Hazardous Neglect on Fenimore
We’ve gotten a couple of emails from residents of Prospect Lefferts Gardens who have the misfortune to live within throwing distance—or, in this case, falling distance—of 303 Fenimore Street, where years of neglect by the owner have created a downright dangerous situation in the backyard. Here’s what one reader had to say: “The only thing…
We’ve gotten a couple of emails from residents of Prospect Lefferts Gardens who have the misfortune to live within throwing distance—or, in this case, falling distance—of 303 Fenimore Street, where years of neglect by the owner have created a downright dangerous situation in the backyard. Here’s what one reader had to say: “The only thing that’s keeping the tree elevated are the phone and cable wires that run along the rear of all the homes between Fenimore Street and Rutland Road. During the recent rain storm the tree dropped a huge limb that fell onto my backyard. I have placed emails and calls to the mayor’s office, borough president’s office, Help Me Howard, Verizon and Cablevision to alert them of the problem. Some people say to simply cut the tree down, but it’s not that simple because if I do so I will be facing heavy fines from the property owner.” What’s the right move here? Which city agency should be dealing with this? GMAP
Unfortunately, a tree located on your property, where ever the branches extend past your property line, is the responsibility of the owner of the property where the tree is located.
However, I have seen often where an affected homeowner hire an arborist to reduce the risk to their property.
If I were her, I would hire the arborist and pay to have the tree removed and contact the owner for reimbursement.
City agencies are not interested in turf wars and would rather see the parties resolve it amongst themselves.
As a last effort to extend the olive branch, they should attempt to reach out to the block association president who could influence the owner to take responsibility for removing the hazard.
You may be liable for damages that occur when you prune, LC, but you are certainly not liable if they are “unhappy with the work” if that’s to mean what the tree looks like.
It’s cerrtainly nice that your neighbors do share the cost with you as you wouldn’t find that with most neighbors.
I legally can’t pay the arborist to enter onto my neighbor’s property. They tree folks require that someone be home to let them in, or that they be given an notarized letter indicating that they have the right to enter onto someone else’s property in order to do work.
I can and do pay for any work that can be done from my property without leaving branches in my neighbor’s yard.
I have offered to split the cost of the work with my neighbors so that all the work is done at one time, but I am leaving myself open to a lawsuit if I pay for the tree on their property to be cut then they are unhappy with the work or some damage occurs.
This isn’t some thing I made up and while it might be the neighborly thing for me to cut all the branches, the tree was here before me or any of my neighbors. It hangs over four backyards and only one family seems to have a problem with doing their own work. As I’ve been in my house for almost thirty years, I don’t think I should change the way I approach this situation.
I prune regularly, everything on my side, pay for someone to clear and prune what I can’t do myself, and offer to split the costs with the other folks that have branches so that we all save a little money.
Maybe the guy’s pissed off by the $4000 fine for work with out a permit. Is someone renovating 303 Fenimore?
I agree with maly. It’s your tree and you should take care of it. The neighbors do have the legal right to prune it as it hangs on their property but it’s your job to do so, not theirs.
From the looks of that property, it looks like these people don’t give a damn about anything, or perhaps don’t have the means to.
Lc arnett, you sound like a bad neighbor. Why live your home life in such legalistic strict, when it would be so easy to get your tree professionally pruned? This is a recipe for animosity, this sort of petty and narrow-minded bs.
If there are branches from a neighbor’s tree over your property, it is your responsibility to have them removed, not the property owner where the tree is rooted. I’ve got a 100+ year old tree in my backyard. My neighbor has been arguing with me about this for years, but the bottom line is I’m only responsible for the portion that is on or over my property. Once a branc reaches across the property line it is the property owner’s right/responsibility to prune/remove.
Has there been any attempt to approach the homeowner directly to discuss the issue?
We have a similar problem in our backyard and am interested in how this plays out.
I know of another neighbor that just went ahead and paid for a neighbor’s fallen tree to be removed because of an inability on their part to do it.
It’s between Rogers and Nostrand, so outside of the landmarked area.