There is a big misconception about Trees and who’s responsibility it is to maintain them. I recently was called out on a property where the neighbors were telling my clients that they were going to have to trim the limbs that were coming over on there side of the fence. My client being a good neighbor asked me to go over and find out what they wanted done, I explained to him that it was not his responsibility to trim over there property ,Even though the tree was on his property but that I would go over and talk to them. As I entered the back yard I could not see any limbs that were in danger of falling on her roof. In fact the tree had already been trimmed up to about forty feet from the ground with huge stub cuts all the way down the side . As the woman was talking to me leaves were falling down on her like rain and she says to me ” See this is what I mean” , and I said what these leaves ? , and she says yes there all over , on my roof in my gutters and all over my yard , I explained to her that trees do shed leaves this time of year and that pruning more limbs back is not going to stop that . and that it is not my clients responsible to trim over her property anyway! she did not like that and really got mad then swearing and threatening all kind of legal action all because the tree was doing what it does naturally shed leaves.
Another point that I'm trying to make is that trees that are on your side of the fence are your responsibility . just because the trunk of the tree is on my side of the property line does not mean that I am responsible for what is hanging over on your side . I just recently gave an estimate to a gentleman that wanted all of the trees in his yard trimmed back away from his neighbors fence line . I told him that its not his responsibility and he said he knew but his neighbor was a good friend and he wanted to get it done for him . I said that he was a very good friend for wanting to spend thousands of dollars to trim the trees over his friends house.
In Closing I will tell you that if you have a tree on your property that is leaning over your neighbors yard , don't let them bully you into thinking that you are responsible for every branch that goes over on there side your not . and if they persist then hire a Certified Arborist and have them either contact the homeowner or write a letter to them explaining the law to them as it refers to trees and borderlines of property.
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