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OT: New Neighbor, Old Trees

Hey Adrien!

Hey Adrien!

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At the north edge of our home, five old, beautiful oak trees stood for the better part of a century. On the other side of our line is a previously vacated property that was purchased two weeks ago after three years of abandonment. On Monday, we got a business card from our new neighbor and on Tuesday, these five oak trees were totally gone. Their trunks are all on their property line, but the branches are evenly spread throughout both properties. Once a source of beauty and privacy, our north side of the property now has a clear view to the neighboring lot.

I'm sure the felling is totally legal, but anyone with experience in this on what is typical in terms of general neighborly etiquette? I'm just surprised we got no warning or even a discussion that this was going to happen. Not the best first impression from our new neighbor.

 
Hey Adrien! said:
At the north edge of our home, five old, beautiful oak trees stood for the better part of a century. On the other side of our line is a previously vacated property that was purchased two weeks ago after three years of abandonment. On Monday, we got a business card from our new neighbor and on Tuesday, these five oak trees were totally gone. Their trunks are all on their property line, but the branches are evenly spread throughout both properties. Once a source of beauty and privacy, our north side of the property now has a clear view to the neighboring lot.

I'm sure the felling is totally legal, but anyone with experience in this on what is typical in terms of general neighborly etiquette? I'm just surprised we got no warning or even a discussion that this was going to happen. Not the best first impression from our new neighbor.

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Paint your house an absurd color.
 
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?
 
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!
 
Good fences make good neighbors?
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Smp7598 said:
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?
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"Once a source of beauty and privacy, our north side of the property now has a clear view to the neighboring lot."

I don't like answering for people, but I daresay the OP wanted the owner of the trees to leave them alone.
 
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bendm said:
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!
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Good correction. The trees are securely on their property line so I'm not questioning the legality. If I were in the same situation, I'd at least let my neighbor what was happening.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
At the north edge of our home, five old, beautiful oak trees stood for the better part of a century. On the other side of our line is a previously vacated property that was purchased two weeks ago after three years of abandonment. On Monday, we got a business card from our new neighbor and on Tuesday, these five oak trees were totally gone. Their trunks are all on their property line, but the branches are evenly spread throughout both properties. Once a source of beauty and privacy, our north side of the property now has a clear view to the neighboring lot.

I'm sure the felling is totally legal, but anyone with experience in this on what is typical in terms of general neighborly etiquette? I'm just surprised we got no warning or even a discussion that this was going to happen. Not the best first impression from our new neighbor.

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Sorry for your loss. Agree, if they are on your neighbor's property its their right to take them down but courtesy is nice. Especially for old-timers like that. I have 2 pin oaks 45" diameter in my backyard and they are as close as family.

If you mow that end of the yard, keep an eye out for saplings in the spring and summer, and give them some love. Oaks are pretty hardy from almost everything and are one of the few native trees predicted to thrive in Connecticut's future climate
 
Waquoit said:
You can plant trees. They'll be big enough soon.
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Hard to replace century old oaks. But OP will have done right by their piece of land if they can cultivate a new generation of growth. Stewardship is as valuable as the trees themselves
 
No tree ordinances in your town?

Where I live trees of a certain diameter have to get approval for tearing down or owner must plant new trees to replace the bigger tree.

Trees are a PITA. One thing I have learned over years with hurricanes and ice storms.

If a neighbor's tree falls in to your yard and the tree is healthy, you have to pay for damages to your property.

If neighbor has a dead tree and it falls in to your yard, they are responsible for damages.

Is it possible the trees were infected with a disease? Or, could they have been dying?
 
If the trunks were on their side, not much you can do, but still a crappy way for a new neighbor to behave.

Suggest getting the biggest trees you can and planting them on your side of the line. There are people who simply don't want to deal with trees, raking leaves etc. See a lot of housing in the midwest that has very few trees. Well, don't let that be an option. They will rake the leaves from your trees soon enough.
 
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Hey Adrien! said:
Good correction. The trees are securely on their property line so I'm not questioning the legality. If I were in the same situation, I'd at least let my neighbor what was happening.
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They don’t make neighbors like they use to do!
 
Smp7598 said:
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?
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The Boneyard: where to turn when you need terrible legal advice.
 
Waquoit said:
To what end, really? Either you would be good with it or give them some stick. Who needs it? We took some trees down a few years ago. Getting input from the neighbor never entered my mind.
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Sure, if the trees are clearly on your property. But if they straddle the line?
 
Chin Diesel said:
Is it possible the trees were infected with a disease? Or, could they have been dying?
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They were completely healthy. We get an annual tree report and it's funny, those trees are on the same side of the property as our leaching field, so they get a lot of good...nitrogen. ;)
 
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Waquoit said:
To what end, really? Either you would be good with it or give them some stick. Who needs it? We took some trees down a few years ago. Getting input from the neighbor never entered my mind.
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How big is your property and were the trees near a property line?

My block has lots in the 1/3-3/4 acre range within a wooded part of the city, so it's rare to have trees that do not cross property lines. For example, the biggest oak close to our property is on our neighbors lot. The way the wind blows, we get most of their leaves so as a neighborly act, the neighbor helps blow these onto his property, particularly late in post-peak season.

Again, I'm not arguing the legality of it, just wanted some type of communication but then again I live in an area close to the neighbors so I'm used to talking to them.
 
Our next door neighbor had all their maples cut down, one of which dropped a shitton of leaves in our backyard. Didn't affect our privacy, but they did let us know what was going to happen since many of the downed branches were going to land in our backyard. Additionally the contractor needed to remove a section of picket fence for access. One of these days I need to go fix that as it's now 4" higher than the surrounding fence. Anyway, there were a lot less leaves to pickup this year, so I'm good with it, but happy they gave us warning.

As far as planting new, the neighbor on our other side had some arborvitae that died a few years ago that they used for privacy. Planted all new arborvitae two years ago. Those died too. So maybe skip those if your soil/light isn't right. He can see my patio, I can see his den. Wife is old and fugly, so not really anything to see there, lol.
 
Chin Diesel said:
No tree ordinances in your town?

Where I live trees of a certain diameter have to get approval for tearing down or owner must plant new trees to replace the bigger tree.

Trees are a PITA. One thing I have learned over years with hurricanes and ice storms.

If a neighbor's tree falls in to your yard and the tree is healthy, you have to pay for damages to your property.

If neighbor has a dead tree and it falls in to your yard, they are responsible for damages.

Is it possible the trees were infected with a disease? Or, could they have been dying?
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Yes, check if you have a tree ordinance. Many municipalities do and they can have pretty strong remediation attached.
 
Ive got 20+ acres and one side of me a guy drops his discarded christmas tree on my property. I see it and call him and say “move it, i know they are woods, but not your woods”

He drags his feet and i text him and say no problem i’ll move it to your front porch tomorrow and we’ll schedule a mixed media of tin and barbed wire fence install for the spring so there’s property line clarity.

That guy couldn’t move fast enough once he knew the eyesore and tetanus vector i was going to unleash on him and his family.

Long way to go to say I 100% agree with @Letsgohuskies11 and @arch
 
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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.
 
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.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
. . . what is typical in terms of general neighborly etiquette?
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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.
 
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ColchVEGAS said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
ColchVEGAS said:
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.
Expand ...
Great idea!
 
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