# Trees, Branches and Neighbors



## gpurtz (Aug 29, 2011)

I thought I'd throw this out for comment.  I live in a suburban neighborhood in a modest home.  When I bought my home there were and still are 3 very healthy, large black walnut trees in the back.  Once in awhile, a larger branch will fall from one of the trees and into my neighbor's back yard, never damaging his house.  The neighbor, instead of taking the branch to the curb for pick-up, always tosses the branch over our fence and into my back yard.  I know he'd like the trees taken down (at my sole expense, of course), but I'm not inclined.  The trees are healthy.  I prune them regularly and the cost would be $3,000 per tree. I think the neighbor is being un-neighborly.  What do you think?


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## siesta (Aug 29, 2011)

gpurtz said:


> I thought I'd throw this out for comment.  I live in a suburban neighborhood in a modest home.  When I bought my home there were and still are 3 very healthy, large black walnut trees in the back.  Once in awhile, a larger branch will fall from one of the trees and into my neighbor's back yard, never damaging his house.  The neighbor, instead of taking the branch to the curb for pick-up, always tosses the branch over our fence and into my back yard.  I know he'd like the trees taken down (at my sole expense, of course), but I'm not inclined.  The trees are healthy.  I prune them regularly and the cost would be $3,000 per tree. I think the neighbor is being un-neighborly.  What do you think?


 ya, they are your trees, as long as they dont damage anything, forget it and leave them. But dont blame him for not walking them out curbside, let him return your property to your property (its probably easier to huck em over your fence instead of walking them out)

However, remember that you are liable for anything or anyone it falls on, if negligence can be shown (ie, you not trimming the branches regularly)


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## Rose Pink (Aug 29, 2011)

Is it closer for the neighbor to toss the branch back into your yard rather than hauling it to his curb?  If so, I'd toss it back into your yard.  It _is_ your debris afterall.

I can appreciate the cost of having the trees removed.  We had two large pines removed this past spring and it was almost a thousand dollars for the pair.  

TUG is a neighborhood, too, and I don't want to sound un-neighborly but I do think the trees are your responsibility because they are in your yard.  They are your property.  

If it was your neighbor's dog who got into your yard and caused you to have to clean up after it, how would you feel?


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## loafingcactus (Aug 29, 2011)

I think it's fair that you throw away branches from your tree.

Is it unneighborly?  Shrug, its a little childish, but it let's him blow off some steam about the situation and prevents an explosion.  Good enough.


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## Pens_Fan (Aug 29, 2011)

I agree with the neighbor.

It's your tree.  It's not his responsibility to haul it out to the curb.


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## mclyne (Aug 29, 2011)

Last year,we had a terrible snow storm , woke up to find our neighbor's huge tree limb in our backyard. We had just moved into our home and had never experienced this type of issue. We waited and waited for our neighbor to address the tree limb and when nothing was done, my husband went to talk to him. Our neighbor told us his insurance company said it was OUR responsibility!

Not believing him, I called our insurance company and sure enough our neighbor was right. You are responsible for what happens on your property!! Sounds ridiculous, but it is true!!

The cost to remove the limb was $600. It was less expensive to pay for the removal rather than go through the insurance. Our neighbor shared the expense with us. That was the neighborly thing to do.


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## hvacrsteve (Aug 29, 2011)

The law is, the part of tree on his property is his property, so he owns that part of the tree!
If it falls on his side, it is his not yours.
He can only have all the branches cut on his side.
He can't cut the tree down, only you can.

So it is his problem, not yours!

You could share the cost of cutting them down, otherwise it will be an issue it seems like.
I had the the same issue, I told the neighbor to cut it all back if he wished, I was going to have it done when the tree company did my side but they would not go on his property without his permission.
He wasn't home so they didn't get cut!
He said well call them back, I said there is a $400.00 minimum, please write me a check, that was the end of it.
He got a kid to do it for $40.00 dollars.


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## sstug (Aug 29, 2011)

found this on a local city website - 

Litter from Trees

Leaves, twigs and small branches are considered natural, general nuisance and no particular party owns them, and you are not expected to pick up after your tree. Fruit belongs to you as long as it is on your tree, but it can be claimed by your neighbor if it falls on his property.


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## dmharris (Aug 29, 2011)

sstug said:


> found this on a local city website -
> 
> Litter from Trees
> 
> Leaves, twigs and small branches are considered natural, general nuisance and no particular party owns them, and you are not expected to pick up after your tree. Fruit belongs to you as long as it is on your tree, but it can be claimed by your neighbor if it falls on his property.




So I don't have to clean up the leaves in my yard anymore?  Wait till I tell my husband, you'll have made his day!


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## PigsDad (Aug 29, 2011)

In order to maintain friendly neighbor relations, I would simply take care of the branches the neighbor threw over into your yard.  If you made a big deal of it, the whole situation could easily escalate.  For example, your neighbor could decide to "shave" your tree by removing any part that was over the property line.  How would your tree look then?  It could be drastic enough to throw the tree off balance and cause it to lean / fall into your yard.

Yes, your neighbor is being petty, but I wouldn't poke a stick at it (pun intended  ) and escalate the situation.  JMHO.

Kurt


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## sstug (Aug 29, 2011)

somehow my yard collects the entire neighborhood's leaves!!


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## Judy (Aug 29, 2011)

Wood is valuable.  If your neighbor doesn't want your "gift", it's his loss.  Grind it up for mulch or use it for firewood; make posts out of it, etc.

OK, I don't have a black walnut tree, so I'm not sure what its wood is good for, but I manage to use the wood, leaves, and berries that fall into my yard from my neighbor's Sea Grape.  They make really good mulch and compost for my garden.


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## siesta (Aug 29, 2011)

sstug said:


> somehow my yard collects the entire neighborhood's leaves!!


 so does my pool it seems


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## gpurtz (Aug 29, 2011)

I'm surprised by the number of people who have sided with the neighbor.  If you don't like trees, then don't buy a house with 3 huge ones so close to your back yard.  The trees shade my neighbor's deck in the summer.  Should I be charging him?  When there is debris in my yard, I get rid of it.  Why, because that is part of owning a home and being a good neighbor.  My neighbor is welcome to prune any part of the trees (branches) that extend into his back yard.  I am responsible for maintaining the health of the trees and they are healthy.  I am not otherwise responsible for them.  Some of you might have me rake the yard of any neighbor who gets leaves from my trees in the fall.  My neighbor is an idiot!


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## vacationhopeful (Aug 29, 2011)

Per my insurance company and wind storms as of today a 2:10PM:

If a tree limb falls into your yard and it is alive (like with leaves), it is YOUR expense and problem. Does NOT matter whose tree. Act of God.

If the tree is DEAD that falls into your yard, he who owns the roots owns the clean up. Negelance on owner's part.


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## sstug (Aug 29, 2011)

I think it's important to understand legally what you are responsible for to protect yourself.  Even though the branch falling into the neighbor's yard should be (technically) disposed of by the neighbor, I totally agree with others who said don't make a big deal about him throwing it back into the OP's yard.  No need to create a rift that could continue to escalate.  But if he ever says anything the OP can always educate him to the fact that legally anything falling in his yard becomes his (very nicely of course).

My neighbors have a large oak tree that overhangs my driveway and is very close to my electric wires.  They do have it trimmed back every couple of years and they were nice enough to check with me before doing so last time (not sure if they needed to use my driveway or something like that).  Although I could hire someone myself, I don't need that extra expense.  But if it doesn't grow above my wires soon I may discuss with them having a very large branch cut off.  I don't want to "ruin" their tree and would only do it if they agree, and may offer to split the cost if they aren't thrilled.

Along the backyard fence they have several bushes (lilac, etc) that seem to only grow over the fence and have almost nothing on their side (nearly dead - they must be growing into the sun on my side).  I'm not very well equipped but they were in the way of setting up a canopy for a BBQ so I went out and bought myself a bow saw and cut off all the branches in the way to rid myself of the jungle.  Since I know my neighbors well enough to not expect any complaints I was comfortable doing it.  But it still felt strange cutting branches off someone else's trees.  I was even considering asking them to remove these bushes/trees and offering to help pay to replace them (he helped me last winter when my car got stuck on the ice/snowbank in my driveway).

An angry neighbor can be a thousand times worse than some stray branches.


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## sstug (Aug 29, 2011)

vacationhopeful said:


> If the tree is DEAD that falls into your yard, he who owns the roots owns the clean up. Neglance on owner's part.



I was doing some googling on this and it seems that negligence may be hard to prove.  Now if the neighbor previously expressed concern about that dead tree then it is negligence; but if no one was aware then it may not be.  Probably have to go to court for a decision.  Best option is to agree to split the cleanup costs.

It also seems that all insurance policies/companies may be different.  It pays to understand your liability and assess your own trees before there is a costly incident.


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## loafingcactus (Aug 29, 2011)

What sstug said!

I have something I am slightly psycho over and my neighbor indulges me, even though they have zero legal obligation to do so.  And in turn I am very very very nice to them about whatever they want because I know I owe em.  And then they started putting away my trash can on trash day, so now if I get out there first I put in their trash cans.  And actually I started putting in the trash can of the neighbor on the other side too.  An escalation to the better rather than an escalation to the worse... I am very lucky to have fabulous neighbors!


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## BevL (Aug 29, 2011)

I personally wouldn't throw branches over your fence.  On the flip side, I wouldn't care if my neighbour threw branches from trees on my property back into my yard.

Life's too short, but that's me.


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## klpca (Aug 29, 2011)

We did exactly that (tossing the tree limb over the fence) years ago. 

Our neighbor planted three messy, top heavy trees *right on the property line* after we moved in. We had years worth of eucalyptus mess in our yard, an in addition to that, he would trim his trees about once a year and leave whatever branches fell off in our yard. So we had that mess to deal with too. We just cleaned that up as well. When a large limb fell off during a wind storm and damaged our roof, well that was the last straw. My husband heaved it over the fence to have them deal with their mess for a change. We felt great about it! That is until we found out that his brother had perished in a plane crash the day before. Who knew? Then we felt awful about it. 

Somehow we felt like we were being taught a lesson. The trees are long gone. We still have the same neighbors. I'm glad that we get along with them.


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## Patty (Aug 29, 2011)

Part of out tree fell across the neighbors house a year ago and both his insurance and ours said it was his responsibility.  We were pleasantly surprised to find we were not responsible but were willing to take care of it if we were.  We had the tree cut down or Irene might have put the rest on his house.


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## Rose Pink (Aug 30, 2011)

gpurtz said:


> I'm surprised by the number of people who have sided with the neighbor.  If you don't like trees, then don't buy a house with 3 huge ones so close to your back yard.


Or, this could be re-phrased to say "if you don't want to be responsible for the larger branches (as stated in the OP) of your own trees, don't buy a house with trees so close to a neighbor's yard."

Is your neighbor new to the neighborhood?  Did he move in after those trees were planted and _before_ they got so large?  Seriously, I've never thought about a neighbor's trees when looking to buy a house.  I wouldn't react negatively if my branches were thrown back into my yard.



gpurtz said:


> The trees shade my neighbor's deck in the summer.  Should I be charging him?


Why?  Maybe he'd prefer the sunshine to grow tomatoes?   



gpurtz said:


> When there is debris in my yard, I get rid of it.  Why, because that is part of owning a home and being a good neighbor.  ....  Some of you might have me rake the yard of any neighbor who gets leaves from my trees in the fall.  My neighbor is an idiot!


 
First, I don't think your neighbor is an idiot.  I think he is irritated.  Being irritated does not make one an idiot.

Secondly, I have read the replies and do not read where anyone even came close to suggesting you rake the leaves from your neighbor's yard.  You said in the OP that these were "larger" branches.  If it doesn't fit within the confines of a garbage can, my garbage collector won't take it.  I would have to cut it up and that is not something I can easily do.


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## jlr10 (Aug 30, 2011)

gpurtz said:


> .  Once in awhile, a larger branch will fall from one of the trees and into my neighbor's back yard, never damaging his house.



If this was a one time occurrence I would think he was just being an irritating neighbor.  But your post seems to indicate this has happened more than once and he is now a irritated neighbor, which is why you are getting the branches back.  

The first time I would have disposed of the limb.  The second time, I probably would have thrown it back over the fence.   One neighbor had a tree trimmed so it wouldn't be too tall and fall down.  Unfortunately he did it a the wrong time of year and the tree died.  The removal of the tree caused branches, needles, and debries to fall over our yard and driveway.  We were planning to sweep everything up when the tree was completely removed.  But, being a great neighbor, he had his grandson sweep everything up before we could get there.  Which is why we will never have to throw anything over the fence.

Not sure that I agree with some of the posts that he is not liable.  I have filed many claims for my clients with this scenario and the insurance carriers paid, for damages and/or removal, both with and without wind causing the tree or branches to fall. A case could be, and has been made, that planting the tree too close to someone else's yard was negligence.  Of course, it is easy to prove almost anything is negligence in CA.


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## RDB (Aug 30, 2011)

This summer, a real nice TOO HEALTY maple decided to fall down.  It ripped the wiring and some trim from the nieghbors house. We were not required to, but had the whole tree removed.  They got the repairs done. 

The nieghbor has been after us for several years to remove one very tall tree for fear of the dead top falling on their house.  We hired it removed also. 

Now with Irene, a healthy tree (next to the one we removed) is falling over the nieghbors front yard wiring and leaning against thier huge oak. 
Their oak grew leaning toward their house. We always thought someday that oak would crush their house.

We just had a crane/tree crew remove a very much larger oak from our house. Price = $3500.  To have the leaning tree removed would be another $1000. It is our tree, but what of it that is over their property, is their problem.

Today, our house was condemmed by the county. It is unsafe for occupancy.
We will be waiting to see if the insurance people says they will pay for that leaning tree.  We feel it is up to the nieghbor's insurance.  Of course whatever our insurance doesn't have to pay out, will be that much more available for dealing with our rebuild.

As much as trees are a good thing, have you ever thought of them as big weeds?    In the seven years we have lived here, we have removed at least 50 trees.


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## sfwilshire (Aug 30, 2011)

Judy said:


> OK, I don't have a black walnut tree, so I'm not sure what its wood is good for.




My husband made little boxes one year from a large walnut limb and gave them for Christmas gifts. Walnut is beautiful wood. I would find something to make out of it. 

Even tiny limbs could be made into pens. We had a friend that did that and gave them to all the kids when they graduated high school. He has since passed away and my two oldest still treasure the gift.

Sheila


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## sfwilshire (Aug 30, 2011)

RDB said:


> As much as trees are a good thing, have you ever thought of them as big weeds?    In the seven years we have lived here, we have removed at least 50 trees.



I mourn the loss of every tree that dies or is killed. Every year we go to the local FSA office and buy 100 oak trees. They are scrawny little things, but we go around the farm planting them. I won't live to see any of them be big trees, but hopefully someone will enjoy them in the future. 

Sheila


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