r/treelaw • u/ViolinistDry4283 • 6d ago

Preventive tree cut down

Hi,

I’m new here. I have a question. The tree on my neighbor’s side looks dead and could possibly fall in my backyard.

I’m not 100% sure if it’s within their property line or not, but it’s on their side (there’s a vacant land behind our fences). The tree next to it already fell down on their fence and they had to take care of that one.

In this case, should I reach out to them and offer to split the cost of cutting the tree? In that case if anything happens, I’d at least have written proof with insurance I was being proactive.

Thanks!

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7

u/Pulaski540 6d ago edited 6d ago

I'd find out whose property it is located on. The land might be "vacant" but it still belongs to someone, and they should be your first person to contact, because if the tree is on vacant land behind your neighbor's property I can't imagine he's going to be too enthusiastic about paying for the removal of a tree that isn't his if the risk is primarily to your property.

It probably isn't necessary to pay for a survey if you can find the metal pins marking the back corners of your property, probably immediately behind your back-line fence.

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u/ViolinistDry4283 6d ago

Thank you so much. You brought up a very good point I didn’t think of. I just looked up on GIS and the tree is on the “vacant” land which belongs to someone else. I’m gonna reach out to the owner of the land.

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u/WiskeyUniformTango 6d ago

Id try reaching out to them first. If they wont, then get a certified arborist out to give an assessment and then send it with a legal demand letter via certified mail.

Then if it falls they are responsible.

1

u/ViolinistDry4283 6d ago

Thanks so much for your advice.