OT: New Neighbor, Old Trees

[ColchVEGAS]

When I moved in to my house I had something like 8 dead red oaks taken down. One was very close to my property line so I had the crew include it in the price. I went next door introduced myself to the neighbors and asked if they knew where the property lines were and if they were opposed to having the tree come down even if it was on their property, being dead and all, as I had it included in my quote.

Needless to say we agreed the tree should come down and have shared a few adult beverages together since.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

. . . what is typical in terms of general neighborly etiquette?

I'm sorry for your loss, and I think you've pretty much gotten the range of helpful responses.

To answer the particular question excerpt above, I'll add, "Better to ask forgiveness than permission."

I've had a bunch of experiences with neighbors, more good than bad.

The worst first impression by a new neighbor was when I stopped back home for lunch one day and there was a giant cherry-picker set up in our backyard, with a chainsaw guy working from the bucket to 'open up' the canopy of OUR tree's overhang of his newly acquired backyard.

It's not that his aim wasn't understandable, but it was pretty presumptuous for someone who'd not yet introduced himself. When questioned, he responded, "Well, the truck couldn't fit up my driveway to set up in my backyard."

The tree guys had played dumb, looked away, and said, "Your neighbor said it was okay" when I asked, "Wth?"

After this bad first impression, located his air conditioning unit on the inaccessible side of his house, right next to our back deck. We didn't hesitate to bring it up to the Village, whose regulations required more clearance between properties. He had to disconnect, move, rewire, and reinstall the unit. He felt victimized by the regulation, and whined that we were 'picking' on him. It wasn't even a close call. He didn't try much (if anything) thereafter.

Stay awake as the lot develops, and make use of his business card as appropriate.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

When I moved in to my house I had something like 8 dead red oaks taken down. One was very close to my property line so I had the crew include it in the price. I went next door introduced myself to the neighbors and asked if they knew where the property lines were and if they were opposed to having the tree come down even if it was on their property, being dead and all, as I had it included in my quote.

Needless to say we agreed the tree should come down and have shared a few adult beverages together since.

Yeah, this is how it should be handled. We've had similar issues with some massive trees that sort of share the property line and we've always just talked it out if someone was going to do something.

I have another set of neighbors who took down part of a hedge on our property that gave us privacy out near the pool. THAT dude I accidentally spray with the hose over the hedges whenever I hear him walking around.

 

[CCSUblue]

I've got two hundred year old oaks in my front yard that I need to call in . But I'm already planning on what to plant if they need to come down.

Lots of scaring and places for disease to penetrate, but they are alive and I hope healthy!

Would stink to lose the great shade they provide in the summer.

That being said, I've also got several trees on the back of our lot that I need to talk to the neighbor about because I have no idea who's property they are actually on. But they affect my yard more they will his.

 

[jibsey]

Plant some new trees directly where the old ones stood, but firmly on your property.

Every town is different, and sure it would have been nice for them to tell you they were taking them down, but I do not believe they are required to.

Luckily my town has an ordinance on how much clearing you can do. I think we are required to have a third of the property with tree coverage.

Great idea!

 

[UCTitleTown]

I had a tree in my yard fall on my neighbor's property and it was my responsibility to remove it. In hindsight given the time and effort it took, I should've paid to have it removed, but decided to buy a chainsaw and do it myself. I saved a lot of money, but it was a major job between cutting it into chunks and moving it to my yard to split. The good thing is I got at least 5 or 6 years of firewood from it.

When I was young, a crazy neighbor cut a tree down that was on our property. We called the cops who basically said, "Well the tree's gone, not much we can do about it." It obviously created bad blood after that. This was before suing was popular.

 

[Palatine]

 

[gtcam]

If any part of the trunk is in your property you have a say so. If not it’s their decision. Perhaps the business card was in some way an invitation to touch base with them but proper etiquette would dictate leaving a note on the card for you to call them ASAP. I would plant some fast growing trees on that same side making sure trunk migration won’t encroach their property. Want to piss them off- plant some weeping willows but they tend to travel. Good luck

 

[Lefty2one]

Their trees they don’t need anyone input or permission! If the branches fell and did damage to a neighbors property they would be responsible! My question is what did you want the owner of the tree to do?

That's not true.

Source: Had three of my neighbor's 60' pine trees fall and hit my house/deck this year. It's our house, our damage, and our insurance had to take care of it. It doesn't matter whose trees they are.

 

[Lefty2one]

I had a tree in my yard fall on my neighbor's property and it was my responsibility to remove it.

Curious as to who told you that. I had the opposite happen last summer and it was my responsibility to remove it. The neighbor kindly offered to help, and did help, but he didn't have to even though it was his tree.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Curious as to who told you that. I had the opposite happen last summer and it was my responsibility to remove it. The neighbor kindly offered to help, and did help, but he didn't have to even though it was his tree.

This is the answer in CT. Landers keepers.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Curious as to who told you that. I had the opposite happen last summer and it was my responsibility to remove it. The neighbor kindly offered to help, and did help, but he didn't have to even though it was his tree.

He told me. The tree trunk was on my property. Doesn't that make it mine?

 

[XLCenterFan]

@Hey Adrien! I have worked in the tree care industry in CT for about 15 years now. What your neighbors did was not neighborly, but it was within their rights.

 

[XLCenterFan]

I had a tree in my yard fall on my neighbor's property and it was my responsibility to remove it. In hindsight given the time and effort it took, I should've paid to have it removed, but decided to buy a chainsaw and do it myself. I saved a lot of money, but it was a major job between cutting it into chunks and moving it to my yard to split. The good thing is I got at least 5 or 6 years of firewood from it.

When I was young, a crazy neighbor cut a tree down that was on our property. We called the cops who basically said, "Well the tree's gone, not much we can do about it." It obviously created bad blood after that. This was before suing was popular.

If you're in CT this is wrong. The only way you would have to pay for that is if you had someone come out and inspect it, and had them deem it hazardous, and you then did not have it removed. When a healthy tree falls, or a tree falls that no one knew was unhealthy, it is considered an "act of God." Wherever it lands is who pays to clean it up. Most insurance will cover something like this as well.

 

[XLCenterFan]

That's not true.

Source: Had three of my neighbor's 60' pine trees fall and hit my house/deck this year. It's our house, our damage, and our insurance had to take care of it. It doesn't matter whose trees they are.

This is correct. A tornado could bring your tree 5 yards down...it's their responsibility as well.

 

[UConnJim]

There was a big tree in our backyard that was right next to our yard. It was constantly shedding large branches that would have killed someone if they hit them. I suggested to my neighbor that he should consider taking it down but he declined. So, I had a tree company trim the dead branches over our yard. Well, 3 years later, the tree fell on his house and caused major damage!

 

[RichZ]

Neighbor's tree fell on my roof about 18 months ago. My insurance paid for the damages to my house, which amounted to about 20K all told. But they inspected the tree, and claimed that the neighbor should have known it was going to split, by the fact that water had 'obviously' been seeping into the crotch where the dual trunks separated. The stains from the seepage were obvious -- after it broke. Can't say they would have been, prior to that. But my insurance company's lawyers and his insurance companies lawyers threatened each other with suits, and eventually came to some kind of shared cost agreement between them.

And the town picked up part of it, because part of the trunk was within 15 feet of the road and the town's responsibility.

 

[CTBballfan243]

were the trunks on their property or on the property line? if the trunks were on their property line then by definition they were also on your property line and, iirc, may have constituted a "border fence." they had no right to cut them down without your permission. i'd sue the bleep out of them!

If they didn’t want anyone to cut the tees down they should have purchased the lot. Otherwise to bad so sad.