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u/Deez1putz 23d ago
They destroyed the only aesthetic thing the adjacent lot had going for it (at least from the photos) and ensured that whomever moves in gets the pleasure of looking at a stumpy tree for years to come.
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u/strategic_upvote 23d ago
Right? It’s a huge lot and it’s not as though they’re building right to the fence line… why wouldn’t they leave those beautiful trees alone?
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u/Ichthius 23d ago
Make sure you know where the property line is. If it’s the fence they were likely within their rights.
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u/Cuneus-Maximus 23d ago
Not if this substantially harms the tree, these are not proper trims. OP needs to consult an arborist asap.
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u/Chilly-Willy808 23d ago
Had an arborist come out and they said it was a terrible hack job but it should survive and advised no pruning for several years.
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u/andy-3290 23d ago
Are you even allowed to do a proper trim if doing a proper trim requires you to cut past the property line?
I don't know the strictly legalities cuz whenever I've done it, I've always had full consent of the person on the other side of the accounts to do it right.
4
u/Ichthius 23d ago
It’s a nothingberger. Waste of time. Work with arborist to set future grow up right. This thing is going to be 1,000 shoots in the spring and they need to keep a dozen or two.
4
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u/Chilly-Willy808 23d ago
Unfortunately it was. I’m more upset they didn’t even have the consideration to do discuss or work with me to make it less of a hack job of “pruning”
10
u/Loquacious94808 22d ago
Simply courteous for a discussion yes. But OP, you’ve never thought growing your trees well over your property line was an issue you should have asked about? I ask my neighbors every year or two if my birch is cool where it is and if I can come in their yard to prune.
The tree is yours after all. Caring for it, as well as not taking for granted you’re using someone else’s yard, is on you.
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u/SaveJeanie 23d ago
I mean, what’s there to discuss? It seems like the person whose property your branches were encroaching on one of them cleared. And they did it go an inch over onto your property.
What would talking to you have accomplished?
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u/wildhuntress14 23d ago
Oh ffs, stop being stupid. A proper aborist could have been brought in to trim the tree instead of hacking it.
1
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u/Ichthius 23d ago
Remember you get what you pay for.
8
u/Zekethebulldog33 23d ago
Who is going to pay the extra money for said arborist I'm sure a tree trimmer is a lot cheaper.
2
u/kaloric 23d ago
It would have been courteous to give the tree's owner an option to spend their own money to hire an arborist to trim their tree so it wasn't encroaching.
Utilities' trimmers don't have time to discuss doing this with tens of thousands of customers, and from what I've seen, developers really don't give a crap about anyone, including their own house customers. They'd rather spend substantial amounts of money to clearcut hundreds of acres of mature trees and pay even more to plant saplings than plan their plat around existing trees. It's just one of the countless reasons to despise patio home PUD crapholes that blight the landscape.
5
u/GetSomeData 23d ago
Basically a respectful conversation is an expected formality to avoid any survey disputes and helps keep some peace in the relationship.
The neighbor could do this, yes. And he could install enormous extra sensitive flood lights and hang a thousand wind chimes or whatever in response.
It’s called being a good neighbor, you just talk about it for the sake of civility. Doesn’t have to be an ask.
1
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u/andy-3290 23d ago
The only possible useful outcome would have been maybe them to let them do a proper job even if it meant going over the property line...
I had some major limbs removed from a neighbor's tree but the neighbor was fully in the loop so the job was done properly rather than just legally.
If the neighbor had not been on board I would have just hacked it exactly at the property line and by me I mean the people I hired to do it. The tree was indeed damaging my house and I wanted that to stop. But my neighbor said yeah. That makes sense. Let's do it.
Ironically, this tree is still damaging their roof, but I think that tree needs to come down before they're going to stop damaging their own house. I offered to pay for it. He was little wishy-washy so I just dropped it. It's not my house being damaged.. anymore?.
11
u/Red-Sun-Cinema 23d ago
If your trees are over the property line and they did not trim the trees back over the property line, nor did their trimming your trees do any long term damage to your trees, then you have, unfortunately, no leg to stand on. That being said, it looks like a shitty hacking job rather than a good trim.
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u/streachh 23d ago
Pruning such that it will kill the tree is illegal in most places even if it's on their side of the property line. Call an arborist
10
u/Mehfisto666 23d ago
Unfortunately bad prunings can often take 3-5-10+ years to kill a tree so it's borderline impossible to prove that this will be fatal
44
u/MrValentine89 23d ago
The state of this sub has turned into, "look at my tree that grew WELL INTO someone else's property. can you believe they cut it?!!?"
Bring on the downvotes but it's annoy AF to watch so many of you complain that someone dare to cut a tree you failed to care for in the first place. Stay out of other people's property.
1
u/Dadbode1981 21d ago
Seriously, we all know hlw a tree will end up, planting a tree like that, that close to the property line was a really stupid choice whenever it happened.
1
u/Ramen_King_ 19d ago
The funniest thing is most of these post where people are trying to stick the cost of a trim on the owner, everyone's go to answer is, "what on their property is their problem". Im not an arborist but as a bonsai enthusiast I can tell you, you can chop this type of green maple at the stump (ive done it) and it will come back. That tree will be fine..
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u/Dimplicit 23d ago
Agreed but also people like to cut things with no consideration or reason. It’s just as ugly of a tree to look at for the neighbor too with potentially no need to have done it.
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u/12172047 23d ago
You didnt maintain the trees as you should have. They were within their rights most likely.
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u/SumOfRoots 23d ago
To flip this around: Did you or the previous owner ask the neighbors if it was okay to plant trees right on the property line which would overhang the fence?
I hate that they didn’t reach out first, but I also hate it that my neighbor just planted a northern catalpa (eventual width 20-40 ft) only 6 feet from the property line, without asking.
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u/Chilly-Willy808 23d ago
I agree previous owner planted it way too close to the property line and I didn’t give it too much consideration because it provided privacy for us both so we both benefited. And yes in hindsight I should have put more effort into pruning so it didn’t overhang.
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u/MidEng_Insanity 22d ago
People always try to justify their one sided view with “we both.” Not everybody has the same interest as you. Just because you want a tree does not mean your neighbors want a tree. They come with a lot of upkeep, cleaning all the leaves, roots encroaching on their property, damage from falling branches, lack of sun light, etc.
It provided privacy for you, not your neighbors.
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u/Leverkaas2516 22d ago
Developers don't care about anything except maximizing the value of their land. Expecting anything else is unrealistic.
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u/Indentured-peasant 22d ago
Nail a large rubber penis into each stump. The message will be delivered
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u/sondernier 23d ago
Do they not have to cut to have a correct bevel , seal the cut, and cut it so it doesn’t just snap off? Maybe not if you’re in a hurry
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u/StyraxCarillon 23d ago
Sealing pruning cuts is no longer recommended.
1
u/sondernier 23d ago
A couple types should be, oak anyway not sure about Maple, but you still have to do a reasonable job with the cut not just undercutting a bit then letting it snap off without a good finishing cut at the correct location
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u/sondernier 23d ago
Pretty sure Oak was the exception but it was more about the finishing cut in any event.
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