From the Forum: How to Deal With Neighbors' Trees Hanging Over a Property Line?

A Brownstoner reader has a backyard covered in branches from neighbors’ trees, which block light and invite unwanted bugs.

soundhoner writes:

My back yard’s covered in the — very tall — trees from either side from two houses, where the branches are reaching over my yard, covering about 80% of it. To the point where I get no light in the back yard, and moisture builds up which mosquitoes and insects love. In the fall, I have a lot of cleaning to do. Needless to say, there’s no light hitting the back of the house windows, either, except in winter when there are no leaves on the branches.

Am I responsible for the branches coming over onto my property line?

What would you do?

A) Pay for the cost yourself of trimming the branches over your property line. Any idea what the costs are here? These trees are probably 1.5-2X the height of the houses around them.
B) Try to seek out and find the absentee owners on either side and try nicely to convince them it’s their responsibility to trim the branches on my side
C) Get the DoB involved; one of the two branches are intertwined with the cabling coming from a utility pole into my and the adjacent house’s wires.

Commenters are suggesting option A, but how would you handle the situation? Share your thoughts in the original post.

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