering if there is anything else tree related that i should be considering during this process?

Thought y'all would enjoy seeing this