It's a constant battle!
Speaking of neighbors, she hates the tree and would probably be happy if I chopped the entire thing down, but I am not going to do that. In my area, there are rules for who is responsible for what when it comes t trees. This is something I learned the semi-hard way, as I have had tree issues with the neighbors on all three sides. The one on the side of the maple had branches touching her power lines. Technically if the branch is over the property line, the neighbor can cut the branch as long as it does not harm the tree (i.e. cutting an entire side of the tree off). However, as a good tree owner, I not only paid for the work to be done but had to coordinate with PG&E to have the power shut off and the lines taken down for the day while the arborist cut the tree.
On the back of my house, I have a huge incense cedar, which has needles. The neighbor in the back came over and complained to me that "the leaves were dropping on his property" and he would like me to cut off the entire side that hangs over his property so he did not have to clean up the leaves. He also said that he was afraid that a branch was going to fall on a car parked under the tree. In this case, I had the arborist trim any dead looking or dangerous or extra long branches off and do maintenance for the health of the tree, but I was not about to lop off one entire side of the tree.
The rules are that the person with the trunk on their property is responsible for regular maintenance of the tree. It should be trimmed in order to get rid of any dead, dangerous or dying limbs to keep it safe, but if a hurricane or natural event comes and knocks off a healthy branch and it damages the neighbor's property, technically they should have their insurance pay for it. If there is a branch hanging over their property and they want to trim it, technically they can; like I said, as long as it does not damage the health of the tree, it is allowed. They do not even need to ask for permission, although as a good neighbor I think that it is only polite.
The guy in the back did not like that I did not lop off the entire tree, so when I asked him politely a couple of years later to stop leaning heavy things on our shared fence because it was starting to buckle under the weight, he gave me a "I will remove the items if you chop off the tree" retort. Sigh! Not to make this rant too long, but technically the fence is shared and if it needs to be fixed, we should share the cost. Now, if the one neighbor is a pain, you would have to go to court to request payment for half, which of course nobody wants to do, so you may just be SOL.
The neighbor on the third side asked if he could trim a bit of the tree (the incense cedar) since it was hanging over his garage a little and I said sure and he cut off that entire side of the tree, which was much more than a "trim." In this case, I was not happy, he did not do what he said he was going to do, but the action had been taken and there was nothing I could do really at that point, so I opted to do nothing. Who knew that a simple things such as trees could cause so many discussions, issues and conflicts in the hood!?
Enjoy the new season! Good luck with the raking!
Have you ever had a conflict with a neighbor and if so, what did you do about it? What are the rules about shared trees and fences in your neighborhood? Is the weather changing where you are?
