Forum Archive

I know I can trim any branches of a neighbor’s tree on my side of the property line, but my question is a variation on this theme:

My neighbor behind me has a beautiful, old, HUGE tree in her yard. The branches spread over 8 or more lots and the lowest branches are taller than our houses…more than 45 feet up. This tree may have never been pruned; it has many, many dead branches and needs a professional pruning because they will have to climb the tree to get to anything.

When I moved in two years ago, my yard had a lovely 50′+ pine tree and the assessment was that the other tree won the war and my tree would eventually be pushed over. I had it removed, at a cost of around $1200.

Since then, the neighbor’s tree has regularly been dropping branches in my yard and I’ve asked her twice, by note, to have the tree pruned. The request was ignored and the arborist that took down my tree told me she wasn’t going to do it. (He’d just done work for her.)

Right after a massive yard cleanup, the recent wind storms have dropped more branches; this time 2 huge branches…at least 7′ long. (The diameter is probably around 8″.)

So l-o-n-g story done, my big question is do I have any recourse to make her prune the tree. As always posted here, I will try again to be neighborly and speak to her directly, (I used the notes last time to not put her on the spot…) but her past disregard has me wondering what she’s required to do, as I sincerely don’t think this expense is my responsibility and I can’t afford to just flit it but I’m concerned about the increasing hazard and nuisance. Thanks!