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Neighbour's tree leaning over my yard?
Neighbour's tree is leaning over the fence into my yard. It's a big tree and it is growing pretty much on our side only. Including the upper portion of the trunk. That's about 2/3 of his trunk growing over our yard. He has only one branch there that grows straight up and the bottom part of the trunk plus roots. We asked him to remove it. He refuses. We can't remove it, and can't trim it because it's unstable, and we can't make him do anything under California law. The tree doesn't have place to grow on his side because he has other trees there. We have no idea what to do. One branch leans toward our house but the trunk of the tree leans parallel to our house. If it falls it will probably damage yard/fence/pool/our vegetation but not the house. What are our options? We live in California where irresponsible homeowners are protected species.
I have opinion of a professional arborist that says the tree is unstable. Trimming it little or more will make the tree more unstable. Trimming it to property line will kill the tree, I would have to pay penalty to the tree owner 3 times what the tree is worth. It's a huge tree. If I trim it little and the tree falls, I will be responsible for all the damage. If the tree was leaning over our house then it would have to removed but it's not. Even though we can't use our backyard or doing so without risking our lives we cannot remove or trim the tree. If somebody died after the tree fell, then no problem, the guy would be responsible but until somebody dies the tree has right of way and so does his owner. And the neighbor simply will not touch the tree and we can't without the treat of thousands of dollars in damages after that. The city will also not get involved becasue the tree is on the backyard and not in front.
4 Answers
- MayanLv 69 years agoFavorite Answer
California law protects you as well as your neighbor. You have the right to deal with the tree however you want as long as you only touch the part that is on your side. So have a tree service remove all of the tree that is on your side of the line. You said you can't remove it and can't trim it because it's unstable. That may be true, but a professional tree service won't have any difficulty.
The removal of the part that is on your side may kill the tree, but you have no reason to be concerned about that. You have the legal right to do what I recommended. Make sure there are good photographs of the "before" condition including a white or yellow paint mark on the tree which is a few inches on your side of the property line. You need the photographs because when the tree service removes the upper part of the tree, the removal of that weight will cause the tree to spring back toward the neighbor's property and it will look like you reached across the line to cut the tree. Your photographs prove that you didn't. It would be wise to have an independent photographer witness take the photographs and keep control of the original for a few years in case testimony is needed about where that white paint mark was in relation to the property line and/or fence.
Mayan.
- marlettLv 44 years ago
If the neighbor needs it trimmed that's their undertaking and the limbs are over their belongings. they must pay - how do they "stress" you to? i do no longer think of they could think of that's worth taking you to court docket over, in spite of if it is your tree. i've got by no skill predicted a neighbor to trim their tree or trees in my backyard - I do purely it if i ought to.
- Anonymous9 years ago
Hire a professional to cut off any branches that overhang your land, and if that's 90% of the tree so be it.
Of course remembering that the waste is his property, so make sure you return the waste to him when you are finished.
Simple, NEXT........
- Anonymous9 years ago
Mayan's answer is so awsome I've printed it so I can use it for my own neighbor's trees.
