Alienspecimen
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Best Coast RI
I am seeking advice on how to go about a tree dispute with my neighbor.
The neighbor has the type of trees that grow really fast in height and produce very few branches. As they grow, if not capped, they start to split and eventually fall on the ground because of their own weight or in some instances, the entire tree falls down.
There are mainly two trees in question, they live about a foot away from the property fence in neighbors yard. Over the years, one of them has developed seven or eight branches about twenty-thirty feet long, half of which hang over the fence and into my yard. The other one has about six branches, and only one is hanging over the neighbors yard. Having seen these overtaking my yard was never a problem...
The problem lies in the fact that these trees are very weak and break easily. Over the years, large branches have fallen off of them and getting stuck between other branches, half hanging on her and the other half hanging on my side of the fence. One is still there, after three years, I just cut whatever was on my side. If properly maintained, lets say being capped at certain intervals, their branches would only grow up and not split and fall under their weight.
It really became an issue after the recent hurricane Irene (hurricane is an exaggeration, it was more like a storm by the time it reached RI). One of these huge branches fell over my son's playhouse.
The neighbor is an older widow. Her house and yard are perfectly manicured and she spend recently some money on yard work. Her son also helps her. I am an understanding neighbor and sensitive to the fact that most older people are not exactly rich, but this was obviously becoming a problem and keep in mind that I really have not had steady income since the end of last year, when I lost my job.
I went and knocked on the door. She came out, we started talking and she called her son who was working in the yard at the time. He does not live with her, but visits often and helps with maintenance. He is also a very arrogant man. The woman stated that she always wanted to take down these trees, as she never liked them. His ultimatum was that any work that needs to be done must be done from my side of the fence, “because the yard will be torn apart by the use of heavy equipment”. It struck me as really odd that someone wanting to do work on their trees, would ask their neighbor for access, because the integrity of the yard needs to be preserved.
He did not get the reaction he expected. As an understanding neighbor, I said “OK”. They both got excited and even offered to pick up the branch that fell in my yard, which now I know amounts to about a third of a cord.
Things turned one eighty after the contractors came and said that “there are too many obstacles” and they cant get in from my side. My backyard is about fifteen feet lower than my front yard and the dividing line between is very steep, which also does not allow the “heavy equipment” to get in.
I was told that they are not going to take down the trees, but also instead of capping them, the maintenance plan is “to take care of the fallen branches, if it falls on your side, you take care of it, if it falls on my side, I take care of it”.
After that, I went on the Internet and made a search, from which I found that I can do some work to a certain extend on branches that hang over my yard. Good, but also bad, because with the amount of work needed to make my yard safe, I will be severely compromising the structural integrity of her trees for which I understand I will be penalized. What happens if the tree falls over her house, just because the counterweight isn't there anymore, etc? I am faced with the only one option-to wait until a branch falls down and in a mean time hope that it does not destroy anything that I have under, such as playhouse, trampoline and a shed or worse: falls on someone's head.
I also really dont understand how because the neighbor refuses to maintain her trees, suddenly it becomes my problem. There must be somewhere a provision that protects me from that.
Can you shed some light and point me in the right direction? I really appreciate your time.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. This is what it looked after the storm, funny, the fact that there's damage on the playhouse, never came up:
The neighbor has the type of trees that grow really fast in height and produce very few branches. As they grow, if not capped, they start to split and eventually fall on the ground because of their own weight or in some instances, the entire tree falls down.
There are mainly two trees in question, they live about a foot away from the property fence in neighbors yard. Over the years, one of them has developed seven or eight branches about twenty-thirty feet long, half of which hang over the fence and into my yard. The other one has about six branches, and only one is hanging over the neighbors yard. Having seen these overtaking my yard was never a problem...
The problem lies in the fact that these trees are very weak and break easily. Over the years, large branches have fallen off of them and getting stuck between other branches, half hanging on her and the other half hanging on my side of the fence. One is still there, after three years, I just cut whatever was on my side. If properly maintained, lets say being capped at certain intervals, their branches would only grow up and not split and fall under their weight.
It really became an issue after the recent hurricane Irene (hurricane is an exaggeration, it was more like a storm by the time it reached RI). One of these huge branches fell over my son's playhouse.
The neighbor is an older widow. Her house and yard are perfectly manicured and she spend recently some money on yard work. Her son also helps her. I am an understanding neighbor and sensitive to the fact that most older people are not exactly rich, but this was obviously becoming a problem and keep in mind that I really have not had steady income since the end of last year, when I lost my job.
I went and knocked on the door. She came out, we started talking and she called her son who was working in the yard at the time. He does not live with her, but visits often and helps with maintenance. He is also a very arrogant man. The woman stated that she always wanted to take down these trees, as she never liked them. His ultimatum was that any work that needs to be done must be done from my side of the fence, “because the yard will be torn apart by the use of heavy equipment”. It struck me as really odd that someone wanting to do work on their trees, would ask their neighbor for access, because the integrity of the yard needs to be preserved.
He did not get the reaction he expected. As an understanding neighbor, I said “OK”. They both got excited and even offered to pick up the branch that fell in my yard, which now I know amounts to about a third of a cord.
Things turned one eighty after the contractors came and said that “there are too many obstacles” and they cant get in from my side. My backyard is about fifteen feet lower than my front yard and the dividing line between is very steep, which also does not allow the “heavy equipment” to get in.
I was told that they are not going to take down the trees, but also instead of capping them, the maintenance plan is “to take care of the fallen branches, if it falls on your side, you take care of it, if it falls on my side, I take care of it”.
After that, I went on the Internet and made a search, from which I found that I can do some work to a certain extend on branches that hang over my yard. Good, but also bad, because with the amount of work needed to make my yard safe, I will be severely compromising the structural integrity of her trees for which I understand I will be penalized. What happens if the tree falls over her house, just because the counterweight isn't there anymore, etc? I am faced with the only one option-to wait until a branch falls down and in a mean time hope that it does not destroy anything that I have under, such as playhouse, trampoline and a shed or worse: falls on someone's head.
I also really dont understand how because the neighbor refuses to maintain her trees, suddenly it becomes my problem. There must be somewhere a provision that protects me from that.
Can you shed some light and point me in the right direction? I really appreciate your time.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. This is what it looked after the storm, funny, the fact that there's damage on the playhouse, never came up:
