<p>Good News!</p>
<p>We just had a big branch fall from a tree that, as best I can tell, is growing on the property line. We agreed to split the cost of having the branch removed.</p>
<p>A while ago, we had a tree growing on the property line that lost a big branch, fell across the road, and damaged a tree on (another) neighbor’s property. I suggested that, rather than getting the SCOTUS involved, we just split the cost 3 ways. Everyone agreed and everyone got to walk away liking each other. </p>
<p>We had a similar with our next door neighbors…We moved into this house after the huge earthquake. Their chimney was cracked. We initially mentioned it and they refused to fix it. Five years later it wasn’t a long thin crack…it was now a gaping hole and if it was going to tumble it would have been through our daughter’s window… We called the city and they fixed it. The cost was much more than it they had called their own contractor.</p>
<p>We have rats here all over the city…yes, lots of rats…:). One their trees had limbs that were over one our balconies. Saw a few rats follow the tree line to our home. I went over to their house (I must be a hellish neighbor) and suggest that they cut the limbs and I would pay the exterminator. They said nope…we would split the bill. Which was nice because their gardener charged them 75…and the exterminator was triple that.</p>
<p>Well, it’s gone. And we didn’t have to pay. We are guessing that our next door neighbors, who also had a structure threatened and had rcently moved back after renitng the place out for a while, also spoke to them. </p>
<p>In Ron White’s wording “the Core of the tree was [not] alive.” Or in Monty Python world, it was indeed an “ex-tree.” :)</p>
<p>If the tree falls in your yard it is your tree, not the neighbor’s. Whether the neighbor is responsive or not, you need to send them a certified letter letting them know your concerns about the tree. I don’t believe an arborist needs to be involved. With such a letter, and a paper trail, the neighbor is responsible for the tree and the damage it creates. I have a wooded lot, and 3 trees came down in our last ice storm (6 with the last ice storm and 6 more with a hurricane), and with the neighbors having just as many trees, we all know the protocol. </p>
<p>^Thanks, but as I just updated, he just had the tree taken down. :)</p>
<p>Glad it worked out!</p>
<p>Glad it worked out well for your Garland.</p>
<p>A relative of mine has a similar problem, so this thread has given me some ideas in addition to the suggestions I’ve already made. In the case of the relative, it’s clear to me that the neighbor simply doesn’t care to spend her own money to remove her problem tree, a nuisance that other residents have complained about too. I’ll tell my folks to call city hall, since talking to this neighbor has proved fruitless.</p>
<p>I’m glad it worked out for you. We came home once to find a neighbor’s dead tree had fallen onto our new fence, smashing a segment of it. To be honest, we hadn’t even noticed the dead tree before since it was behind some evergreens - and the neighbor had bought the house only a few months before. I kept telling H that it was our responsibility and that we would have had to have a paper trail showing our concern about the tree to the neighbor, etc., for it to be their responsibility. H wanted to call our insurance company to be sure. DON’T CALL! Several years later and this is still listed as a claim on our account, just because he called “to be sure”. </p>
<p>^Greenwitch–that’s exactly what made us hesitate to even get advice from the insurance company. We instead were working on creating the paper trail; were very fortunate we won’t need it. </p>
<p>What a headache! </p>
<p>Literally, 30 minutes after we signed the P&S selling our home our neighbors dead tree came down on our home. It broke the roof, two skylights, the ceiling, the walls, the deck and most of the furniture in that room. (50k worth of damage) I was in the house at the time, luckily in another room. Yes, it was our insurance that paid or the whole big mess. It’s quite an interesting look at greed watching various work people try to work out deals when they see the insurance claim number. The first thing my (now ex) neighbor said when he saw the tree was “oh no, that’s the tree we carved our initials into.” Luckily our buyer stayed with us through the whole situation. (they would have lost a large sum of money). It really held up the process but we’re closing on Monday. Ahhh…</p>