New neighbor cut our tree branches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you care about your tree so much, then do maintenance and be respectful of property lines.

Learn how to read.

[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?

IMO, the owner who TOLD him to do this is at fault. Sure, the tree guy shouldn't have gone ahead with it, but it's the owner who is ultimately responsible for thinking nothing of it and directing the crew to do so. And when we confronted the owner, he dismissed us and acted like it was no big deal. If it had truly been the crew's fault - if they had not been told to do this, but just went ahead and did it - then sure, they'd be to blame. But the ahole owner thought he was entitled to chop off the branches on our trees on OUR side of the property line. He is responsible.

[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.

This is awesome!! Good on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1
I really marvel at some of the moronic comments here. Hoping they're just trolls, because no one could be that stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Did your neighbor take it any further - suing you or the landscaper?

[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.

Is her first name Beth, and married last name begins with an "L"? Our former neighbor did something very similar. Her DH is a shrink. She's insane, and we always said it's fitting that a shrink married a crazy. Your response was a lot more clever and creative than ours. I'm still chuckling.

[Anonymous]

If no privacy screen is forthcoming from the neighbors:
Dig a trench along the property line a couple of feet into your property.
Pour cement into it.
Plant tall bamboo as a privacy screen between the concrete and the property line.

You will live to regret this when the bamboo appears through your basement floor, but until then you will have a great privacy screen and neighbors who regret their trespasses.

[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.

OP here - I appreciate your thoughtful comments. I think you're right. This is definitely NOT how I wanted my first introduction to our new neighbor to go. I don't see us being "friendly" in the future, unfortunately. I spent today researching privacy screens and decided to have some Nellie Stevens holly bushes planted in this area, underneath the existing (and butchered) pine trees. I don't think it would be worth suing them over this, but it would certainly be nice if he offered to pay half of what I'll wind up paying for the privacy screening. Not going to ask him to, but that would be a "neighborly" thing to do.

[Anonymous]

How did the neighbor cut branches on your side without trespassing onto your lot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did the neighbor cut branches on your side without trespassing onto your lot?

The tree company did trespass.

[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?

Yeah, as a first step I would leave the tree company a scathing online review for trespassing and damaging your property. I'd include that you spoke with them and they knew they didn't have permission and did it anyway. That's super unethical. I'd post it everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Yeah, as a first step I would leave the tree company a scathing online review for trespassing and damaging your property. I'd include that you spoke with them and they knew they didn't have permission and did it anyway. That's super unethical. I'd post it everywhere.

I'd probably follow with a legal letter requesting the replacement cost for your trees. The company should be insured and you should get reimbursed.

[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.

If you want to be that neighbor, file a police report for trespassing and vandalism.

[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.

If you want to be that neighbor, file a police report for trespassing and vandalism.

That report with have to identify the tree company who trespassed and vandalized. The neighbor presumably never set foot on OP's property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take better care of your property.

+1

And get a fence. These are your options.

It’s not like neighbor handed you the bill.

Agree that he prob thought the lopsided tree looked ridiculous.

You sound like a whiny and lazy neighbor.