I appreciate it nonetheless. I’m looking to avoid the need for one, and more importantly, avoid a pissing match in 5 more years.
Are you asking what your legal rights are in this situation, or how to best deal with your neighbor? If it’s the former, then a quick consult with a lawyer in NJ may be valuable information that you are unlikely to get on a message board.
If you’re a bar candidate and hopefully soon to be puppy lawyer, you really oughta read Fisher v. Lowe, 122 Mich. App. 418 (1983).
If it’s a weeping willow it really may not be adding value, in fact it may be quite the opposite. In addition to being common hosts to disease and insects that screw up other plants, the roots tend to can cause damage to foundations and walls if they are too close to buildings. But the bigger deal is that it can dramatically increase insurance premiums because they are notorious for coming down suddenly.
Since the neighbor already says he hates the tree, and you don’t seem to care for it that much, consider having it cut down. If you suggest that to the neighbor, and ask him to pay for half the cost, I bet he would agree. And probably think you were a really great neighbor, willing to cut a tree down just because it bothers him.
JerseyFrank, I hope you don’t mind if I jump in with a sorta-related question?
I live in NJ too. I have several large trees in my yard, and I am very closely situated to my neighbors. For the last few years, I’ve been kind of eying one of the trees nervously. The trunk is covered in ivy that we haven’t been able to kill off even with poison and cutting off all of the roots a few feet off the ground, and the ivy seems to be killing the tree (the tree is producing fewer and fewer leaves every year, and some of the branches are pretty much bare in the middle of summer). I’m 95% sure that the tree is on my property (hence, trying to kill the ivy), but it’s right on the edge of the line so I’d need to have someone out to actually check it.
The problem is the positioning. It’s about five or six feet up the heavily overgrown, nearly vertical slope up to the neighbor’s property, right next to my back deck and with its branches overhanging both of our houses. The houses are maybe 12 or 15 feet apart. If it decides to come down in a storm, it’s almost certain to fall directly onto one or both houses. From what I’ve read online, taking it out is going to require someone to cut it down one piece at a time, and their equipment is going to have a devil of a time getting to it. It’s going to cost a fortune, and I am unemployed and don’t have the cash right now.
Also, my neighbors must have noticed the problem, but they’ve neither said anything to me nor trimmed any of the overhanging branches.
Assuming that it is, indeed, on my property, and I don’t move immediately to have it taken out (…I’ve been considering for about three years, so for some value of “immediately”, considering the cost), what happens if some part of it does fall on my neighbor’s house? Will insurance refuse to pay because I knew that there was a possibility of it falling, even though I didn’t know for sure it would happen or when? Any other potential problems I haven’t considered?
Obviously, the smart thing to do would be to suck it up and have the tree taken down, and maybe see if I can talk the neighbors into covering part of the cost, but I seriously won’t be able to afford that until after my bankruptcy is done and I get a new job.
Willow is one of the most aggressive-rooting trees in North America. It is also beautiful, so it’s often a tough choice. If it were my choice, with a willow in between two pools, I’d cut it down. Afterward, I’d wish I had a lot where a willow made more sense.
Now, if you choose otherwise, there’s a modern technique you might try. It’s something that people with incredibly invasive bamboo have used. You can rent a trench digger, and lay root barrier in the trench, for you and your neighbor. You’ll also have to drag the willow branches off his pool cover, when you drag them off yours.
Sometimes, there’s a heavy price to pay for a magnificent thing like a willow tree.
You can check with a lawyer in New Jersey on this, but the general rule is that branches that hang over onto a neighbor’s property are fair game for him to cut, regardless of the potential effect on the tree (I suspect the willow wouldn’t be harmed unless it got so lopsided that it was more prone to fall over during a windstorm). The same probably goes for the roots.
The neighbor has no obligation whatsoever to pay for trimming the tree and if he does so it’s up to him. He may see it as a good deal if you ask him to pay for part of the cost of tree removal (half sounds like a bit much to me, but you never know).
If you decide to remove the tree and plant a substitute, 1) willows grow very fast so within a relatively short time you’d have another good-sized obnoxious tree, 2) planting a poplar as a replacement for a problem willow is sort of like substituting a morphine habit for your heroin addiction, and 3) there are plenty of other good trees you could plant aside from the fast-growing weak-wooded types featured in the “instant tree” ads. One possibility is the dawn redwood, a deciduous evergreen that grows fairly rapidly but is sturdy and attractive. I have three, the tallest of which is about 25 feet six years after planting as an 18-inch high sapling.
A former neighbor of mine had a huge pine tree, the branches of which would grow down to my roof and scrape the shingles if I didn’t trim them. I was busy doing that one day when he came over (we were friendly). He said he was fine with me trimming them because the previous owner of my place had taken him to court, and won, a lawsuit for damages caused by the tree.
My BIL had a sort of similar situation. At one corner of his backyard his fence joins up with 2 neighbors’ fences (nextdoor neighbor and neighbor to the rear). A tree that was entirely on the property of the rear neighbor fell, crushing parts of all 3 of the fences. My recollection is that each homeowner’s individual insurance paid for the damage to their own fence.
I had thought the guy whose property the tree was on would be responsible for all of the damage, but that was not the case. And if anyone is going to smoke out any legal way to impose costs on someone else, it would be an insurance company!
If you are really concerned, you may wish to contact a lawyer, or perhaps your homeowner’s insurance company. But my non-expert opinion is that whether the tree is on your property or straddling the property line, the neighbor is responsible for trimming the branches overhanging his property if he is concerned about them, and would bear the costs of any damage resulting should they fall.
Interesting! I wonder if it worked that way because it’s an “act of God” situation, such as when a deer runs into your car?
Wow, that’s runs exactly counter to what I thought the deal was. I was under the impression that if you own a piece of property and a tree on it falls or whatever and damages anything on the adjacent property that you (or your insurance company) are liable.
I’m kinda in the same boat. I have a large dead tree on my property which is actually in the woods. If it falls just right it may strike my neighbor’s deck (or mine).
Very much surprised me as well. If I think of it next time I see him, I’ll ask to make sure I am remembering everything correctly, but I’m pretty sure I am.
It could be that each property owner’s insurance company just paid their claim, then dealt with the tree owner’s insurance company to get reimbursed - subrogation, I think? That’s part of what insurance is for - to pay you immediately, so you can continue with your life, then they do the legal battles to get reimbursed by the at-fault party, or their insurance. If the tree owner’s insurance company just paid the other insurance companies without a fight, the insureds may not even know that it happened.
In my state they passed a law some years ago that was very nonspecific in its intent. In short it said ‘you can’t sue over trees’ I’m sure it has done a lot to free up the courts times and convince people to work out their own problems. If a tree is growing over your property you can trim all you and or dig up roots if you feel the need if your actions on your own property happen to kill the tree its not your responsibility. If a tree on my property falls and hits my neighbors house its their home owners policy that covers the damage to their home.
Some states may have loads of laws to cover trees others may have something similar the Massachusetts.
I’m a bit puzzled by the title and the apparent premise of the thread, that the neighbour is required to accept the OP’s property being put on the neighbour’s property. What if the OP parked his car on the neighbour’s driveway without asking for permission - would the OP be surprised if the neighbour had the car removed? Why does the OP seem to assume that he has some right to put his property on the neighbour’s property?
The tree is overhanging the property line, but it is not on the neighbor’s property. Not at all like parking a car on the neighbor’s property.
Sorry to be contrary, but yes it is. For the most part, if you own a piece of real property, you own the ground below it and the airspace above it. Thus, the tree is “on the neighbor’s property” or perhaps more accurately, in the neighbor’s property.
What you seem to suggest is that it would be okay to park a hovering car on someone else’s property, or use a crane to hang a car over someone’s property, or throw a ball over someone’s property, or shoot bullets across someone’s property, etc…
“He’s engaging in reductio ad absurdum. … And I do not appreciate it.”
A friendly neighbor is worth more then a tree IMHO.
Working with your analogy, I fully expect my car in his driveway to be a no-go. But if during his removal he decided it was best to cut it up with a reciprocating saw, would that be ok? That was the essence of my question. That, and that I know “tree law” sometimes runs counter to the obvious (implied easements, root damage, etc.).
Any assumptions made were just for the sake of posing the question.