So, for the second time in a little less than 5 years, a tree has fallen in my driveway and banged up my cars. My driveway runs parallel to my neighbors’ driveway, and the tree was on the other side of the fence. One of their cars is smashed flat.
Last time this happened, back in 2010, it was one of my trees that fell and one of my cars was totaled, and the other sustained about $2k damage. This time around, both cars sustained only cosmetic damage. I’m guessing damage to each car will be less than the $500 deductible.
There are 5 more of the same kind of tree, about the same age/size as the two that have already come down, all within striking distance of where I park. None of which are on my property.
If the tree was on the other side of the fence, which I assume means ‘on the neighbor’s property’, shouldn’t his homeowner’s insurance cover any damage to your property, so you don’t have to pay any deductible?
Unfortunately, in most places if a neighbor’s tree falls in your yard, it’s your problem. I spent a thousand bucks to have one tree cut down and another cut way back in the yard of the rental property next to my house after part of one missed hitting my house by inches and destroyed my shed. Some neighbors will be nice and pay or share the cost of damages. But the owners of the rental property live out of town and ignored all my efforts to solve the problem. What really sucked was that by cutting down the dying tree, I prevented future damage to their property. I actually asked the tree guy if he could just cut off the half that was leaning over my property but he advised against it.
A Conversation is in order re: dangerous tree removal in a short time frame… If it doesn’t go as expected, then have an attorney carefully word a letter and send it by certified mail (with good neighbors, it shouldn’t go this far… but… ).
If the letter is ignored, on Strike 3, release the [del]hounds[/del] attorneys…
Or even an unhealthy one. Of course, by formally addressing and documenting a realistic and imminent hazard, you develop a liability case against the tree owner should that hazard cause you a loss. IOW: their homeowner’s policy becomes a reasonable source of recovery and you don’t have to scrounge up your deductible.
Yeah, what The Great Sun Jester said. If someone has been notified of a hazard they can be held liable, if it’s an unknown condition you’re out of luck.
As far as I can tell, trees falling are legally an act of God in every state and the “owner” of the tree has no liability. Documenting an imminent hazard does not create liability, it just documents that you knew an unsafe situation existed and continued parking your car in it.
The owner of the property called us last night and told us she’s made arrangements to have the downed tree removed, and is having the rest cut down as well.
there will still be two trees that will threaten my driveway, but I’m selling the house in the spring, so hopefully lightning won’t strike a third time
For healthy trees that do not pose an obvious threat, Yup. For a dead tree uprooted and thrown into your house by a hurricane, probably yup as well if nearby healthy trees were having similar issues–because the quality of the tree wasn’t the most likely cause of the loss, the hurricane was. But a sick tree overhanging a house that makes a reasonable person cringe when they look at it = strong support for a liability claim.
Same way I learned it? We bought our house in Spring 2002. Since then, three city-owned trees have given up the ghost. One did minor cosmetic damage to the corner of our roof - luckily the neighbor who usually parked there was not home or her car would have been squished. The next one fell and blocked part of our driveway (but we have a circular driveway so we weren’t blocked in. The last one squished my “old” car but good, it was a total loss (I bought a new one last summer and hadn’t donated the old one yet). We still have one city-owned tree on our property that I’m keeping a close eye on. :dubious:
There are lots of other trees in my neighborhood that are in the same state - I want to put flyers on all my neighbors’ cars warning of the danger of parking under old city-owned trees!
In my case, they were all city-owned trees. If they had been my trees, I would have had the option of having my gardener/tree trimmer remove them at my expense. But the city has little or no budget for pre-emptive tree removal these days (believe me, we checked).
Western Canada Compared to last winter I was surprised to find (from our first winter wind storm) downed trees to be prolific. On examination of these healthy looking trees the roots are rotten. It is amazing how these trees stood for so long as the anchor roots (approximately 6 inch diameter) have about a 1/4 inch wall of wood, the inside so rotten you can extract with your finger. Now here is the thing – If you go and cut a tree on your property your setting yourself up for a stoning or maybe a lynching. Public outcry I believe has created laws forbidding this type of thing (cutting of trees). In a year or five will one good storm bring down our forest, we had better find out how extensive this root rot is. To avoid catastrophic results I would suggest that B.C. Forest Service set up a task force in that they drill core samples (or tap with hammer using a doctors stethoscope) from the upper roots and determine when it will be time to have all logging focus on right of ways (power lines, highways etc. As for that tree looming over your home, I would first go into the woods and see for yourself “then cut the damn thing down”.
