A CF post to lighten moods? Our tree has fallen onto neighbor's trees...tree remover says it's not our responsibility?

[Catsinthecupboard]

This is just to distract us from the covid pain. I hope it falls into c.f. category?

Our neighbors split their property and after some shady dealings they built a home for their son. Surrounding neighbors (us included) objected as it was shoehorned into a wild, wooded area that buffered neighbors in rural area. It has inconvenienced all of us AND they claimed "hardship" in order to not put the home in a place that would have not crowded us.

Son is obnoxious, rude and has been unkind (dead rodents in our path, nothing I plant grows, purposely broken fence, pretty much constant harrasment until I finally brought law into it after he endangered our house/family. We suspect that he may have mental issues. He is married but seldom works. His wife is unfriendly, rude, and spends a lot of in skimpy swim suit on driveway by our fence?)

NOW, one of our trees in the woods has fallen from our property over our fence onto two of his trees. It did not hit the ground.

He asked my husband to pay for the tree removal Easter Saturday and dh agreed to call tree remover. Dh was actually VERY angry bc he felt that the placement of his house and his loud and obnoxious ways has disrupted our normally peaceful lives.

Neighbor put himself in the woods where trees normally fall as matter of course. He doesn't live in a neighborhood.

DH was professional and polite. Now the tree remover (decades of experience) said that it is VERY expensive (thousands) and would require a crane and as far as he is concerned it is not our responsibility. The tree has fallen onto his property, it just has not landed. If it had hit his shed or home, his insurance, not ours would take care of it.

We don't have any extra money. We are finally recovering from paycut and need it for our dc's education.

He has incredibly expensive things like boats and vehicles, even a time share helicopter! His home is not in danger. They do not have children to be endangered. He is worried abt losing his trees but he also broke rules and removed far more than he was allowed to remove (part of his unending noise.).

I suspected he was up to something as he was nice after 10 years of harassment. Now we know he was; it is his responsibility.

Should we offer to split the cost in an attempt to at last have peace? Do you think he would stop being so obnoxious? Would we be unreasonable to tell him that legally it is his problem? I feel guilty as it is our tree.

Is he a sneaky cf who should accept his legal obligation?

This happened to my parents

Their neighbour’s tree came down in a storm, landed on their conservatory

My parents had to claim on their own insurance

I think the tree surgeon is probably right. Our neighbours tree blew onto my car last year and I had to claim for the damage from my car insurance. The neighbour offered to pay the excess for me, but he didn’t have to.

Definitely neighbours insurance. Opposite me in a storm, a v big tree fell on neighbours house, broke over the top of the roof on a 3 storey house, top bit fell onto their decking and jacuzzi. They had to move out for 6 months. All went on their insurance. I believe if the tree can be proved to be diseased then the insurance company can deal with any claim on the other party.

@Thisismytimetoshine The Tree Surgeon (and the law of the land!) have said it's not their responsibility...

Unless it would be obvious to a lay person that the tree was in dangerous condition or you had been warned that the tree presented a risk and ignored it, then it usually isn’t your responsibility.

I don't think we know what country this is. Some of the OP words suggest it is not the one I live in.

So the customs and laws of this country may be different to those I know.

What a weird law, but he should be able to get his house insurance to pay for it.

Yeah, don't offer to pay anything. It sounds as though there's no neighbourly relationship that's worth being willing to offer something to keep the peace, so I would just shrug and leave the CF neighbour to deal with it himself.

Don’t pay, he’s possibly done something to it and karma has caught up

Oh yes, PigletJohn has a point. The spelling of 'neighbor' and the ability to overcome planning law by claiming hardship - neither of these things point to the OP being in the UK. In which case, we don't have a clue about the relevant law.

OP are you saying your tree has fallen into a space where his property is but where he was NOT legally allowed to land grab and build on? Because this would change everything.

@Thelittleweasel i was not really asking about the law. It is more of a moral issue. I apologize for not being clear.

I enjoy this community very much and wondered if it was a CF issue?

I feel guilty abt the tree but he has done several very awful things to us. I want peace. I am too old for this!

Mostly, we are in sad and troubled times and I hoped to throw a bit of our old, normal life into world. This is trivial but I thought maybe many could relate.

I value your opinions and perspectives.

Thank you very much for all of your comments! I was busy making masks to donate to hospitals so just returned. I think we will follow the local laws. You all are correct; he will not change. I feel a little less guilty.

@Everydayishistorytomorrow He was not allowed to build there but through a series of legal wrangling, he was eventually granted permission. He is absolutely the beneficiary of several variances.

It was as predicted, an unhappy intrusion. For others even more than us.

This is clearly not in the UK. Her wording is a bit odd too.

But I still think the law on this is wrong/weird. I just can't grasp how it's not the tree owners responsibility. How is that law right? What is the basis for that law? It just seems odd.

@Imboredinthehouse it is resting on his trees though....

@GreenTulips our insurance will not cover it. Plus deductible is high so abt the same. But thank you.

@cstaff me too!

Your not liable. Trees belong to whoever's land they're on. If it falls over it belongs to the person who's land/ house/ car its now on. That it hasn't landed doesn't matter as you own from the ground to the sky.

Yanbu. He sounds like a wanker and is keeping you sweet as he knows he's a CF. Also i bet he wouldn't remove if situation was reversed.

Well this wasn’t the light hearted thread that was promised 😂

"Deductible" you say.

Are you in the US?

Your tree your responsibility surely! Yabu

We suspect that he may have mental issues. He is married but seldom works. His wife is unfriendly, rude, and spends a lot of in skimpy swim suit on driveway

WTF???

Sounds like legally you’re not responsible.

If they hadn’t built a house in the woods it wouldn’t be an issue at all so I get why you’re pissed off about it, they pushed through planning permission and there’s now a house where you feel there shouldnt be one. But I guess if they’ve got planning permission then the house is treated the same as any other house.

But regardless of that if it’s their insurances responsibility then tell them to sort it. Is the tree semi balanced on other trees and in danger of falling on their house at the minute?

I’d see this as poetic justice tbh. Speak to your insurance company again to get the wording right of why it is his responsibility, not yours. You can use that info to communicate with the neighbour. When calling the insurance company, I would ask if you would be insured if it was his tree, which fell on yours. It sounds as if there are a lot of trees around and you need to ensure your property is correctly protected.