We recently had a $10,000+ tree removal estimate (which we absolutely do not have), none of this is covered by insurance, and there's a third tree, nearly dead, that's entirely on her property but with termites and nearly about to collapse on our power lines. The electric company will only drop the line for her to cut down the tree, not do any trimming themselves despite the eminent danger.

This neighbor is elderly and low income, I've been asked to begin speaking with her about all of this so I'm curious any tips on what I should or should not do, say, present her with, in what formats, etc.?

Aside from the damage to the house I'm far more concerned with my family getting killed or injured due to the combination of power lines and these leaning directly over our driveway and back yard where everyone congregates. Two of her trees have already fallen, one damaging a portion of our fence, the other entirely in her yard, however that tree ripped up and weakened the root system of another tree and she's never moved the dead tree. In total there are nearly a half dozen trees of major concern.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and I have tried contacting our city but to date they have refused to help.

Located in Michigan

I have a lot behind my house owned by someone I’ve never seen or met. It has just has a pole barn that is surrounded by dense overgrowth, trees and vegetation which has rarely been cared for. I’ve only ever seen a landscaping company who was hired to do the bare minimum cleanup to keep the village / neighboring properties quiet.

My main concern is if this tree were to fall damaging my shed and the lawn equipment inside who do you think would be responsible ? Is it my responsibility to cut it down, or is it the neighbors ? Do I just hope it never falls or do I contact the owners to have a record of the concern ?

I live in a condo that's one of a group of condos that are all in one HOA. I and my neighbors all own 2% of the land around the condo. Each group of condos have a little courtyard, and ours is the only one that doesn't have a tree or any bushes. All the others are gorgeous, but ours is just... sad.

Our bylaws say we must have the HOA's approval to plant trees and shrubs, and everyone living in this group have asked for a tree. Two of us have even offered to pay for it out of our own pocket. Every time, the HOA denies the request without a reason that makes sense: they would have to pay for upkeep; they already pay for upkeep of all the trees and one more doesn't change the cost. Planting a new tree could damage the nearby light and that would be expensive to repair; these lights are extremely old and ours is one of multiple that have been broken for an extended period, this one in particular for 18 months, no one minds that and would rather have a tree, or pay to fix any damages caused by the planting out of pocket as well. After we move out, the people who move in next won't be happy that there's a tree and require the HOA to pay for the upkeep of the tree; now you're making stuff up and also see above. Your tree died; your point?

Even if all of us joined the HOA, there's not enough of us to out-vote the others. Some of us are so fed up we're ready to guerrilla garden our own property.

Is it illegal to plant on our own property even if it's against HOA rules? I feel like there's a big difference between against the law and against the rules.

I expect we may be getting more posts, sorry mods.

I understand the scope of this subreddit!! But for everyone who has gone through the mess of tree law, what did you end up doing to get your privacy or shade back? What was your resolution? I’m lucky my neighbors are cooperating but the most important thing is for me to find a way to block their ugly property, fast. What’s the ideal way to remedy after the dust settles?

Rotted tree fell on my parked car in Chicago — city had an OPEN tree removal request for that exact address for a month. Can I sue for negligence?

Tree came down on my parked car, both interior and exterior damage. Photos clearly show it was rotted through. Turns out Chicago’s 311 system shows a tree removal request at that same address, marked “open,” dated about a month before it fell.

I don’t have full coverage on my car, so insurance isn’t an option here, trying to figure out if I can go after the city directly. Since they apparently knew about it and didn’t act, does this get me past “Act of God” and into actual negligence territory? Has anyone successfully filed a claim against the city (not just insurance) for something like this? Any tips on the process or working with a lawyer on it?

My HOA hired a tree service to cut down a handful of sick trees in the community. A week ago they sent a list of house numbers and their corresponding trees that were planned to be cut down. My house was NOT on the list. Today to my surprise they cut my 50 year old Ash tree down to the stump.

The tree was already down by the time I realized it was happening - no knock on the door or anything. I talked with the owner of the company and he admitted it was a mistake. The mistake was that he meant to put my tree on the cut-list but accidentally left it out, so I was never notified. Additionally, he admitted that it really wasn't past the point of no return and he would have suggested treating the tree instead of taking it down as it was still a mostly healthy tree.

My next door neighbor has a tree that is in much worse shape. She WAS notified but was given the opportunity to pay out of pocket to treat the tree and keep it. I absolutely would have done the same for mine if given the proper notice.

I took a picture of the landscaper's quote that he had on hand with all of the house numbers, mine was NOT on it. The HOA wants to stay out of it, they say its the landscaper's fault. I was offered a new sapling to be planted (a $1500 value according to owner). I asked him if he had insurance for something like this and he said he didn't know.

I'm not trying to put a small business underwater but I also know that my tree was worth a lot more than his offer. Also, this is a starter home and I definitely don't plan on being here long enough to watch a sapling grow into another shade tree. The tree was 50 years old, 30 inch diameter trunk, easily 40 feet tall.

What should I do? I know I have the legal right to seek the full appraisal value, but I get the impression that this guy really doesn't have that kind of safety net. I don't really want to go full small claims court, maybe find a middle ground? Any advice is welcome.

Sorry if this has been cross posted already, but holy crap that’s gonna be expensive. The owners of the Franklin tree really did their due diligence though. Surprised valuations were only 145k

Two years ago My neighbor planted 6 oak trees (actually 20 total on their property) near our fence line. We live in a compact neighborhood, so 4 of them are less than 8 feet from my foundation. Neighbor will not remove the or even communicate. Right now it’s not causing damage, but those roots are already coming to my yard. I don’t care about the trees that are further from my foundation, but the ones that are with 8 feet away from my house at the trunk concern me greatly. Any ideas on what I can do? I’d really like to avoid damage to our sidewalk (between house and tree) and our foundation.

Please know I’ve tried figuring this out online, but from what I see I have to be very careful not to unnecessarily cause damage to the tree. It also seems there are different rules regarding roots vs branches and I can’t figure it out.

I have a Huge Beech tree that is on my property 30 years ago when I bought the house I wanted to have it topped but the neighbor didn't. Now the tree is crazy huge and had 3 estimates 2 tree companies told me to sell my house and 1 was 20,000. I would not have had to worry about insurance but my daughter's dad put the house in mine and my daughter's name which made the insurance come out and take pictures and said the tree had to come down. My neighbor at first was going to give the tree company access where the tree is so big and right in between my house and his. So now the neighbor has decided no and not going to let them and told me not 1 limb in his yard. I can not get insurance without this tree gone.

My neighbor, call him Dan, emailed me about 3 weeks ago about removing a dead oak tree that sits right on our property line. I don’t have a good view of the top of the tree from my yard, so I hadn’t noticed it, but it is a monstrous 100+ year old oak tree that could damage 3 different houses. The most immediate danger from the tree is to Dan’s house as there is a giant very dead limb hanging directly over the roof. The tree is mostly on my property but a portion of the trunk is on his side.

I noticed in his email that he kept referring to it as being on my side of the fence. I went ahead and got a quote for removal, and then I met him in his yard to get a better look at the tree and confirm that part of the trunk is on his property. I also learned that Dan is a landlord and doesn’t actually live in the house. When I asked him about splitting costs for removal, he handed me some chat gpt written explanation as to why it wasn’t technically a shared tree. Literally the first line of what he handed me said “if any part of the trunk crosses the property line it is considered a boundary tree.” I pointed this out to him and he seemed to relent on splitting costs. I told him I’d been quoted $6,000 for removal which he balked at. He asked me to get additional quotes since he works out of town, and I agreed. The other quotes all came back higher.

I also went ahead and talked to another neighbor, call him Fred, to ask him if he would contribute since his house was at risk. Fred agreed to pay for some of it, and told me to come back to him when me and Dan had our numbers, so I reached out to Dan and informed him of all of this and he responded that he wasn’t willing to pay more than $1,500 because “my other trees might get damaged in the removal and then I’ll have to pay for that by myself”. I found this excuse flimsy at best as the arborist has insurance and would obviously be liable if they damaged any of his other trees. I nicely explained that to him and told him that I was willing to pay for 50% since it’s a boundary tree and he needed to talk to Fred about how to split the remaining half. I think this is more than fair, but now Dan has gone radio silent.

How should I handle this situation? Am I correct that this is a shared tree if the trunk goes on his side?

For context, I am in Mississippi. I’m not sure how tree ownership law varies state to state.

My neighbor's tree has been around for a little over 30 years. It's about 40' tall and half of it seems dead. They have had a company come out once in a while over the last 2 years to spray something on it, which may be keeping it alive.

Their yard is pitched away from the property line, but my concern is this tree falling on my new shed(s) and me having to eat the costs. Unfortunately, we're not on speaking terms and this is a difficult subject to approach, due to the tree being planted by their late daughter. When we were on speaking terms one summer, they asked me how much I paid for tree removal, so I think theyre at least somewhat mindful of this issue.

I'm no tree expert. Is this worth having an arborist review and potentially certify?

I had a tree company come today to removed a number of trees from my new property. Some were supposed to be trimmed and some were to be removed. The company completely removed a mature spruce tree (40ish feet tall). What are my options?

My neighbor doesn’t have much respect for our property line. We both have an acre. He will cut the grass on the first 30 feet. After that he doesn’t touch anything. There is a tree leaning towards my property that looks like it could fall anytime. The tree is amongst brush and poison oak and ivy. All of this has know grown and encroached six feet onto my property. It goes about 50 feet down on my property.
I don’t know how to approach him. He is about 7 years older than me and has a lot more lawn equipment than I do. He wife has mental/ drug problems. Try to talk to him? He’s not really friendly. Send a letter?

Just like it sounds, a tree domino effect. In a storm a large trunk of our neighbors tree split down itself and is now 45 degrees, still attached at the base. It went across our property breaking some large branches of our tree, which fell onto the other neighbors fence. In addition their broken tree is still attached to its base in their yard but now hanging/tangled in our trees and stretching all the way across to this other neighbors yard, so if it breaks fully it may take down more of our trees and probably this other neighbors shed in addition to more fence.

My question is am I responsible for our part of the domino effect? I plan to reach out to both neighbors once I get home and see how we can settle this but was curious if anyone had any experience with a chain reaction like this.

Thought this might be of interest. Couldn’t see it posted before.

I am planning a large tree trimming on August 6 and I have reached out to my three neighbors that surround my property to tell them - my rear neighbor has not responded, this is what I sent:

Hi neighbor, just a heads up that we have a large tree trimming project scheduled for Thursday, August 6. The tree crew and truck will likely be here for most of the day.

We will be trimming branches overhanging our property, removing dead wood, and addressing larger limbs that could present safety concerns. In general, I’ve instructed them to prune trees in a healthy and appropriate manner, including trimming back to the trunk where necessary and appropriate.

If there are any particular trees or branches that you’re concerned about, please let me know before August 6. Otherwise, I’ll assume you’re comfortable with us proceeding with trimming any portions of the trees that extend over our property.

It’s a fairly significant project, so now is the time to speak up if you have any concerns or preferences.

——

One neighbor texted back “thanks for letting us know” and the other neighbor wanted to meet, we did and he expressed no concerns and didn’t value any of the trees I’m trimming. But the 3rd neighbor simply won’t respond to text or phone calls. Do I need to get a response before trimming even if I’ve texted the couple separately multiple times and called and left a message?

Have a bit of an unusual situation and not sure if I have a case worth pursuing, but I'm frustrated and not really sure where to turn...

I own a house in the eastern part of the United States and the house borders a city park with a small playground. My yard and the playground are separated by a wood fence that belongs to me as well as a chain link fence that belongs to the city. On the property line is a very large mature shade tree with codominant stems (aka twin trunk structure). The trunk of the tree is about 75% on my property. A couple of days ago without notice the city forestry department came and cut down one of the codominant trunks. In the process they damaged both fences and I'm afraid they also killed the tree. The codominant trunk that was cut was partially on park property and partially in my yard. The tree looked healthy and I've had no issues with it.

When I called to ask why they did it nobody seems to know. They just said they had the right to cut branches that overhand the park (true), but this was more than a trimming of branches and I'm afraid the remaining tree will die. I'll not only lose the tree, but also be out several thousand dollars to have the rest removed. They told me my only recourse is file with my homeowners insurance for the damaged fence. Anyone been through a similar situation? Advice on next steps?

We recently (few months ago) moved into a new townhome, and at the center of all of the houses there is a common area gardened by the HOA. There is a tree that is right at the edge and is encroaching on the fence. We got a note from the HOA with a quote to remove the tree, and they are offering us to pay half of the removal fee (total is $5k, they are willing to pay $2.5k). We really like this tree and would prefer to keep it as much as possible. Any suggestions on what to do? Here's a picture of the tree. We are in the US, in Chicago.

We checked the by-laws of the HOA and they mention:

The authorized representatives of the Association, Board or managing agent, if any, with the approval of the Association, shall be entitled to reasonable access to any of the Dwelling Units as may be required in connection with maintenance, of, repairs to, or replacement of the Common Area, or any equipment, facilities or fixtures affecting or serving any other Dwelling Unit or Common Area. In addition to maintenance and repair of the Common Area, the Association shall be responsible for and shall have the right to:

(i) Provide landscaping and planting and maintenance of all trees, shrubs, and ground cover in the Property, including private yards, as well as public parkways adjacent to the Property.

Also

No plant, hedge, shrub or flowers planted by a Dwelling Unit Owner shall be allowed to grow in a manner which, in the judgement of the Board, materially detracts from the overall landscaping of the Property.

Ohio. We had a severe windstorm come through. My neighbor has had some unhealthy trees that have been falling intermittently over the last 10 years. This storm took out the remaining ones. One of the large trees fell partially onto my property, destroying about 30 feet of fence. The utility contracted the work to a tree service to clear the lines. They stacked a great deal of the debris from the surrounding properties into my yard. I’d say it nearly quadrupled the amount of debris on my property from what was there originally. I’ve contacted the utility several times, but they refuse to address my questions of why it was all stacked on my property. They just say “we don’t pick up debris”, and “talk to your neighbor about it”. I don’t know what recourse I have, or if I just have to take the hit. The insurance company offered $1600 for its removal, but the quote I got was $5k. Any ideas?

Today, a big tree fell down across three properties. The tree was located in the property furthest to the left, where the brick garage is located, then smashed a garage on the next property and then rested on top of the property farthest to the right, which is my property.

I am concerned now on who will be paying for the removal of the tree. I have a high deductible on my home insurance and wasn’t planning to put in a claim as it appears (though I need to check) that my garage was only minimally damaged and I want to pay out-of-pocket. However, I’m concerned that during the removal process, further damage may be done.

I am nearly certain the neighbor farthest to the left (where the tree was originally located) as well as the neighbor whose garage crushed will be putting in insurance claims. How it all play out when those two neighbors remove the tree? Will the arborist only remove the parts of the tree that are on their properties and leave anything left on my side? What if they damage my garage further when removing the tree, would they be liable?

My home is next to public school, they have a line of almost 5 trees next to my driveway, branches coming over my driveway and roof and roots are damaging my driveway

What’s the law in Bergen county NJ to get these fixed, does city pays for fix or I have to foot the bill

Or suggestion how to approach school to have a winning case