Anyone have any idea what sort of professional to consult when you aren’t sure whether a tree that needs to come down belongs to your neighbor or to you?
It looks like it’s the neighbor’s problem to my untrained eye, but he seems to think that enough of it has crept over past our property line that we should pay for half the cost of tree demolition.
Do I call an arborist? A surveyor? A psychic?
Anyone? Bueller…Bueller?
11 Responses to “A tree grows in Knoxville. But in which yard?”
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We had this same problem recently and I ended up calling the city forester (a job I had no idea existed before this began) to help with the sticky details. I don’t know whether the laws are the same in Knoxville, but here in Birmingham, AL, the law says that if the tree extends into/onto your property, you have to deal with the part that is on your side. For instance if a limb falls onto your car, that limb is now on your side and is ‘yours’. Or if the whole entire tree falls into your roof, it’s clearly on your property and you’re responsible for it.
The man at the city advised me that he could come out and speak to both us and our neighbors together and make a recommendation based on the condition of the tree, but that while it stands, the tree belongs to them and they get to make the decisions about it. They were not inclined to meet, nor take action on the tree, so we sucked it up and arranged, with their consent, to have the work done to the tree that would make it safer for our son to play in our yard. (it’s huge and old and was dropping very large limbs)
We were disappointed that we had to pay the whole expense, but we have chosen to let it go in order to preserve the thread of courtesy necessary to maintain the neighbor relationship. And really, it was our issue, and our son, so we didn’t expect them to have the same feelings as us.
Good luck!
You own what extends into your yard. My dad had a lengthy battle with his neighbor’s Magnolia that extended well into his yard and over his roof. Magnolias are beautiful trees if you don’t have them near your house and gutters! When he learned that those limbs were indeed his, they were no more! his neighbor was a bit peeved but it was well worth it to him.
Who wants the tree demolished? You? The neighbor? Both of you?
What do you mean by “crept over past our property line”?
I’m sure laws differ, but in Charleston (SC) it’s OK to trim any part of a tree that extends into your property, so we legitimately cut back the part of the neighbor’s mulberry tree that hung over our driveway.
If you mean the whole root system extends into your yard, then why wouldn’t you split the cost, if you both agree it should be removed? If you don’t agree, that’s a different question.
Here’s the deal: the tree appears to be primarily (like, 98.9%) growing out of and rooted in the neighbor’s yard. A tiny bit of the edge of the root system may fall on our side of the property line. However a giant, dangerous bunch of limbs from the tree hang over our house. Some do the same over his house. The tree WILL fall on our house at some point…or his house. Or both. The only question is when.
We discussed this with the neighbor (very pleasantly and cordially) and he says he thinks we will need to split the cost of taking the tree down because some of it is on our property. It will also require taking out part of our 2 year old fence to get to this giant tree.
In my experience if you want to remain in a nice cordial neighborly relationship with your neighbors, you share the cost of removing the tree if you and your neighbor see it as on both your property.
If you want to have a miserable unfriendly relationship with neighbors over this tree, you continue to refuse to share the cost.
The choice is now yours.
I personally would choose to share costs if i liked my neighbors.
It sounds like it was planted in the past by the neighbors previous property owners, but now it has grown so you share a tree.
If you split the bill 50/50 can you ask aobut including the cost of repairing your new fence as part of the 50/50? If not then maybe they will agree to you paying a percentage of the cost, because you will have to pay to repair your new fence.
Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do to preserve the peace.
Did you google this yet, you should!
It’s a universal problem, read how they deal with it in Berkeley Calif.
http://parents.berkeley.edu/recommend/home/trees_and_neighbors.html
By the way, do you have to jump through any legal hoops to cut down a tree in Knoxville? Some places have tree ordinances that require you to get city approval before you cut a tree.
Knoxville does have a tree ordinance, but it does not apply to residential property.
Are you in an Historic District?
Had a similar problem. Only, my neighbors tree actually fell onto my property and crushed a few section’s of my fence. Problem is, he had the trunk and debris removed but he isn’t liable to repair the fence. The tree falling would be an act of God. You would likely be responsible for any repairs to your house and fence as well as removal from your property. Seems like you would be better off splitting the cost now instead of living in fear and maybe avoiding a catastrophe and having to make an insurance claim in the future.
Also, removing a few section’s of a fence isn’t that big of a job. Anyone could do it if they had a helper to hold the fence.