If it damaged your fence your insurance may cover it - depends on whether your home owners' policy also includes "other stuctures" coverage. If it is just resting, then you probably don't have coverage.

OP here. Have certified letter going out tomorrow. Listing agent called and said he'd come look tomorrow, and have his tree guy take care of it. I think with an upcoming settlement, he does not want to risk the very real possibility that the purchaser will find it at walk/through. Short of cutting the few limbs that overhang my property, there is nothing I can do unless they are unresponsive to our request. As I mentioned, I have never met the owners, and this property has been neglected for years, so I do not feel I owe them the courtesy of splitting the cost. Since there is currently no property damage, neither of our homeowners ins will be involved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I have plenty of trees, as they have a purpose in the world (unlike snarky PP) - however, none happen to be big. We pay for our own tree issues, as if it is any of your business.

OP, suck it up and pay for your own tree issues. No one owes you anything. Ever.

OP can't cut down a tree in someone else's yard, but thank you for playing.

NP. We recently had a conversation with the code enforcement officer of our city regarding a similar situation. The tree was on the property line and we were unsure legally to whose home ownership of it was assigned-- apparently the city keeps records and we could look it up. The tree was dead and leaning against another tree, endangering our house. (We hadn't realized sooner that it was dead because greenery from other trees obscured it.) The officer said that if the tree belonged to our neighbors and they failed to act after we notified them, we could appeal to the city. I can't remember his exact response, but it was either that the city would come take the tree down or give us permission to do it. I had asked the officer that question because for two years our neighbors have had another dead tree in their backyard that is leaning at a 45 degree angle toward their house, being held up only by the limb of another tree; it's rootball is even up out of the ground! The tree would crash through the center of their roof if it came all the way down. And they have small children. *Shudder*

Our neighbors are immigrants with limited English, and I doubt they're aware of all the legalities involved. We decided to just get an estimate and pay to have the tree taken down ourselves. The neighbors were happy to give permission for the tree company to access their property once they realized that they weren't going to be asked to pay for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a practical matter, the listing agent will be highly motivated to fix this. They don't want anything to interfere with closing the deal. It's possible that you will pay a part of the costs, but I think that's OK.

Why would OP pay part of the costs?

Because part of the tree branch is on her property and therefore is her legal responsibility.

It's hanging over a tree in her yard, but not actually fallen on her yard. Does she still need to pay for that portion? Will they really cut off the piece hanging over her yard, and expect her to pay for it? In that case, doesn't that fall under "property damage" or "littering" or whatever the term is used for "throwing" branches onto someone else's property. The branch hasn't completely fallen yet, but the position it's in has moved it to the "dangerous" category.

Not hanging. It's resting on her fence and on a branch of a tree in her yard. It is down, even though it is not touching dirt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had pretty much the exact thing happen when we sold our house in Bethesda except our tree was not dead, it was supposedly "sick." Whatever. Our neighbors sent us a certified letter and we split the cost with them 50/50. We thought that was fair.

If it was my legal responsibility and someone else paid half, I'd say that was more than fair. Neighborly, no doubt.

Strike the first sentence.

Anonymous wrote:We had pretty much the exact thing happen when we sold our house in Bethesda except our tree was not dead, it was supposedly "sick." Whatever. Our neighbors sent us a certified letter and we split the cost with them 50/50. We thought that was fair.

If it was my legal responsibility and someone else paid half, I'd say that was more than fair. Neighborly, no doubt.

PP here -- sorry, we thought it was fair because part of the tree was on neighbor's property. So pretty similar situation.

We had pretty much the exact thing happen when we sold our house in Bethesda except our tree was not dead, it was supposedly "sick." Whatever. Our neighbors sent us a certified letter and we split the cost with them 50/50. We thought that was fair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a practical matter, the listing agent will be highly motivated to fix this. They don't want anything to interfere with closing the deal. It's possible that you will pay a part of the costs, but I think that's OK.

Why would OP pay part of the costs?

Because part of the tree branch is on her property and therefore is her legal responsibility.

It's hanging over a tree in her yard, but not actually fallen on her yard. Does she still need to pay for that portion? Will they really cut off the piece hanging over her yard, and expect her to pay for it? In that case, doesn't that fall under "property damage" or "littering" or whatever the term is used for "throwing" branches onto someone else's property. The branch hasn't completely fallen yet, but the position it's in has moved it to the "dangerous" category.

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I have plenty of trees, as they have a purpose in the world (unlike snarky PP) - however, none happen to be big. We pay for our own tree issues, as if it is any of your business.

OP, suck it up and pay for your own tree issues. No one owes you anything. Ever.

OP can't cut down a tree in someone else's yard, but thank you for playing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I have plenty of trees, as they have a purpose in the world (unlike snarky PP) - however, none happen to be big. We pay for our own tree issues, as if it is any of your business.

OP, suck it up and pay for your own tree issues. No one owes you anything. Ever.

Listen up. OP's tree problem is neighbor's tree. And OP can't send tree removal company over to fix it. Got that?

Any reputable tree company (which is what OP will want to use with a big old leaning dead tree) will not cut down your neighbor's tree at your behest. We just went through this and they won't do it without approval of the owner. The anger on this is really odd.

Right, so OP can't "suck it up" as pp so eloquently stated. OP needs to get the owners of the fallen tree to man up. Somehow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a practical matter, the listing agent will be highly motivated to fix this. They don't want anything to interfere with closing the deal. It's possible that you will pay a part of the costs, but I think that's OK.

Why would OP pay part of the costs?

Because part of the tree branch is on her property and therefore is her legal responsibility.

OP, assume you've already done this but take photos and video immediately. YOu need to demonstrate/document that this tree was in a precarious position. In case the tree comes down tonight and flattens your fence or house you need to show that this was a problem waiting to happen that you were not able to avoid (other than letting the other home owner know) because the tree is rooted on their property. Get photographic evidence this minute!

Anonymous wrote:As a practical matter, the listing agent will be highly motivated to fix this. They don't want anything to interfere with closing the deal. It's possible that you will pay a part of the costs, but I think that's OK.

Why would OP pay part of the costs?