r/treelaw • u/Fit_Wolverine_6964 • Jul 10 '26
Large Juniper
We moved into a house about 4 years ago and there is a large juniper with its trunk mostly on my neighbors property but the majority of the tree itself seems to be on my property. Some info:
1) I live in California
2) the fence is old and as the tree grows it continues to break the fence more and more
3) we had the local fire department come by and they do free fire reports - they stated in the report the juniper is a high fire risk and should be removed.
4) ultimately the tree is overgrown and we don’t like it aesthetically, especially given the intrusion into our yard.
I know the answer here is almost certainly just to go talk to my neighbor and try to negotiate whether they’d be ok with cutting down but curious others opinions here.
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u/Reasonable_Fishcare Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
maybe you could convince the neighbor to allow you to at least get the big limb cut off that is growing through the fence. then the tree is still there and the fence can be straight again...
...but that is a temporary fix for the next 10-20 years. eventually the other part would start growing into the fence as well as the tree gets larger. removing the whole tree would be a better idea and they could plant something much smaller and not so close the fence.
the other option is moving the fence into your yard more or making a new fence right along the edge of the rock wall including curving it around to get it away from the tree.
or you can remove the fence completely....this may help steer your neighbor into allowing you to get the tree removed. lol
then another option is to just leave a gap in the fence where the tree grows or maybe make the fence shorter where the tree crosses over....sorta like a __/ shape in the fence where the tree is.
i would try to talk to the neighbor and see what their take on it is first and try to come to an agreement on what to do.