Not so neigborly Neighbor and tree cutting What to Do??

[ToolManTimTaylor]

O. K My not so neighborly neighbor has this tree that is smack dab right over my shop , and the roots have destroyed my driveway. It has one Geuantango limb that stretches clean over the shop and the driveway side of the house. The seccond is a garguantuan limb that goes somewhat straight up but is so big it still overhangs my garage and driveway.



I like the shade , hate the leaves , like the natural boundary , hate the roots , like the scenery , hate the scenery LOL!



Now she sure is not the neighbor of the century. She has tried to run everybody that has lived in this house out of the neighborhood with ill effects and mild success on one account. NOT ME!!



My last neighbor complained about the house needing powerwashing and is an "Eye Sore". So I powerwashed mine and while I was at it I cleaned one spot on her side of the house that faces me. It was brown shaker siding and was moldy as all getout. So the nice guy I am dipped my finger in bleach and wrote "Moldy" nice and neat next to the clean spot on her house. The police still chuckle at that one especially with the history involved with extra cirricular agriculture gong on behind us by another family member LOL!!



So this one came storming out one day ranting about the dually parking curb side. So she is on the porch in her best moo moo carrying on about



"Blah blah yammer commercial vehicles on the street yammer blah blah Cops"



I respond with "Get your reading glasses and read my plate they are combination plates NOT COMMERCIAL!"



"Yammer blah whine Calling the cops drither blither banter whine"



"Here I'll call em for you" Out comes the nextel dialing the local PD.



"Houlagin!!!!" SLAM goes the door.



Click goes the phone and a tip of the hat. So needless to say I need to Uh Tread lightly on this one. Do I have a lawyer on stand by??

 

[Cummnzpowr]

..

Tim, you should light a bag of dog crap on her doorstep... then run :-laf c'mon you know it's still in you!

 

[biggieou]

Now I am a novice at this by all means, I'm currently taking Real Estate classes to get my license, and this is in no means legal advice. But from what I have learned, and what my book tells me, that tree is encroaching upon your property, even if not on the land, but your air rights as well. They give an example in my book about Mr. A and B owning property side by side. A cherry tree grows on A's land and the limbs extend over the property line to B's property. If the tree drops fruit, technically it is trespassing. It then says, "If the encroachment became serious enough that B believes he has to do something about it, B can initiate a course of action, having the full support of the law, that will result in the removal of all elements of A's property that encroach upon B's".

Let me again say that in no way am I offering you legal advice, just my opinion of the situation. From what you said, if the tree is destroying your property and trespassing underground(roots) and your air rights(the limbs), then I would say with the help of a lawyer you could have that tree removed. Then you could put up a fence and make them pay for half of it, and half of the maintenance for it(at least in Ohio we have the line-fence law)

I hope this helps some, and let me reiterate, I was not giving legal advice, merely my opinion of the situation.

 

[JoshPeters]

I'll see what I can find out tomorrow as far as the insurance side of things goes tomorrow. I would think that HER insurance company would be liable for any damage occurred due to that tree. If it's a boundry item... ... You may have full right to cut down right to the property line... ...



I'll see what I can find.



Josh

 

[JoshPeters]

Tim, you should light a bag of dog crap on her doorstep... then run :-laf c'mon you know it's still in you!

I don't care who you are that's funny right there! Oo. :-laf Oo. :-laf Oo. :-laf



I'd have someone hidden with the video camera for that one!



Josh

 

[evldsl]

"dynamite"

 

[fox]

TMTT, I see three options.

1, here in Illinois, there is an air-line boundry. Anything that is in your side of the line is yours. Cut the tree straight up from your line.



2, Make friends with a lineman, (but keep it quiet ), they have a chemical that they put on the ground that will kill it with-in a year.



3, find her weak points and ride them, make her sell and move!!!



I had a neighbor that was a night outdoors drunk. He would get home at 1 AM and turn his outdoor speakers on and drink. I needed my sleep and the Cops were not very good at keeping the neihborhood quiet. On night there were 18 calls about his stereo-all different #'s. When I call , the dispatcher named the song with my windows closed!!!



So I checked the local ordinances, and built a fence. Nothing on the books. It was 8 ft high with sound insulation on his side. Shiney side to him. It really made a difference. He spent the next 2 years trying to make me take it down, no luck. he moved. I bet 75 people thanked me!!!!

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Man guys I really appreciate it! If it's one of those things I can have her shell out the Cashola then even better.

 

[Jumbo Jet]

Is it true copper nails will kill a tree?

 

[BarryG]

Seems to me that trees that encroach on anothers property with the potential to do damage are fair game. I think I saw a news report about it once a while back. The offending tree had to be disposed of and it was not causing damage at the moment unlike your fine deciduous friend there.

 

[Hammer]

Tim. .

Down here if the majority of the tree is on your side of the property line then its your to remove. Also,ALL of the overhanging limbs or parts of the tree which go over the property line can be removed by you with no questions asked or reasons given. With her house having mold all over it you could call the local branch office of the Health Board as its a health risk to you and your neighbors :-laf :-laf :-laf . As someone else has said make a ggod friend at the power or phone company and have them do the tree trimming or killing then she has no reason or recourse to complain. If all other means fail then may I suggest a "TDR Tree Removal & Neighborhood Visit" party. Meaning we all come up,grab our tow straps,hook to the tree and at the same time just pull it down. Then when we are done we all could park along the street with our combination tags and really give her something to complain about. We also could rectify the mold problem with a little "soot management" controled applications... ..... Andy

 

[TPCDrafting]

Is it true copper nails will kill a tree?

I was just thinking that illflem once stated this and he's a tree farmer. If it's dead and an eye sore, you have leverage to make her pay to have it removed. Not to mention the evidence of your driveway damage from its roots.

 

[loncray]

Not an attorney - but I've read about something called the "Rule of Reasonableness" - in which you can certainly cut down branches that are over your property - BUT !!! - if you remove so much that the tree dies, you could be liable for its replacement.

 

[CSnyder]

My dad once had a tree hugger neighbor that owned a small acreage in the middle of our field. We went out and took the excavator and snapped off all the trees that hung over our corn field and any tree that grew up on our side of the fence. Well he decided to sue us for damaging his beautiful trees and snapping off branches on our side of the fence. All said and done the neighbor had to pay all court costs and even 100 per hour to us for our excavator for cleanup and pay for dump trucks to come haul away the pile of crap we piled up from this... and it was no small pile by any means. He even had to pay us for lost wages for court days and mileage to get there. We got the last laugh! I bet he never says no again when a neighbor asks him to trim back his property line trees. Hope this helps. Chris

 

[CSnyder]

Oh I almost forgot... we ended up having to replace about 3 miles of fence around him also because his trees destroyed it over the years and he had to pay half so we bought all new material and hired it done by a fencing crew just to make him more ******..... HAHAHA

 

[C. Harlan]

Just sneak over to her electric meter one night, cut the little seal (Numbered tag), then call the electric company and tell them you saw her trying to run an extension cord from your house to "some box" on the side of her house, and would like them to investigate... she will be in more hot water with a broken seal on her electric meter!



Here, if we catch someone doing that, its like a $10 spiff in our paycheck! We are always on the lookout!



-Chris-

 

[biggieou]

Just sneak over to her electric meter one night, cut the little seal (Numbered tag), then call the electric company and tell them you saw her trying to run an extension cord from your house to "some box" on the side of her house, and would like them to investigate... she will be in more hot water with a broken seal on her electric meter!



Here, if we catch someone doing that, its like a $10 spiff in our paycheck! We are always on the lookout!



-Chris-

I'm sure Chris was joking, but please dont do this. They have a name for this sort of thing... ... FRAUD, not good. Contact a lawyer and have the tree removed.

 

[C. Harlan]

No joking here! Seriously, It would cool her down... This is Texas. We do things at a different pace. . Vigilante Style!

 

[ropinfool2]

I bought my house 2 years ago. It had two 70' cottonwoods growing in the backyard (tiny yard, if either had fallen in any direction it would have caused major damage), roots are growing on top of dirt. Neighbor came over and told me the previous owner's insurance had to pay to have his concrete patio and a portion of his slab (roots came through into the bathroom) replaced because the tree belonged to him. We ended up cutting both down and having the stumps and roots ground out. Had to redo the whole back yard. Anyway good luck. John

 

[crobertson1]

The police still chuckle at that one especially with the history involved with extra cirricular agriculture gong on behind us by another family member LOL!!

Did you mean bong or going ? :-laf