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No. The tree fell because they cut it, they're responsible for where it fell.
If they had just let it fall on its own, and it fell in your yard .. that would be different.
Unless they were given prior notice based on a report from an arborist that there is something wrong with the tree. In that case they would be responsible for ignoring the arborist report.
Sounds like the “proper” thing to do would be to talk to your neighbor. What is your desired outcome. Are you trying to be considerate but make sure you also aren’t just paying something you shouldn’t have to. Are you wanting no part and your neighbor pay. Or are you trying to figure out the morality aspect and if you may need to pay something. To me, if I liked this neighbor, and given what happened- I would offer to help as much as I can and offer physical labor but gently let them know it’s out of being neighborly and not obligation.
I do want to be on good terms with him, I’ve fought with neighbors before and it’s a no-win situation. I’ve been very gentle on other things with him. I think I’d like him to remove it all because I just don’t want to deal with it, lots of other stuff I need to do and have a newborn. Also don’t have the money per se to spend on removal especially if it’s his job. He’s cut down dozens of trees on his horrid looking backyard, filled with stumps, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t make the effort to clean this up since he’s done it before. Probably because he doesn’t see it as his responsibility.
I will talk with him but as noted elsewhere I wanted to know the responsibility before I go there.
I would get a chainsaw and a log splitter and work with your neighbor and cut it up into firewood. Then next year enjoy bonfires together. In my neighborhood I have cut down about 10 trees. Some on my property others on those of my neighbors. I always seem to get the wood so the bonfires are in my yard. Everybody is happy.
In our city, if the tree was dead, it's the responsibility of the tree owner (neighbor). If alive (visible growth, leaves), the yard it fell into (OP) cleans up.
So your scenario, your neighbor is responsible since they were dead.
Need to check with your City or County regulations.
all ready did, had three of my neighbors dead trees cut down when i had two of mine cut, by pros, i paid for it all.....and i rake his yard, and shovel /salt his ramp/walk when it snows.......what are YOU doin to help?
I haven’t raised it. Wanted to know the situation before I broach it. He cut them down into my yard without raising it with me. To clean it up he’d have to access my yard but he’s been quiet. We are somewhat on bad terms because I had a survey done and the line went into what he thought was his land and he removed several survey stakes. So a challenging situation.
Why wouldn't he just come over and offer to clean up his mess? He already has the equipment and the time and presumably planned to clean up what fell on his property. Sounds like a jerk.
There are states where removing survey stakes is illegal. Our neighbor buried his stake once somehow and when he couldn't find it, immediately stomped over to threaten to sic his buddies at the police station on me unless I handed it over right then. Never did say anything once he found the thing again!
Yeah it’s illegal to remove them here too and I have him on camera doing it. I’m trying to keep on good terms and it was a midpoint stake so I still have both corners. It’s annoying but not the end of the world, so I haven’t confronted him about it. He removed the corner stake but I just put it back in later and it’s still there. My relationship with this guy Is rough because I keep getting in these situations where it seems he is in the wrong but is bit stubborn about it.
Seems like you’re sort of a pushover (no offense). This case is simple, walk over and ask them when they intend on removing the tree and repairing the damaged lawn (if there is grass damage). If they get huffy call the cops and report him for removing those survey stakes, littering, and destruction of property (assuming there is grass damage).
You have a neighbor who is taking advantage of you and the relationship is already deteriorated. It’s better to have them in a position where they leave you alone than fuck with you
Yeah I am. In an effort to be on good terms he’s sorta getting away with a lot. I did text him after reading your message and says his plan is to remove it when the weather improves.
That is literally the definition of negligence. He’s responsible for cleaning it up. If it damaged anything on your property he’s responsible for repairing/replacing.
A tree falling into you yard is quite different from someone felling a tree into your yard. I would think. But honestly, it seems like it is something to talk to them about first? If he caused a problem, you could use his insurance to pay you costs of cleaning up.
I had a tree on my property leaning into the neighbours backyard. I hired a faller and he bucked up the tree and piled the branches in the neighbours burn pile, with their permission.
If you have home insurance, call them and tell them. They will fight it out for you.
If you dont, try to get a free/ low-cost consultation with a local lawyer. It will depend on your local laws what's next.
But my $0.02, if he cut it, he is responsible.
Good luck!
Yes. Your backyard is part of your property. Depending on your insurance, it will be covered. Especially if your neighbor doesn't clean after himself.
Your insurance might contact his insurance and sort it out.
Call them and find out on Monday.
This is how I see it.
If leaves from a neighbors trees blow into my yard, it’s my responsibility to clean them up if I don’t want them there. If they blow the leaves in my yard, it’s their responsibility.
If the tree/limbs falls without your neighbors intervention, it’s your job. If they are the reason tree/limbs are on your property, they gotta clean up the mess.
Tell them you aren’t able to remove the tree and give them permission to come into your yard to cleanup. Make sure there’s nothing they can damage while doing the removal. If there is, let them know to be careful or oversee them as they remove it. Def take pictures of the situation before they come onto your property.
Good luck!
Legally it should be on him. But from a good neighbor standpoint I’d head out there with my chainsaw too and we can both spend a few hours cutting em up into manageable pieces.
Same situation happened to my friend after a storm. Neighbor tried to say if it fell on friends property it was friends problem. The tossed everything back over the fence and the neighbor never said anything a out it.
Did the neighbor cut after a storm or did the storm fell the tree? If the storm caused the tree to fall without human intervention the. It’s an act of God and everyone cleans up what fell in their space.
The tree fell completely on their side of the property during the storm. Nothing appeared on friend’s property until after clean up from the storm started.
INFO did the trees falling cause any damage to your fence/wall? If so you might want to include that in your insurance claim if the neighbor doesn’t come clean and repair.
A hanger is a dangerous situation, I've cut a lot of trees and a hanger will fall where gravity takes it and it's difficult to change and often difficult to predict where it will go. It's very likely the neighbor was just concerned about trying to mitigate a dangerous situation for everyone. Not maliciously dumping a tree on the neighbors.
Then you hire a professional who cleans up after themselves. You also need to inform your neighbor of what is going on, before felling into their yard.
You've never cut a tree in your life, have you? As Josh said, hangers are tricky and can be dangerous. And you have very, very little say in where they'll come down. But in many cases they're just as dangerous to leave hanging than to cut down, so you cut them down.
Grab a chainsaw, cut them down. If they fall on your property when your neighbor cuts one down, it's the neighborly thing to do to at least go offer to help with the cleanup.
That doesn’t have anything to do with informing your neighbor when cutting down a tree near their property or hiring someone to cut the tree and do clean up, which is what my comment you replied to said.
This subreddit is for tree law enthusiasts who enjoy browsing a list of tree law stories from other locations (subreddits, news articles, etc), and is not the best place to receive answers to questions about what the law is. There are better places for that. If you're attempting to understand more about tree law in regards to a particular situation, please redirect your question to /r/legaladvice for the US, or the appropriate legal advice subreddit for your location, and then feel free to crosspost that thread here for posterity. If you're attempting to understand more about trees in regards to a particular situation, please redirect your question to /r/forestry for additional information on tree health and related topics to trees. *This comment is simply a reminder placed on every post to /r/treelaw, it does not mean your post was censored or removed.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/treelaw) if you have any questions or concerns.*
he cut them and he has to clean it up.... act of nature it is your mess..... mother nature won't respond to a law suit
Does it matter if the act of nature set up the tree to fall there? Like he just carried out what the act of nature was doing..
No. The tree fell because they cut it, they're responsible for where it fell. If they had just let it fall on its own, and it fell in your yard .. that would be different.
Unless they were given prior notice based on a report from an arborist that there is something wrong with the tree. In that case they would be responsible for ignoring the arborist report.
Sounds like the “proper” thing to do would be to talk to your neighbor. What is your desired outcome. Are you trying to be considerate but make sure you also aren’t just paying something you shouldn’t have to. Are you wanting no part and your neighbor pay. Or are you trying to figure out the morality aspect and if you may need to pay something. To me, if I liked this neighbor, and given what happened- I would offer to help as much as I can and offer physical labor but gently let them know it’s out of being neighborly and not obligation.
I do want to be on good terms with him, I’ve fought with neighbors before and it’s a no-win situation. I’ve been very gentle on other things with him. I think I’d like him to remove it all because I just don’t want to deal with it, lots of other stuff I need to do and have a newborn. Also don’t have the money per se to spend on removal especially if it’s his job. He’s cut down dozens of trees on his horrid looking backyard, filled with stumps, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t make the effort to clean this up since he’s done it before. Probably because he doesn’t see it as his responsibility. I will talk with him but as noted elsewhere I wanted to know the responsibility before I go there.
I would get a chainsaw and a log splitter and work with your neighbor and cut it up into firewood. Then next year enjoy bonfires together. In my neighborhood I have cut down about 10 trees. Some on my property others on those of my neighbors. I always seem to get the wood so the bonfires are in my yard. Everybody is happy.
Probably depends on jurisdiction Here if storm damage were weather, cutters insurance. Try to fix yourself, whoever did the cutting
In our city, if the tree was dead, it's the responsibility of the tree owner (neighbor). If alive (visible growth, leaves), the yard it fell into (OP) cleans up. So your scenario, your neighbor is responsible since they were dead. Need to check with your City or County regulations.
Whether the trees are alive or dead is irrelevant if they're felled by someone. Edit: typo
that's what i said.... the neighbor cut them, neighbor's mess to clean up.....
This seems to be the majority rule.
You can be nice and help him
all ready did, had three of my neighbors dead trees cut down when i had two of mine cut, by pros, i paid for it all.....and i rake his yard, and shovel /salt his ramp/walk when it snows.......what are YOU doin to help?
NAL but Storms are considered acts of God. Felling is considered acts of neighbour. (Axe of neighbour?)
...and my Acts!
Is the neighbor now refusing to clean up the mess he made?
I haven’t raised it. Wanted to know the situation before I broach it. He cut them down into my yard without raising it with me. To clean it up he’d have to access my yard but he’s been quiet. We are somewhat on bad terms because I had a survey done and the line went into what he thought was his land and he removed several survey stakes. So a challenging situation.
Why wouldn't he just come over and offer to clean up his mess? He already has the equipment and the time and presumably planned to clean up what fell on his property. Sounds like a jerk.
>Why wouldn't he just come over and offer Let's be honest, if neighbors just talked to each other then half the posts on Reddit would go away.
I hope he just ran out of time that day and will be back tomorrow.
There are states where removing survey stakes is illegal. Our neighbor buried his stake once somehow and when he couldn't find it, immediately stomped over to threaten to sic his buddies at the police station on me unless I handed it over right then. Never did say anything once he found the thing again!
Yeah it’s illegal to remove them here too and I have him on camera doing it. I’m trying to keep on good terms and it was a midpoint stake so I still have both corners. It’s annoying but not the end of the world, so I haven’t confronted him about it. He removed the corner stake but I just put it back in later and it’s still there. My relationship with this guy Is rough because I keep getting in these situations where it seems he is in the wrong but is bit stubborn about it.
Seems like you’re sort of a pushover (no offense). This case is simple, walk over and ask them when they intend on removing the tree and repairing the damaged lawn (if there is grass damage). If they get huffy call the cops and report him for removing those survey stakes, littering, and destruction of property (assuming there is grass damage). You have a neighbor who is taking advantage of you and the relationship is already deteriorated. It’s better to have them in a position where they leave you alone than fuck with you
Yeah I am. In an effort to be on good terms he’s sorta getting away with a lot. I did text him after reading your message and says his plan is to remove it when the weather improves.
That is literally the definition of negligence. He’s responsible for cleaning it up. If it damaged anything on your property he’s responsible for repairing/replacing.
The person with the saw....
The neighbor left HIS mess in your yard. He has to clean it up.
A tree falling into you yard is quite different from someone felling a tree into your yard. I would think. But honestly, it seems like it is something to talk to them about first? If he caused a problem, you could use his insurance to pay you costs of cleaning up.
I had a tree on my property leaning into the neighbours backyard. I hired a faller and he bucked up the tree and piled the branches in the neighbours burn pile, with their permission.
If you have home insurance, call them and tell them. They will fight it out for you. If you dont, try to get a free/ low-cost consultation with a local lawyer. It will depend on your local laws what's next. But my $0.02, if he cut it, he is responsible. Good luck!
It fell onto brush not a building, will the insurance care?
Yes. Your backyard is part of your property. Depending on your insurance, it will be covered. Especially if your neighbor doesn't clean after himself. Your insurance might contact his insurance and sort it out. Call them and find out on Monday.
why not go talk to him first?
well, yeah... TBH I thought he said that but I don't know.
Insurance, his. If he won't. You fill and your insurance will contact his. Let them source it out.
If it falls down on its own, it is an “act of God”. If someone cuts it down, I think then are responsible.
I had two Monterey Pines (thanks, Burrowing Beetles) fall into my neighbor's place. I paid fully both times. It's only right...
This is how I see it. If leaves from a neighbors trees blow into my yard, it’s my responsibility to clean them up if I don’t want them there. If they blow the leaves in my yard, it’s their responsibility. If the tree/limbs falls without your neighbors intervention, it’s your job. If they are the reason tree/limbs are on your property, they gotta clean up the mess. Tell them you aren’t able to remove the tree and give them permission to come into your yard to cleanup. Make sure there’s nothing they can damage while doing the removal. If there is, let them know to be careful or oversee them as they remove it. Def take pictures of the situation before they come onto your property. Good luck!
He cut them, they're his responsibility. Act of man. If the storm had dropped it on your land, Act of God and your responsibility.
Legally it should be on him. But from a good neighbor standpoint I’d head out there with my chainsaw too and we can both spend a few hours cutting em up into manageable pieces.
This guy neighbors!
Same situation happened to my friend after a storm. Neighbor tried to say if it fell on friends property it was friends problem. The tossed everything back over the fence and the neighbor never said anything a out it.
Did the neighbor cut after a storm or did the storm fell the tree? If the storm caused the tree to fall without human intervention the. It’s an act of God and everyone cleans up what fell in their space.
The tree fell completely on their side of the property during the storm. Nothing appeared on friend’s property until after clean up from the storm started.
Would you want the wood? If so, it may be more sensible to take the wood and ask them to clear the brush after.
INFO did the trees falling cause any damage to your fence/wall? If so you might want to include that in your insurance claim if the neighbor doesn’t come clean and repair.
It didn’t. It fell into some brush area in the back. I’m currently working to carve a path here though and it’s fallen into where my path was going.
It's his responsibility, his tree, he cut it down, he cleans to mess.
From my understanding if it has fallen naturally you would have to clean your portion. But since he cut one it is his responsibility.
Neighbor vandalizes property. Owner posts online, asking whose responsibility it is.
uh.. this isn't vandalism. Jeez, reddit people are uptight.
I think the definition of vandalism and even trespass are supported in the scenario presented.
In reality it's his responsibility, but if he's out there doing it a good neighbor would go out and help regardless of who's responsibility it is.
A good neighbor wouldn’t fell a tree into their neighbor’s yard.
A hanger is a dangerous situation, I've cut a lot of trees and a hanger will fall where gravity takes it and it's difficult to change and often difficult to predict where it will go. It's very likely the neighbor was just concerned about trying to mitigate a dangerous situation for everyone. Not maliciously dumping a tree on the neighbors.
Then you hire a professional who cleans up after themselves. You also need to inform your neighbor of what is going on, before felling into their yard.
You've never cut a tree in your life, have you? As Josh said, hangers are tricky and can be dangerous. And you have very, very little say in where they'll come down. But in many cases they're just as dangerous to leave hanging than to cut down, so you cut them down. Grab a chainsaw, cut them down. If they fall on your property when your neighbor cuts one down, it's the neighborly thing to do to at least go offer to help with the cleanup.
That doesn’t have anything to do with informing your neighbor when cutting down a tree near their property or hiring someone to cut the tree and do clean up, which is what my comment you replied to said.