Neighbors overgrown tree damage garage

Your prob.

crownheightmrs

in About Brooklyn 11 years and 3 months ago

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bkjl | 11 years and 3 months ago

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I’m in the process of purchasing a home in Bay Ridge. The rear neighbor’s overgrown tree has damaged the detached 2 car garage in my backyard. The overgrown branches/vines essentially sits on top of the garage roof. The inspector has estimated the cost for repair to be 12-15k. Here is the exact verbiage from my home inspection report on the matter:

> The garage roofing superstructure appeared to be unsound and damaged by water leakage. Rafters and sheathing were wet and crumbling due to continuous exposures to element. This is mainly caused by the overhanging tree branches and overgrown on the roof top. All the debris and overgrown must be removed from the roof top prior to re-building the roof top.

I will of course reach out to the neighbor to come to some sort of agreement on who/how to prune the tree. I guess he can request that I chip in for the cost of the pruning. But do I have any legal rights to request to have him chip in for the cost of fixing my garage’s structure? Or is he legally obligated to pay for the damage to the garage? Thank you

BobMarvin | 11 years and 3 months ago

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AFAIK pruning overhanging branches is the responsibility of the homeowner over whose house they hang. You should probably be negotiating with the seller rather than the neighbor.

daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 3 months ago

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I agree with Bob. Get this taken care of with either a price reduction or escrow.

curiositykilledthecat | 11 years and 3 months ago

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Agreeing with Bob and Dave. Negotiate with the seller, who is peddling a garage with a damaged roof. Do not — I repeat — do not let your first interaction with your new neighbors be, “Hey, you better trim your tree and pay to fix this garage.”

bk1lnite | 11 years and 3 months ago

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Concurring w/ posters above… If you don’t own the property yet the 12-15k estimate is something you can try to use to negotiate with the seller. You have no reason to expect the neighbor to pay for old damage caused before your purchase. As an owner you can prune overhanging tree branches to the property line at your expense.

bkjl | 11 years and 3 months ago

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Thanks you all for the feedback and I don’t disagree with anything that’s been said. Only problem is that similar to the hip neighborhoods of Brooklyn, the less-hip neighborhoods (bay ridge, dyker heights, bensonhurst) that I’ve been searching in are also sellers markets. There’s essentially a long line of ready and willing buyer behind me that are willing to overlook these “minor” issues. I’m quoting here because I don’t think of it as minor but in this bk market it seems you either overlook these things or pass on the property, sellers aren’t moving on their price when they have so many buyer fighting for their property. Anyway, I already have a signed contract, so I don’t believe there’s anymore room to negotiate on price. The selling agent said that I’m lucky the seller signed because there were 2 other buyer who just offered 40k more. Not sure how true that is but I don’t think it’s far fetched based on what I’ve been seeing. So the question now is what are my options in terms of fixing the garage. I understand the point on not starting off on the wrong foot with neighbors but it also doesn’t seem right that I would have to carry the entire financial burden when it is pretty obvious that their tree caused the damage.

shahnandersen

in About Brooklyn 11 years and 3 months ago

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Reread the four messages above. You are in contract to buy a house with a damaged garage. You have to fix it at your expense. The part of the tree overhanging your property is not your neighbor’s. They are **your** branches.

ventilated | 11 years and 3 months ago

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What’s pretty obvious for you as buyer is the deferred maintenance by current owner of garage, not tree. By law, the overhanging branches are YOUR seller’s property and problem, yet you’re focused on the neighbor. The person about to sell you this house could have dealt with it, but didn’t. So you’re either willing to buy the problem and the repair (and probably many other repairs), or you’re not. If you can’t be at peace with that, or afford the repair(s), then you’re buying the wrong house. And, btw, you’re already starting out on the wrong foot if you’re resentful about buying in a “less-hip” neighborhood.

Townie | 11 years and 3 months ago

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I bet the neighbors are pissed that the rat infested eyesore you call a garage has been left to rot all these years… “We thank God every day for the lovely tree and climbing vines that try to conceal the mess and allow us to enjoy our property despite this horrendous symbol of neglect.” See how it works.

bk1lnite | 11 years and 3 months ago

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bkjl – You’re stubborn about this, but you need to forget about getting the neighbor to pay to fix your garage. This is your problem you’re buying in to. And yes, it is minor in the big picture. The cost of the garage repair is probably 1 or 2 percent of the cost in this transaction. If it bothers you so much to pay to fix it, then defer it – like the seller has done. It’s just a garage, not your living space. Later, when the money is less of an issue and you have more realistic ideas about home ownership you can take care of the repair and tree pruning.

daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 3 months ago

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Here is, yet again, another story highlighting what a good real estate attorney will aprise you of before you sign a contract. Many people don’t get one until after they sign but when there are questions like this, it’s best to consult one before you sign. I suspect in this case, given that it really IS a seller’s market, it wouldn’t have mattered and the seller wouldn’t budge. What everyone above says is right. It’s not the neighbor’s problem and better to get off on a positive note with new neighbors than a negative one. Throw a large tarp over the garage roof until you can make the repairs.

bkjl | 11 years and 3 months ago

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    string(34) "$P$BvkeUi0Fr3cYnGTTGN.aMHBWb5Ei5H."
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    string(24) "BrooklynJack28@gmail.com"
    ["user_url"]=>
    string(46) "http://bstoner.wpengine.com/forums/users/bkjl/"
    ["user_registered"]=>
    string(19) "2017-08-10 14:26:48"
    ["user_activation_key"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_status"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["display_name"]=>
    string(4) "bkjl"
    ["spam"]=>
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    ["deleted"]=>
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  }
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Appreciate all the feedback. A couple of comments:

BobMarvin | 11 years and 3 months ago

string(1) "1"
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  object(stdClass)#138896 (12) {
    ["ID"]=>
    string(3) "802"
    ["user_login"]=>
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    ["user_pass"]=>
    string(63) "$wp$2y$10$vXcETAGfbklfbxLqBuZOwe9SvZukjLn11bfJ4K5tk7sYEGuWi6OGW"
    ["user_nicename"]=>
    string(9) "bobmarvin"
    ["user_email"]=>
    string(17) "marvbej@gmail.com"
    ["user_url"]=>
    string(31) "http:///forums/users/bobmarvin/"
    ["user_registered"]=>
    string(19) "2006-09-08 23:16:42"
    ["user_activation_key"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_status"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["display_name"]=>
    string(10) "Bob Marvin"
    ["spam"]=>
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We shouldn’t be too hard on the original poster. While experienced homeowners know that they’re responsible for branches overhanging their yard, it seems perfectly logical that the neighboring homeowner might be liable for damage caused by his tree (except of course that it isn’t the case).