New neighbor cut our tree branches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious, do the neighbors benefit from having those lower branches gone? Do they now get more light or air circulation? I can't understand why they'd have the tree guys clear the branches all the way around.

My thought is that they realized how lopsided the trees looked after cutting the branches on their side, so decided to make it all symmetrical by taking the liberty of cutting on our side too. These were full pine trees, and the lower branches provided the privacy screen. Now we have what look like a child's drawing - tall tree trunks with branches sticking out starting about ten feet up.

Lopsided trees fall over. It wasn't wrong to cut both sides of the tree, it would have been wrong to leave one side full.

Also, I see lots of tall pines that are bare at the bottom until 10-15' up. OP will adjust to the difference.

OP here. I’m actually laughing at your arrogance. Where do you live, so that we can come shear your trees without your permission?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New neighbor decided to trim the trees along our property line. First, the crew only cut the lower branches hanging over on his side, which is certainly his right. I came back about 15 minutes later and they had moved over to OUR side, cutting all the branches that over hang OUR yard. Those lower branches had provided a nice screen between our house and theirs. Now we are wide open, with no privacy screen whatsoever.

We confronted the neighbor and told him we were not happy - that he/the crew should have consulted us first. He tried to act like it was no big deal and said "trees grow back." We've had these trees for many years. They don't grow overnight. He tried to dismiss our concerns when we told him we want a privacy screen there. He said, "We'll work something out."

Do we have any recourse here? Obviously, they can't put the branches back, but are we within our rights to require them to pay for a privacy screen of shrubbery in that area? TIA.

Does "our" mean the tree is on the property line so it might be a fuzzy area as to who owns it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not do or say anything further until you’ve significantly calmed down and the anger has subsided. It is best to act with a cool head in these situations.

This...because if you upset your neighbor, he could come back and cut down the entire 1/2 of the tree that overhangs his property, which will kill the whole thing.

I had a neighbor do this.

Neighbor A refused to care for his cypress (leyland) trees he planted too close together. So neighbor B cut the bottom 10 feet that were on his property hoping to convince neighbor A to do the same.

Neighbor A was so pissed, he tried to force B to replace them. Instead, B cut off the tree limbs on his property all the way to top of tree.

This happened on Jenifer St in DC. Wonder if it was the same person

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Time for a fence

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’

I haven't seen this since H.S. English class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man, we battled our neighbors over this (posted here about it years ago, he threatened us with guns, came out with a knife when our landscaper was outside, etc.) for years. We finally removed the bushes that were causing him so much angst and planted bushes that grew fairly fast but also densely so that they provided privacy and went up and not as much out. Three years later we can barely see their yard, the bushes don't encroach at all, and that was the goal. Haven't spoken to him in years.

Couldn’t a fence have solved the issue?

It could have definitely, but our HOA doesn't allow for privacy fences, only black iron ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man, we battled our neighbors over this (posted here about it years ago, he threatened us with guns, came out with a knife when our landscaper was outside, etc.) for years. We finally removed the bushes that were causing him so much angst and planted bushes that grew fairly fast but also densely so that they provided privacy and went up and not as much out. Three years later we can barely see their yard, the bushes don't encroach at all, and that was the goal. Haven't spoken to him in years.

P.S. Bamboo is incredibly fast growing and great for privacy but you need to maintain it a lot because of that.

also illegal to plant in some jurisdictions and, regardless of legality, your neighbors will hate you

Huh, didn't know that. It's prevalent where I live, but good to know.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think if you posted this in either the Home Improvement or the Real Estate forums you could get better responses. 😃

If I were you - I would be so pissed off!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New neighbor decided to trim the trees along our property line. First, the crew only cut the lower branches hanging over on his side, which is certainly his right. I came back about 15 minutes later and they had moved over to OUR side, cutting all the branches that over hang OUR yard. Those lower branches had provided a nice screen between our house and theirs. Now we are wide open, with no privacy screen whatsoever.

We confronted the neighbor and told him we were not happy - that he/the crew should have consulted us first. He tried to act like it was no big deal and said "trees grow back." We've had these trees for many years. They don't grow overnight. He tried to dismiss our concerns when we told him we want a privacy screen there. He said, "We'll work something out."

Do we have any recourse here? Obviously, they can't put the branches back, but are we within our rights to require them to pay for a privacy screen of shrubbery in that area? TIA.

Does "our" mean the tree is on the property line so it might be a fuzzy area as to who owns it?

The trees are ours and are on our side of the line.
-OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man, we battled our neighbors over this (posted here about it years ago, he threatened us with guns, came out with a knife when our landscaper was outside, etc.) for years. We finally removed the bushes that were causing him so much angst and planted bushes that grew fairly fast but also densely so that they provided privacy and went up and not as much out. Three years later we can barely see their yard, the bushes don't encroach at all, and that was the goal. Haven't spoken to him in years.

Couldn’t a fence have solved the issue?

It could have definitely, but our HOA doesn't allow for privacy fences, only black iron ones.

OP here - there is no HOA in our neighborhood. We used to have a fence but took it down about ten years ago because there seemed to be no need for it and the neighbors at the time were great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not do or say anything further until you’ve significantly calmed down and the anger has subsided. It is best to act with a cool head in these situations.

This...because if you upset your neighbor, he could come back and cut down the entire 1/2 of the tree that overhangs his property, which will kill the whole thing.

I had a neighbor do this.

Neighbor A refused to care for his cypress (leyland) trees he planted too close together. So neighbor B cut the bottom 10 feet that were on his property hoping to convince neighbor A to do the same.

Neighbor A was so pissed, he tried to force B to replace them. Instead, B cut off the tree limbs on his property all the way to top of tree.

Pretty sure you can't do anything that harms or kills the tree or the neighbor owes reparations. Seems to be the done thing to just do it though, (or have tree cutters just do it) consequences be damned. There must be no consequences.

[Anonymous]

When I bought my house, a next door neighbor came over with a document for me to sign giving her permission to enter my property and trim any tree she wanted at any time. I waited a week, then told her my insurance company and lawyer told me to decline due to liability, and that in future she would need written permission to even enter my property again. Haven't heard a peep since, but she has sued 2 other neighbors (and lost) for various things in their yard that she didn't like.

[Anonymous]

Now you know your neighbor’s an a$$hole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s an idea. Trim your trees so they don’t have to. Be a responsible neighbor.

This is the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing you can do. Probably the most you’d get from small claims court is the cost to plant a new sapling. I’m coming from the experience of having a neighbor completely cut down a 50 year old tree that was entirely on my property. The neighbor was a developer and knew there would be no repercussions.

Bs. Sue them. We had a neighbor attack all of our plants on our side of our fence because the neighbor was a selfish azz. Small claims is easy. We

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious, do the neighbors benefit from having those lower branches gone? Do they now get more light or air circulation? I can't understand why they'd have the tree guys clear the branches all the way around.

Some people are weirdos about trees.

I'd be pissed they trespassed on my property. For example, who knows if the tree cutters were self insured? If not, they could try to sue if they got hurt on your property. It's not ok to enter someone else's property without permission. To clarify, were they actually in your yard cutting, or cutting them from his side of the property?

When they came around to cut the branches on our side, they were in our yard. We spoke with the crew and they were very apologetic - the foreman said he's been doing this for 25 years and knew that the owner's directions were wrong/illegal. We told him it wasn't his fault, just wish he had refused to do it.

I’d sue the company and the neighbor. Lawn companies know they can’t do this.