Sometime over the weekend, my neighbor cut the top 1/3 off a tree that is wholly in my yard. The tree was about 25 feet tall and very full-looking, like a tree should. But now has a ghastly shape with the top portion clearly missing. They must have reached a good 3 feet over the fence (this is CA - we have fences) to get at the limb they lopped-off, which was probably a good 3-4 inches around. They then dragged the top of my tree across the street and tossed-it whole into the open space next to a bike trail, in with a bunch of bushes.
These people are both monumentally stupid and completely lacking in respect for others, not to mention what they did (the cutting - reaching over the fence line, and then dumping in the open space) was illegal. I understand the need to trim branches and roots that creep over the property line - I have no issues there. It would have been nice for them to ask me to do the trimming, I would have happily done so. However, the way this happened and how much they took, that I now have to pass by my dead treetop in the open space when I walk the dog, and my mis-shapen remaining tree, is making me more and more pissed-off.
I want to go have a chat with them, and tried this morning upon my discovery, but they appear to be out of town. The longer I have to wait to talk with them, the more I have thoughts of getting the tree top and leaving it in their driveway with a note “Please dispose of this properly in your green waste bin. Oh, and ask before you cut, assholes!”, or doing an aggressive trim job along the fence line on their trees, or tossing the dead tree-top into their backyard (which they had just tidied-up), or into their pool for a nice welcome home present. But nooo, I am an adult and need to have a talk with them.
Anyway, rant over. I don’t want to do anything legal, but they need to know my displeasure, and I want to remind them of boundaries, lest I come home from work one day and find more remodeling. Anyone have any other ideas (real or fantasy) on how to react to this situation?
Do you want to keep things friendly or not? Friendly is a talk over a beer, wine, or afternoon coffee. Not is having your attorney craft a letter referencing the appropriate law. Really unfriendly is potentially small claims court for the damages (mature tree, damage to your property value and so on).
We are not friendly with them, but we share a common fence and I don’t want to live in constant conflict. I wont be having a drink with them, but I don’t think we will be suing them, either. I just want them to know what they did was wrong and disappointing. If the tree dies as a result of this then I think they would owe us the value of the tree, but I have not yet thought about how we would collect on that.
I see that you don’t want to involve the law, so that limits you to talking to them and documenting the incident. Take pictures of the damage to the tree. If you have any before pictures, I’d save those too. Take pictures of the fence. Document how far it is from your property line. You should keep your options open for later. Make it clear to your neighbor what your expectations are for any further changes to your property. I would put that in writing. Either take the letter with you and talk through it, or send it as back up after the conversation. In the future, you expect that they will not enter your property without prior written permission (for example). If the tree dies, you will expect reimbursement, etc.
Good points. I did take some photos this morning, but you are right I need to show it in relation to the fence. Leaving them with a copy of a letter outlining expectations (and the law) is a good idea.
A real-life case similar to this in “People’s Court”, and a fictional one in “Cold Case.” Who’s the municipal officer one can talk to in this case? The Sheriff? A jerk has to at least be informed he’s a jerk, even if there are no legal proceedings.
Leave a love letter to the husband in the letter-box. Don’t sign it, just write lovingly about how you look forward to when he eventually leaves his wife and you can be together. Continue doing this.
Hopefully you can cause a divorce and they will have to sell up and move. They deserve it.
You say you don’t want to “do anything legal”, but I strongly suggest that you contact your local authorities. It might be someone in code enforcement, or possibly the police. They are in the business of dealing with property line disputes, and you are paying their salaries, so why not use them?
Speaking generally, if you don’t take some official action at this point to inform/involve someone else, it didn’t happen. That is one reason folk often recommend sending a letter via certified mail. That creates a record. If you inform the municipality/county/police, they keep a record.
Also, the authorities might remove the cut branch, elimination your constant reminder.
If you don’t do SOMETHING to explain your displeasure over this and your desire that it not reoccur, the neighbors may well feel they have free rein to repeat or even increase their transgressions.
Also, should the tree die - or you become tired of its new ugly shape, you will face removal and replacement costs, which can run into the thousand, depending on the location/species.
As a very general matter, in most jurisdictions, you are free to cut anything that overhangs your property, so long as doing so does not kill the tree. You are NOT allowed to reach over the property line/fence. Trees right on the property line are more problematic.
I would speak to someone in municipal enforcement. That’s your tree top that has been illegally dumped, and someone may come after you for putting it there and/or to have it removed.
It’s a very un-neighbourly thing to do. I’d be very pissed off, and upset at the damage to my tree if this had happened to me.
Also take some pics of the branches that were removed and discarded across the street (maybe you’ve already done this); this documents the size of what was removed, and also the fact that they illegally dumped it.
Is there any chance they would deny doing this? That is, what proof do you have that it was them? If no proof, then going to the law is going to be problematic, if you should decide to go that route, as suggested by some here.
Some homeowners policies cover damage to trees on the property. Because of this I’d file a police report so you have a record of the damage. You don’t have to claim that your neighbor did it, just that while you were away somebody damaged your property. This serves a few purposes.
If your insurance covers it and you want to pay the deductible you can have the tree replaced.
You can mention to your neighbors that “somebody” cut the top off your tree, you had to file a police report, and did they see anybody on your property who might have been involved?
You can make a Casualty Deduction on your federal income tax next year.
If you do get fined for the illegal dumping you have something to show the judge.
About five years ago our neighbors behind us decided to put up a privacy fence. We have a crabapple tree in our back yard about two feet from the property line. When the fence went up, they basically sheared off every branch about two inches from where it would hit the fence. It pissed me off at the time, even though they only cut off branches up to the property line, mostly because they could have at least come over and told us what they were doing first. (It also pissed me off that they put the finished side of the fence on the inside, not facing out which is generally the norm around here.)
Unless you’re 100% positive that they did it, and they know you know they did it, then I would suggest the following tactic:
Knock on their door, and politely ask if they happened to see anyone cut down your tree. Say that you liked that tree a lot and you’re really sad that it is so disfigured now. I would presume they would feign ignorance – if so, then throw in that if they ever notice any growth on your side intruding on their property, they should let you know promptly and you’d be very happy to take action to fix it. If they don’t feign ignorance, and admit to doing it, then say that you’re really sad that they didn’t ask you first – explain how happy you would have been to work with them to fix any issues they had with it intruding on their property. If they’re half-way decent human beings, they might apologize and ask how they can make it right. If not, at least you’ll have some information on what kind of people they are for future dealings.
The above tactic is meant both as information gathering (what kind of people they really are) and fig-leaf offering/de-escalation. At least you’d lose nothing doing this before reporting it to the authorities, and maybe this could resolve it and improve relations at the same time.
Filing a police report does not equal pressing charges. In fact, doing so, then allowing the neighbor to beg you out of pressing charges could be your way back to a civil relationship with the neighbor.
You do not want to be in the position of being hauled out for illegal dumping, and then belatedly trying to “blame” the neighbor.
When you talk to the police, don’t say “they did it” unless you saw them do it. “I can’t think of anyone else who would have a reason to” is your best approach there.
But they’ve created a situation in which you are forced to report this to protect yourself, and that’s what you say to them the first chance you get.
From what you’ve described, it seems as though they (or the tree surgeon) would have had to be trespassing in order to cut the tree top. Is that right? Do you think they’d have done it themselves? If not, a call around to the local tree trimming services might be fruitful.
As for the aesthetics, the good news is that the tree will probably fill itself in. It’ll take 2-3 years, but nature hates to waste a good sunbeam.
We don’t have pics, but if they cut off the apical meristem, it could be years, if it EVER recovers. Just look under utility wires to see how fucked up trees can grow after unintelligent pruning.
They are allowed to trim overhanging branches up to the property line, but they aren’t allowed to damage the tree.
So they weren’t allowed to cut over into your yard. Plus, they have likely damaged the tree. And they have reduced the value of your house because the tree is not as pleasing.
Of course, getting money from the fools will be a challenge. Anyone uncaring enough to chop down that much of the tree is not going to just agree to compensation. You’ll have to sue them and deal with all that entails.
We live on the end of a loop - our two homes are the last on the inside of the loop. The side of both homes is the street. At the intersection of the property line and the street is a community mailbox, and a utility box. The space for the utility box is cut-out from both our yards equally. This is where they accessed said limb and where they took action.
I took photos yesterday morning that show where the tree was cut, the trail of leaves leading from behind the mailbox across the street, the debris that was dragged across the bike trail, and the final resting place of the tree top. This afternoon I will get the photo of the cut in relation to the fence when the sun is on that area.
We saw them working in their yard over the weekend, so it’s pretty sure thing they did it. Who else would have done such a thing? It would have taken some effort for a passer-by to do this. Besides, they probably have other branches they snipped in their green waste bin as I type. They have done this sort of thing before, but that was fair game branches hanging over their side, so did not say anything. That said, I favor iiandyiiii’s approach to go ask some questions first, but also think I should file a police report as Dinsdale suggests, to protect myself, as well as send a clear message to them.
The tree is a crape myrtle about 16-17 years old. I think the flowers and buds dropping off/blowing off the tree from the wind into their yard is what prompted them. I still think they are assholes, but I want to take a civil and firm next step.