Neighbor told me that I have a dead tree and wants it cut down

[Anonymous]

I have been through this on both sides. We had a neighbor inform us that a tree was dead (certified letter). It wasn't, based on a report by an arborist. We had other problematic trees which we had removed. We watched. 10 years later, during hurricane Sandy, it came down by the rootball. The tree did about 20K worth of damage to our neighbors property.

Her insurance contacted me. My insurance defended me. They did not pay anything to her -- the size of the root ball (18' in diameter) indicated that the tree was healthy with a stable root system, but the 60 mph winds coupled with the 4" of rain were too much for the tree.

Similarly, another neighbor has a huge tree leaning over our kitchen. But the arborists insist it is healthy. Nothing we can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been through this on both sides. We had a neighbor inform us that a tree was dead (certified letter). It wasn't, based on a report by an arborist. We had other problematic trees which we had removed. We watched. 10 years later, during hurricane Sandy, it came down by the rootball. The tree did about 20K worth of damage to our neighbors property.

Her insurance contacted me. My insurance defended me. They did not pay anything to her -- the size of the root ball (18' in diameter) indicated that the tree was healthy with a stable root system, but the 60 mph winds coupled with the 4" of rain were too much for the tree.

Similarly, another neighbor has a huge tree leaning over our kitchen. But the arborists insist it is healthy. Nothing we can do.

Sounds like a huge tree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been through this on both sides. We had a neighbor inform us that a tree was dead (certified letter). It wasn't, based on a report by an arborist. We had other problematic trees which we had removed. We watched. 10 years later, during hurricane Sandy, it came down by the rootball. The tree did about 20K worth of damage to our neighbors property.

Her insurance contacted me. My insurance defended me. They did not pay anything to her -- the size of the root ball (18' in diameter) indicated that the tree was healthy with a stable root system, but the 60 mph winds coupled with the 4" of rain were too much for the tree.

Similarly, another neighbor has a huge tree leaning over our kitchen. But the arborists insist it is healthy. Nothing we can do.

Sounds like a huge tree.

85 feet tall. Oak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been through this on both sides. We had a neighbor inform us that a tree was dead (certified letter). It wasn't, based on a report by an arborist. We had other problematic trees which we had removed. We watched. 10 years later, during hurricane Sandy, it came down by the rootball. The tree did about 20K worth of damage to our neighbors property.

Her insurance contacted me. My insurance defended me. They did not pay anything to her -- the size of the root ball (18' in diameter) indicated that the tree was healthy with a stable root system, but the 60 mph winds coupled with the 4" of rain were too much for the tree.

Similarly, another neighbor has a huge tree leaning over our kitchen. But the arborists insist it is healthy. Nothing we can do.

I'm not in your area (I'm in CA) but I know that here, you can cut at the property line. My friend had a big tree with a huge branch coming into her neighbor's side and they cut it right at the property line and she could do nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been through this on both sides. We had a neighbor inform us that a tree was dead (certified letter). It wasn't, based on a report by an arborist. We had other problematic trees which we had removed. We watched. 10 years later, during hurricane Sandy, it came down by the rootball. The tree did about 20K worth of damage to our neighbors property.

Her insurance contacted me. My insurance defended me. They did not pay anything to her -- the size of the root ball (18' in diameter) indicated that the tree was healthy with a stable root system, but the 60 mph winds coupled with the 4" of rain were too much for the tree.

Similarly, another neighbor has a huge tree leaning over our kitchen. But the arborists insist it is healthy. Nothing we can do.

I'm not in your area (I'm in CA) but I know that here, you can cut at the property line. My friend had a big tree with a huge branch coming into her neighbor's side and they cut it right at the property line and she could do nothing.

This is usually the case in most places. I think it's more than reasonable that you can cut branches overhanging the property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been through this on both sides. We had a neighbor inform us that a tree was dead (certified letter). It wasn't, based on a report by an arborist. We had other problematic trees which we had removed. We watched. 10 years later, during hurricane Sandy, it came down by the rootball. The tree did about 20K worth of damage to our neighbors property.

Her insurance contacted me. My insurance defended me. They did not pay anything to her -- the size of the root ball (18' in diameter) indicated that the tree was healthy with a stable root system, but the 60 mph winds coupled with the 4" of rain were too much for the tree.

Similarly, another neighbor has a huge tree leaning over our kitchen. But the arborists insist it is healthy. Nothing we can do.

I'm not in your area (I'm in CA) but I know that here, you can cut at the property line. My friend had a big tree with a huge branch coming into her neighbor's side and they cut it right at the property line and she could do nothing.

You can only cut it to the property line if it won't affect the health of the tree. If cutting to the property line would take off enough to kill the tree, you can not cut that far.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor said my non rooting bamboo is making his fence fall. My husband told him to put up a better fence instead of that cheap fence he already has.

He used metal posts instead of wood posts in concrete.

I don't care what my neighbors want.

[Anonymous]

Bamboo is a nusiance. Decreases.property values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bamboo is a nusiance. Decreases.property values.

Oh, cut the crap. You are a nuisance.

[Anonymous]

Not in Va. You can cut any that over hangs your property including roots. If the tree is a threat to any part of your yard you can force the neighbor to pay to have all or any part of it removed.

[Anonymous]

Soooo, did said rotting tree come down in the latest round of severe storms or do you not actually live near DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are so many stupid responses on this thread. OP, this is what you need to do.

1. Get an independent arborist to assess if it is dead and give you a quote for removal, if it is. No cost to you. If it isn't dying, document what he said in an email to him. He may be willing to write it out but since it is a free quote, he might not - you want to document it either way. (example: "Thanks for your visit, I just want to confirm the XYZ tree we looked at does not appear to be dead.")

2. If it IS dead, then you'd be best to take it down. Depending on size, power lines, complexity to get to, etc, you should be able to get this done for under $350. You don't need the stump ground.

3. If you truly can't afford it, you can stake the tree so if it does come down, it comes towards your property/away from his. You need to make sure to take off any limbs towards his property as well, but assuming they aren't massive, you can probably do that with a tool you can rent from Home Depot. Let's call the cost on this $50 to stake it and rent the tool for a day. You must be able to afford that.

4. If you want to be ultra safe, you should document your actions in a certified letter to your neighbor. I personally wouldn't' do this, because if something does happen, you have documentation you can pull out. It sounds like the neighbor was trying to be friendly about it, and turning to certified mail is very legalistic. But make sure you have the documentation for yourself, and just tell him verbally the resolution.

Staking a tree does not work. Nor does 'wiring' tree limbs to have them fall on your property only.
Someone might sell you these items but no way does either method work.