New neighbor cut our tree branches

[Anonymous]

Have you ever trimmed a tree OP? They grow back quickly.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar situation but our trees slowly died as the trimmers did not know what they did. I had the trees removed and then built a six foot fence about four feet into our property with two gates. We store our trash cans and our yard stuff inside the area. Since we have only the fence on our side, they have no fence and the trash and other material our visible from their screen porch. Since their yard slopes down from our side, they would have to build a very tall and expensive fence to screen these items. They complain to us constantly and suggest they plant trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever trimmed a tree OP? They grow back quickly.

Pine limbs do not regrow. Haven’t you ever trimmed a tree. Idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a similar situation but our trees slowly died as the trimmers did not know what they did. I had the trees removed and then built a six foot fence about four feet into our property with two gates. We store our trash cans and our yard stuff inside the area. Since we have only the fence on our side, they have no fence and the trash and other material our visible from their screen porch. Since their yard slopes down from our side, they would have to build a very tall and expensive fence to screen these items. They complain to us constantly and suggest they plant trees.

Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

THIS!!!

Op has no right to go on to her neighbor’s property to trim the trees. This is how things work.

+1 it doesn’t matter whether or not OP trims her trees or not. You still cannot treapass onto somebody’s property and alter, damage, kill, trim, or do anything to their property.

Doing so is illegal and entitled. I see a lot of entitled people here.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes landscapers go rogue. Ours did something similar to what you are describing (cut back a branch that was on our neighbor's side but provided too much shade on our side) and our neighbor was really pissed. We had no idea he was cutting the whole branch back, we thought he would just do the small portion that goes over our deck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever trimmed a tree OP? They grow back quickly.

Not an entire branch that was cut off, PP. You clearly don't know what you're talking about.

[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

Watch out for bamboo!! A previous owner planted bamboo at our house. A few years later, it was growing everywhere!! I can't explain how difficult and expensive it was to have it removed (no one wanted to touch the job). DH has to continually monitor the area where it was removed and dig up new pod sprouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So, the experienced, licensed, bonded, insured professional knew that it was illegal to trespass on your property and cut your tree for his personal profit, but did it anyway, and you told him that it wasn’t his fault?

Agreed. It seems many people lost coherence.

[Anonymous]

This is a tough one. Obviously trespassing onto your land and cutting your tree is totally unacceptable, and you would be well within your rights to take them to court. On the other hand, you probably won’t recover much in damages—it seems to me vanishingly unlikely a court would make them pay to replace the damaged trees with new mature ones—and you do have to live with them going forward. Probably the mature thing to do is swallow hard and let it go, despite how badly that sucks. Sunk cost now, and the more you think about it, the more it’s going to bother you, which just makes your life worse and does nothing to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a tough one. Obviously trespassing onto your land and cutting your tree is totally unacceptable, and you would be well within your rights to take them to court. On the other hand, you probably won’t recover much in damages—it seems to me vanishingly unlikely a court would make them pay to replace the damaged trees with new mature ones—and you do have to live with them going forward. Probably the mature thing to do is swallow hard and let it go, despite how badly that sucks. Sunk cost now, and the more you think about it, the more it’s going to bother you, which just makes your life worse and does nothing to them.

Actually, on second thought maybe just take the landscaper to small claims court and leave your neighbors out of it. They are the ones who trespassed, and they may well cause trouble for your neighbor that isn’t really your fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

What?? What on earth would give *anyone* the notion that they can touch in any way a neighbor's trees/plants/etc?? I think I would have laughed in their face right then and there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

This is the answer.

OP here. The previous owners liked the full trees/privacy screening from their side too. They didn't want the branches to be cut, so we never did. The new owner is certainly within his rights to cut the branches on HIS side for whatever reason - but he is NOT entitled to do the same our side of the trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg so many crazy people on this chain. Everyone rushing to sue their own neighbor??? Huh?

Op, speak to the neighbor, they have tried to be decent and discuss. You’re overreacting. Take care of your tree

You lack reading comprehension

+100
Very much so. Honestly, in my years on DCUM, I've noticed a particular type of poster - the contrarian, who decides to spin things in a certain way so that s/he can be argumentative. They don't actually read the facts as laid out, they simply make up their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cut my neighbor’s tree branches that are four feet into my property. Every fall, the tree creates a mess on that part of my property where I have evergreen shrubs with flowers underneath.
My neighbor didn’t say a word.

But that's not what the issue is here. You are within your rights to cut anything that falls/grows into your property. But you're not allowed to cut anything on the neighbor's side.