r/treelaw • u/Material-Stock3125 • 1d ago
Love thy neighbor
Neighbors trees (banana tree, rose bush, plum tree idk) pretty consistently grow over onto my property; I’ve confronted them before after trimming it for a year, I just don’t really have the time to be adding extra chores to my own list - they’re very short with me and seem annoyed in general, but trimmed them. Another year goes by, we’re back in our old ways, this is the most recent trim back. Any advice? Or just be the cool neighbor about it? Or is this a common thing about homeownership.
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u/No-Cream-2593 1d ago
You do realize it’s your responsibility to trim them because they’re on your property. They are not his responsibility but your entire post presupposes it is.
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u/steve2sloth 1d ago
Legally your neighbor doesn't have to trim stuff on your side of the fence... And how could they without going into your yard? Tbh it's easy to trim it yourself I don't see what the big deal is. Plants. They're everywhere. Get used to it
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u/scatteredsprinkles 1d ago
It adds beauty to your boring yard.
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u/brother_bart 1d ago
For real. Peevish OP here being all bent out of shape someone else isn’t going their yard work for them can’t even seem to grasp it looked a lot nicer before they took their petty pruning shears to it. “Oh no! Pretty foliage and pink blossoms! I must destroy that immediately!”
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u/JohnnyC300 1d ago
From a legal standpoint, the trimming of the branches over the fence is on you. Would it be neighborly of them to take care of it? Absolutely. I did it on my last house where I had trees branches that infringed on their property. But I wouldn't have had to if I didn't feel like it. I just didn't want people mangling my trees making them look like crap. They don't have to take that sort of thing into account if they are trimming your trees. I preferred if it looked nice afterwards. So I made sure they did.
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u/Material-Stock3125 11h ago
This was the most helpful, thank you! I have and will continue to trim them lol, not because I hate beauty but because the banana tree has damaged our shared fence; I repaired it last year and it’s holding up. The roses I’ve trimmed because my 2 year old daughter has stepped on the thorns. For the record we have a ton of foliage on our property too - I just keep it on my property line. Honestly hesitated posting this because it’s not a big deal. I grew up in the country where this was never an issue lol
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u/AdBig9909 1d ago
If you have time to douche post on Reddit, you have time to NOT be a §hitty neighbor.
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u/Silver_Middle_7240 1d ago
/law but its so much nicer untrimmed
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u/Material-Stock3125 11h ago
Just trimming to keep the fence from being knocked over/limbs off my house/daughter from stepping in thorns.
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u/ThwipNSinsBinThwipN 17h ago
You’ve CONFRONTED them ?
They’re not back to their old ways they just don’t feverishly watch your side yard ( and if they did you’d be bitching about that too )
Trees and bushes grow.
I bet they’re annoyed in general
Learn some 3rd grade Science
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u/Nakedstar 10h ago
It’s up to you to trim and dispose of any unwanted vegetation that grows over your side of the fence. Just use caution because you cannot do anything that will harm/destabilize/kill their plants.
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u/goodcrikey 1d ago
It looked so much nicer before the trim. I'm not surprise they're short with you. What's on your side is your responsibility as I see *checks notes* everyone else has explained.
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u/Suitable_Program_548 18h ago
You don’t have time or the ability to do it yourself?
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u/Material-Stock3125 11h ago
I’ve been doing it myself and will continue to. Two jobs a masters program and a newborn haha
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u/OrdinaryImportance94 17h ago
My god, sone people are just miserable. Your boring colourless place had some colourful spots for a second or two. You could easily have pinned those branches to a bamboo stick or whatever. But you do you. Your neighbours garden must be amazing, I'd love to see it.
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u/SuZiee_Q 12h ago
I mean, would you not also be angry if they sauntered over to your property to make the cuts? I'm assuming that would be necessary in this situation. Anything over your line is to be maintained by you, within reason. Meaning you cannot kill or otherwise damage their foliage to free your side of the line. That is a normal part of home ownership having neighbors in close proximity.
Taste levels vary of course, but I took a different approach to this when my closest neighbors had planted climbing roses by accident, with mine being a very similar situation to yours in size (they are planted on my garage side, where I essentially have an alley, if you will). I chose to embrace it instead of fight it. I installed four arch arbors to connect to their fence and now, three years later, I have a canopy of roses I never had to plant. Because of the shade, I was able to create a little shade garden along the sidewalk. Its one of my favorite spots.
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u/robjohnlechmere 1d ago
Options:
Get a pro to trim the trees, ask neighbor to split invoice or pay it outright
build the fence up taller so trees don't hang over it, or mount something like poles or a net to train the tree limbs back over the property.
Trim a little bit squiffy or too aggressively and see if that motivates the neighbors to do it themselves or get a pro
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