My neighbor has two trees that are damaging my property. One tree: hovers over my yard and room addtion and frequently breaks off large branches that land in my yard and have taken down my phone lines, My child plays in the yard and Im afraid she will get injured from falling branches. The other tree: Is so close to my fence that it has moved my fence, raised my brick walkway, and trunck branches are now in my drain pipes! He jokes and says, dont worry I have insurance. Im getting irritated and want him to chop down those trees which are huge. What can I do to make him take action?
Thank you all for your advise. I will start with pictures of the apparent damage. I will also contact the city to have them trim the trees that overhang in my yard. Next I will have to discuss the replacement of of our fence and walkway as well as the drains. If he has insurance he can have them pay for the replacements. Thanks again, you were very helpful!
Ask him to get it taken care of now, if you have already asked him then tell him he has two weeks to do something about it or you will have to go to the city to handle it.
I just wanted to give my two cents--prepare to have a bad relationship with that neighbor. Around here, trees are highly prized, and having a neighbor force you to cut it down...well, that would piss anyone off.
It's a large, well-established tree, so tread carefully. We bought our house because of the trees in the backyard--if we had a neighbor who forced us to cut one down, we would not be happy at all.
FYI: he won't have to pay. Your homeowner's insurance will, since the damage occurred on your property. So don't threaten him with that.
It seems you have already had a discussion with him, so I would contact the city or county in which you live in. Here is my county office who we would call http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/depts/administrative_ser... maybe you have an office like this.
If no action, a pictures of everything, a certified letter requesting he correct things and come to some sort of resolve (maybe request he contact his insurance company), and then small claims court. It is unfortunate, but you can't allow someone to destroy your home in which you have worked hard for.
Hello Grace- Check with your city government. A friend had a similar situation, but the large branch broke off and distroyed her outside dining table just minutes after she went into the house!!
She contacted the city and they made the owner chop down the tree.
Good Luck!
R. Magby
You may have trouble with the one on the property line since you would have to destroy his tree to deal with it, so you may just have to cope with that one. The other one, you can pay a tree trimmer to trim the portion on your property, in most municipalities. You have to pay for it to do so, but it wouldn't break on your side of the fence anymore. Check with your municipality before you proceed and see what they say.
Generally you can trim anything that hangs over your property line at the property line, but the laws vary and you need to see what applies in your town and/or county. If you have an HOA, they are going to have rules about it, too.
An excellent book which you might want to read:
http://www.amazon.com/Neighbor-Law-Fences-Trees-Boundarie...
Additional comments:
The town will trim branches that endanger power/phone and maybe cable near the street. Anything else that occurs on/over/under your property you are going to have to hire someone or trim it your self. I doubt very much the neighbors home owners insurance will cover anything on your property and invoking your own homeowners insurance may get your rates hiked. You can dig up roots at your property line as well as trim branches that over hang your line. (We have a Miss Utility number that must be called prior to any digging so power/phone/gas etc utilities are marked to avoid damage - penalties apply if you cause damage and you didn't call first.) The only exception I've ever read about is if a tree wholly on your neighbors yard has died or is in really bad shape that is tall enough to fall onto your house or garage during storm, then you can take an action to have the health of the tree evaluated and perhaps cut down if it's a danger (and all or some of the money for this will most likely come out of your pocket).
You can trim the tree that is overhanging your yard so that branches don't fall. Beyond that, you pretty much rely on him wanting to cut them down, which he likely doesn't want to.
talk to your neighbor once more. then, talk to your municipality to see if there is anything they can help with. then, talk to your insurance agent! see what they would recommend. I guess if your neighbor starts getting billed for things, he might have a different attitude.
Do your research about what he is responsible for, Then have another talk with him regarding what you would like him to do, if he jokes this time then let him know about what he is responsible for. Other than the trees, do you have a good neighborly relationship?
