How to Get Rid of a Neighbor's Tree
Yes, I know it sounds terrible from a environmental perspective, but this is just what my engineer has told me I must urgently do: get my neightbor to remove his tree, as it’s roots are causing serious harm to the foundation of my home. It is also spitting in half in a potentially dangerous fashion….
Yes, I know it sounds terrible from a environmental perspective, but this is just what my engineer has told me I must urgently do: get my neightbor to remove his tree, as it’s roots are causing serious harm to the foundation of my home. It is also spitting in half in a potentially dangerous fashion. The neighbor thus far doesn’t respond to calls and ignores certified letters. Thus far DOB and 311 bounce me back and forth between the two, and the Environmental Protection Agency only handles street trees, not those in the backyard. Any advice?
Thanks for the feedback everyone! The reason I put up the post was because the “neighbor” doesn’t occupy the property and has ignored calls & refused to sign certified letters. I don’t think killing the tree is a viable option because its base touches my home and the tree hangs over it, and would likely fall on top of me. It sounds like I need to hire a lawyer. If anyone else has other ideas, I certainly open to them. Thanks again!
A NY lawyer gave me that case & it was cited in NYS in the not-too-distant past. It provided a basis for me to write a letter to a neighbor who wouldn’t respond to my requests. There’s another case but it’s incredibly long & convoluted but ends up in essentially the same place.
Wow
Why get lawyers involved at this point.
He’s your neighbor.
Just ask if YOU can kill it.
Most people aren’t going to fork out the money to take down a tree umless they have to.
If you ask him, and take the burden on yourself, and he says no; well then you may want to look into legal recourse.
Be neighborly first. If he won’t be sue the jerk.
@Arkady: Do we have any reason to believe that Hawaiian tree law is similar to New York tree law? Even if so, do you think it’s possible there might have been some developments in the law since this case was decided in 1981? Really, if you don’t know how to do legal research, you’re doing others a serious disservice. If one of my first-year law students turned up with this case in response to the poster’s question, he or she would be told to go back and find something recent on point under New York law.
“[N]on-noxious plants ordinarily are not nuisances; that overhanging branches which merely cause shade or drop leaves, flowers, or fruit are not nuisances; that roots which interfere only with other plant life are not nuisances; that overhanging branches or protruding roots constitute a nuisance only when they actually cause, or there is imminent danger of them causing, sensible harm to property other than plant life, in ways other than by casting shade or dropping leaves, flowers, or fruit; that when overhanging branches or protruding roots actually cause, or there is imminent danger of them causing, sensible harm to property other than plant life, in ways other than by casting shade or dropping leaves, flowers, or fruit, the damaged or imminently endangered neighbor may require the owner of the tree to pay for the damages and to cut back the endangering branches or roots and, if such is not done within a reasonable time, the damaged or imminently endangered neighbor may cause the cutback to be done at the tree owner’s expense” (Whitesell, 2 Haw App at 367-368, 632 P2d at 1079).
Poison the ground near your foundation with a systemic herbicide. That will kill it without trespassing on your neighbor’s property. Otherwise call a lawyer, your neighbor might be more inclined to respond to a letter from an attorney.
If he won’t remove it, ask him if you can kill it. It’s not the best solution, but once it’s dead nature will take it down storm by storm. Once it’s dead at least the progress will stop.
To kill it you just bury the bottom of the trunk with dirt about a foot and a half high and then cover the dirt with rocks so it doesn’t errode. If you really want to speed it up, take a saw and cut a 2 inch strip of bark out around the trunk.
My neighbors tree was problemsome to me and I asked him if I could kill it.
I knew he wasn’t a motivated person, so by putting the burden on myself, it gave it the push I needed to get the job done.
He wanted more sun in his yard and so he let me kill it. It lost all it’s leaves in a week and for the last four years the branches have been dropping.
It’s just a trunk with one dead brank now.
It’s not the best senario, but we were both happy with it.
It only took me an hour, and he didn’t have to pay anyone, which was the biggest speed bump.