Here's something we dealt with many many many year ago...we had an aunt in Alabama, her neighbors tree lost a huge limb which hit her house and caused roof and gutter damage. She was told she had to pay for it out of her own pocket. So i got involved and i checked on things...and it turns out that the tree was not a naturally growing tree that was on the property as a part of nature...the neighbor had planted the tree themselves without looking into the overall growth rate of the tree and the possibility that the tree could land on the neighbors house if it fell...the tree shouldve been planted over 20 feet further from the house considering its growth rate and expected size at maturity, thereby making it her responsibility and changing the fact that it was supposedly a "natural disaster". In the end, the neighbor paid for the damage to her house.
@@hime273 If the property is on a "green zone" of land they have extensive records of what should and shouldn't be there. My grandparents live on a piece of land like that and they can't even remove a single tree without getting it approved. If unapproved changes happen that is when they get people out there to investigate the zone and can write fines for non compliance. These record are usually for the removal of trees but can be used in cases like this. They also could have just had the neighbors admit to adding the tree because they thought this law would absolve them from liability.
@@hime273 It's in the city ordinance that you have to account for the genetics and family tree of all plants on the property and requires an analysis with approval from a certified Professional Engineer. My Uncle worked for the Alabama Plant Management and Planning division as an Adjudicator Specialist assigned to handle all legal matters and disputes related to tree damage and overgrowth. He mentioned stories like this where one neighbor accuses the other of planting unauthorized trees and after demanding the engineering analysis and approval, the other neighbor will have to pay out of pocket, the insurance company cannot even help because the tree is undocumented therefore not part of the property assets.
@@RwP223 Please tell me you realize how asinine that whole concept and system is. I mean why the hell would anybody live in a location with that kind of Regulation. I never realized that Alabama was that anal about Trees, requiring blood tests and Urinalysis for each Tree.🙄 Talk about Government overreach..
Here in WI, it's a no-fault act of Nature and when a tree came down in our yard and squashed our neighbor's fence and birdbath, we had to pay for cleanup of the tree on our side and our neighbor had to pay for the cleanup of the tree on their side. However, we decided to pay for all of it, because we are good neighbors.
It sucks that we live in a world where everyone has to know their "liability" in any given situation like this and try to fight it at every opportunity they can... Good on you guys for not turning it into something like that! The neighbors in this story could have been nice and at least helped her since it was their tree but they are going to turn a blind eye to it because "it is not their problem the law says sooooo!"... SMH so heartless...
Trolled: Good for you, but sadly, MANY people are not. And it can be kind of random, as people in many places move a lot. I've been lucky and always treated neighbors with respect and consult with them on things I change, but it's good to check on laws and be prepared.
Here’s a bizarre story: There was a tree on the property line between my Brother’s house and a neighbor. The neighbor got in a huff about it and sawed the tree in half, removing the half on his side of the property line. THEN they had a survey done and the neighbor learned the property line was not where he thought it was, and he actually owned the entire tree, so the neighbor now owns half a tree.
@@stevejohnson6053 No, the neighbor owns the entire tree, but didn't know that when he sawed it in half. Turned out that bro didn't own ANY of the tree.
@@musicloverme3993 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂Love it!!!! I have an ahole neighbor like that. The bad thing is he doesn't care about his yard or his trees and doesn't maintain the trees and his stuff is constantly falling in my yard. He also has a tree that keeps leaning further and further into my yard and one day IT WILL fall, into my yard.
A neighbors tree fell on my house and damaged my gutters. I thought the wind had blown it over, but she came over and said she cut it down and it didn’t go as plan. The funny thing about this is, she cut down a 10” diameter tree with a drywall saw. She said it took her three days of cutting it in the evening after work before it fell😂 To replace the gutter (back) she knocked down was going to be $500. If I replaced both the front and back gutters it was going to cost $700. So I told her instead of paying $500 for the gutter she damaged, she could pay $350 for the back one and I would pay $350 for the front one. She agreed and I got them both replaced. It is nice to have good neighbors.
Same in Georgia. If a neighbor has a sketchy tree, you can hire an arborist and if they determine the tree is at risk of falling then the two of you split the cost of the arborist and they are now liable for the tree if it falls.
I’m also in GA. We were told by insurer to send certified letters to our neighboring properties identifying which trees could reach our house, so that if it fell, the certified letter would serve as notice to hold them equally responsible. My property and the two that border me all have massive 125’ to 150’ pine trees. I’ve had a few taken down on my property.
It should not take an arborist to determine that. Trees don't just fall. Unless it is hurricane force winds and you have cases of random trees falling all over, it doesn't seem likely that a tree falling is natural. It would have to be some kind of neglect. Forcing the neighbor to hire an arborist to make a determination is nothing but a nonsense hoop to jump through that is designed to protect neglect. It is as bad as no fault insurance in michigan. I like brantmacga's idea of just sending notices to any neighbor about any tree that could fall and hit your house. Seems like the best way to get around silly laws that protect homeowners from neglecting their own trees. As far as I can tell, neglecting trees is the norm for 99.99% of people. No one cares about "yearly" maintenance until they fall over or grow big enough to touch a structure.
I'm in GA also. We had 2 LARGE oak trees fall on our house. They were across the property line, but just. After the first one fell, we were told that since the tree was alive and healthy, it would be considered "an act of God" and we were responsible for the repairs and cleanup. The first tree actually landed on top of the house so our insurance paid for everything but our deductible. The second tree did a glacing blow and landed on the ground. Our insurance paid for the repairs on the house, but we had to pay to have the tree removed.
@@brantmacga that a tree could reach your house is likely irrelevant . The tree has to be known to be damaged or sick/dying and a hazard. Mere geometry doesn’t cause a negligence situation. Just as a property being higher on a hill than yours doesn’t automatically create a landslide liability for the other owner. There must be a discovered and documented abnormal risk situation - that is then communicated (in a documented way) to the other property owner.
This happened to us. We had a tree on the property line, a big old 100 year old American Elm. It was in apparent good shape, no damage, no dead branches, no visible rot. One day it just fell over. It wasn't windy, we hadn't had any bad weather recently. It just had a big rotten spot at the base that wasn't visible and one day the remaining solid wood gave out. It didn't hit any buildings but it took out about 30 feet of the neighbor's fence. Luckily there wasn't any conflict. We both agreed the tree had looked fine, and the exact property line was a bit fuzzy but the tree was probably at least partially on both sides of the line. So we each fixed our own damage and called it good.
@@tinydancer7426 There's a lot to be said for having an accurate idea of where your property lines are, but I don't see much reason to spend the money for a survey to figure out whose property a tree is on. If you're specifically worried about a tree the cost of having it taken down may be cheaper than asurvey, and definitely cheaper thana survey plus the cost of removing the tree.
I have a property in a wooded community. They (the board) wanted to widen the road in front of my house, which was fine by me, but the kept telling me and my mom (original and then co-owner) that we were responsible for removing a couple of trees that had to go to widen the road. Big nope, they were within the road right or way (original developer chose not to make the road the full width at the time of establishing the community (originally the roads were packed shale, renewed as needed, sometimes annually). Anyway, the frontage of the property was clearly established with survey pins with poles next to them, but they didn't want to go by that. And, they (the board) were all set to have the road crew also cutback/cut off part of the property along the road where the survey markers were already at the edge of the road right-of-way. So, they were told, if you do not want to go by the survey markers and survey drawing showing the property, primary trees, driveway location, house, etc ..... including the location of the road right-of-way with the metes and bound s description from the deed .... they c0uld hire another surveyor or we would get the same surveyor we had used before, and the could foot the bill to survey the frontage of the property. But, if they cut off an inch of the property where it is already at the right of way, be prepared to spend Association money in court. (The didn't want to widen on the other side of the road where all the property "frontages" were out in the right of way as much a 6 to 8 feet, including their driveway entrances). That was back in the early 1990's ...... they didn't widen the road back then ....... and still to this day, the road has not been property, if at all, widened.
@@tinydancer7426 The bit about wanting you to pay for tree removal sounds like they believed in the adage that "it never hurts to ask". Even if the trees were on your property, if there's a reason they need to be trimmed to widen the road it's the responsibility of the people responsible for widening the road, and that wasn't you. If they needed some of your property or to remove trees on your property they're obligated to fairly compensate you. Of course that assumes you didn't agree to some HOA rules that say otherwise.
There is a Chinese Elm in my front yard that's older than the house. It is extremely prone to shedding branches during windstorms (which are quite common out here, especially in the summer). The neighbor who lives across the street from me parks his truck under my tree quite frequently. No clue why, but that's not really significant since he's not breaking any laws. Every other year, I pay professionals to come out, give the tree a safety inspection, and a trim. So far, that's been sufficient to prevent any tree-related damage. The only argument I had with a neighbor was when my neighbor to the east claimed that the fence wasn't on the property line, but was instead 3' into his property, and he wanted me to pay full cost to move it. So, I hired a surveyor who came out and marked the property lines. Turns out the fence is actually pretty deep into my property and 1/2 his garage is built on my property. After that revelation, he was content to leave the fence where it was and I saw no reason to pursue the issue further.
If there was "strict liability" for owning a tree there wouldn't be any trees left. Everyone would chop down all their trees. That's why it's left by most jurisdictions to common law, which makes you liable only if you'e negligent (leaving a rotting tree around that you know is dangerous).
Exactly. Insurance companies would even start requiring you to cut down trees that were anywhere near a property line just to be sure. And everyone would cut, because most people have absolutely no choice but to buy said insurance.
I've ran into this many times as a remodeling general contractor in Alabama, it still confuses me to this day but I've seen the insurance adjusters pay for it time and again, and refuse coverage to people who try to file a claim thinking it's their fault
Maybe, but they do have a fiscal responsibility to the client because of the contract. They can't legally deny the claim for the sake of denying the claim.
Typically when I say this the neighbors have a good relationship and everyone is always confused as to why the person whose house or car or fence was hit has to file the insurance claim
What's confusing about it? If a Texaco canopy gets flung a mile away and sticks itself in your roof (had a claim like this once), is that the gas station's fault? Is it any different than if a tornado flung a boulder at your house? Doesn't matter if wind borne debris or Falling Objects originate from your property, someone else's property, the sky or outer space (yes, planes and satellites are covered Falling Objects losses) - if it's the result of a covered peril, it's a covered loss under your insurance. Only way the other party would be liable is if the tree was clearly diseased or a fall hazard, and you have a record of correspondence proving you requested they remove it. Since proof they actually received said correspondence means sending it via certified letter, and since no one actually does that or keeps a record of it, subrogation for these types of losses is incredibly rare.
I watched a case once where negligence was set on owner of tree that fell. Because tree rot was documented prior to tree falling and causing neighbors damage. Even, though the owner claimed rot, was a natural growth process.
If it comes down simply as a result of gravity a falling tree is always a natural process, but the property owner has a responsibility to deal with or fix some natural things if they're obvious.
In Georgia, it's considered an "Act of God" if a neighbor's tree falls on your property due to a storm or heavy winds. Also, If a neighbor has a tree whose branches grow over the property line over your property that part of the tree becomes yours and you have the right to trim the limbs back. It's a cost, but if the limbs are large enough to do damage of any kind you can take it upon yourself to do so.
Same here in NY. I live in an older neighborhood with lots of tall mature trees, including the seriously large eastern white pine in my backyard that's in the very corner of my property.. When we moved in 23 years ago the hag who lived behind me came over and wanted me to cut down the tree because it dropped needles in her yard. I refused to cut down that majestic beast, so she hired a tree service and lopped off every single branch that overhung the property line 🤬
The portion of the tree over your property can be pruned or the roots cut, provided it does not affect the health and stability of the tree causing it to decline.
That's under state law in MI as well. One of our trees broke in a storm and hit the neighbors roof. He came over screaming about paying him for the damage. Our insurance agent said "nope".
When windstorm hit Spokane about 13 years ago, my neighbor's tree took out my powerline, yanking it from my house and slamming the meter to the ground. I called my insurance to see what my options were and was told that it was on me and my insurance to get my house fixed and the masthead replaced. My agent told me that I could take my neighbor to court to attempt to reclaim the money, but ultimately it was my insurance for my property that was on the hook, not her or hers. I think it's far more common than most people think - kind of like your car insurance is for your car, and if you want to recover your deductible you have to file suit to do it (or your insurance company will if the case is strong enough). I paid for my house repairs and chalked it up as a learning experience!
Guy in North Seattle area last year decided to use a tree guy that would cut if free for the wood. Great deal right, since the pros wanted to charge a lot. Why worry about having someone that is bonded/insured and licensed. Well that "guy" tried to do it without the right equipment, on a rather windy day. Yep, after the tree fell onto the neighbors house the guy split. Technically mission accomplished since the tree was down, although the guy left the wood. Anyway what you do is pay a pro to cut it and maybe get someone to come get the cut wood for free.
I live in Mass. and neighbors tree fell on my parents house did some damage due to a storm. My parents had to file a claim against their own homeowners insurance with the insurance company explaining they treat it no differently than if a tornado had picked up a random piece of wood and dropped it on their house. The only time the neighbor is liable is if the the tree is obviously some sort of hazard that was going to obviously fall at some point and they failed to get the tree taken down.
I think the reason why the laws are often like that is that it makes the headaches of insurance companies fighting over responsibility a lot faster. I doubt there's much affect in aggregate on various insurance companies as one incident might go to one of the two companies and the next might swing the other way around.
Yep, and if the tree WAS diseased or something, you would have had to have a tree company or arborist look at it, then notify the neighbor with a certified letter or something to hold him accountable. Otherwise, it's now your tree when it falls.
That exception only applies if there is a documented history of complaining to your neighbor and pictures showing the hazardous state of the tree. I know this from personal experience where a family member was found NOT LIABLE for their tree falling on a neighbor's house.
my brother had old elm trees in front of his house. he filed a petition for his city to allow him to remove the trees and replace them with less dangerous trees. the request was denied, until one winter, one of the trees dropped a 500 pound branch in the street. after he reported this to the city with an addendum that if there had been injury or property damage from such an incident, he had proof that he had attempted to mitigate the hazard and the city had refused to allow him to do so; they allowed him to remove the trees.
In coastal SC, around a year after a Category 4 hurricane, we moved from one house to another. After we moved in, on one of my walk-arounds of the property, I noticed a neighbor's tall tree leaning in our direction. Got a protractor, straight piece of wood, a tape measure and a magnetic compass from my workshop (Essentially, the bare minimum kit for elementary surveying.) When said neighbors were in the back yard, I made myself obvious making the relevant measurements: height of tree, (estimated) distance from it's base to the house, angle & direction of lean, most probable angle of fall. They did not ask anything and I did not say anything. But within a week they had a company come and take that tree down. (If they had asked I was going to say that I needed to know which rooms to empty next time the wind gets up.) That seems like a win to me. Because of that hurricane we also learned that the rule was that you clean up your own property - it doesn't matter where the tree or other stuff came from. We also learned the value of having excellent and adequate insurance from a reputable company. Our house was fully repaired within a couple of months. When we moved away from that area several years later, there were still an unreasonable number of properties that still needed lots of repair. The most obvious sign was blue tarps still on the roof.
Was there anything you thought was specifically wrong with the tree? Lots of trees lean one way or another, and that can determine which way it will fall, but doesn't necessarily mean it's likely to fall. If a leaning tree comes down as a result of a storm there's a fair chance it will fall downwind regardless of which way it leans. That's also true when you're cutting down a tree, so choosing a day with no wind is a good idea.
It's not as if they weren't already aware that the tree was a lawsuit waiting to happen, you just sort of drove home exactly how ready you were to start filing one.
In the home I grew up in, one of neighbors came and politely asked if we could cut down a white pine that was dripping sap on their car from where a sizeable limb came down in a storm. We looked at it, discussed things, and I and two friends spent a Saturday limbing and topping, and Sunday taking the stump down the grade and getting the debris hauled away (someone who burned wood in an outside grill was willing to season it for two years before using it, and they even took the smaller limbs). - We had a fun weekend exceeding our non-existent arborist skills, and the neighbor was content.
Yea my neighbor had a huge 100 foot walnut tree that overhung my house and every fall my house would get beamed by walnuts constantly. Sounded like a gunshot when inside.. so after 3 years i got tired of picking up thousands of nuts to mow my yard, fixing my roof and gutters so i offerred her 1/3 of the price to cut it down and she said shes tired of the nuts too so she went for it.. only thing was when she hired an “arborist” to cut it down, here it was 5am on a saturday morning and i wake up and shit the bed when a branch falls through my ceiling and crashed in my room and out in the hallway crushing my door.. trapping me in my room.. luckily she used her insurance to pay for it since she hired the guy. And his insurance paid her insurance or something like that. But i didnt even have to pay the third, got a new roof, new gutter, new drywall and door and new sheets where i shit the bed.. lol
I live in Alabama. I had a tree get struck by lightning which fell over and destroyed my neighbors fence. His insurance covered his loss. My insurance covered my loss which was basically just the removal of the remains of the tree. That's how it works here. I would never go without insurance because there are too many things that just happen like when Hurricane Ivan stripped the shingles off my roof. If I could not afford insurance, I cannot afford the home. Cheers, Russ
@@vyor8837 Some people actually just don't have the money, they find themselves in a situation owning a home but not having the income Often it's 2-3 even $400 a month if not more. Doesn't make one an idiot and makes one unfortunate if anything.
@@vyor8837 so, everyone buying or looking for a home knows that but many people wind up with homes through inheritance or otherwise and can't afford the insurance obviously if they were buying a home what you said applies but that's not what what was being referred to obviously.
Your car accident sounds like my last one….I was trapped at a stoplight with no escape and saw it coming in the rear view mirror. I was fine , but the company pickup truck I was driving got $8500 in damage. It was not my vehicle, but his insurance company kept contacting me to settle the damage for Small change. It finally got to the point a lawyer needed to be involved
Your state doesn't have a tailgating law? Around here the driver that rear ends is responsible in pretty much all cases, unless the attorneys can prove that the tailgating law doesn't apply. It's mean to ensure that drivers leave enough roof ahead of them to stop if the lead car needs to stop suddenly. I'd probably also have filed a complaint with the insurance commissioner as the insurance company should know that.
Yeah…I should have been more clear. The guy that hit me’s insurance company kept contacting me with lowball offers. Even came into work to hand me a check for $2500 to settle for the repairs to a truck I did not own and was just driving. I told them several times it’s not my truck and I can’t make the call. The company/risk management the got a lawyer involved…I got a copy of the letter
I read Reddit Law subs a lot, and there is a term called Tree Law. There is so much work involved with liability as well as valuation. So not only damages by a tree, but someone damaging a tree. A lot of the posts regard someone cutting down another person's tree. One thing I learned is never ever do that to an old tree. They can be worth $$$$$$$$$s.
I’ve done hurricane cleanup in Alabama and elsewhere. I can’t imagine how much it would slow things down if before cleanup started everyone had to wait for insurance adjusters to show up and figure out which trees belonged to which neighbor and how much damage was caused by each tree. Nothing would ever get done.
I live in PA. My neighbors tree was dying and branches fell off that tree 2 different times and caused damage both times. The first time the branch did some damage to my back porch roof. The second time the branch hit the main roof and also hit the back porch roof again. We both have State Farm insurance for our homes. We ended up having to pay the deductible in order to have our roof fixed. So much for State Farm being like a good neighbor.
I bought a house back in 2021 and since then we've been upgrading adding things and you know the usual house stuff. My neighbor and I share a tree on our property line that usually blows back and forth. During high winds. We were getting gutters installed and in order to get them installed the tree had to be trimmed so I discussed it with my neighbor and he is pretty chill about it said go right ahead because I don't know who really owns the tree. As I was cutting some of the branches down, my neighbor started telling me a story that the last owner of the house I bought had their window smashed in because of the same tree I was trimming lmao. A couple of months later we got some high winds and if I had left those branches they definitely would have been a threat to my windows.
As a rental property owner and owner of my own home, I've taken down 14 trees in the last 3 years across properties (and yes I have had a tree fall on a house and insurance didn't pay more than 25% of repairs anyway). As such I have never understood why so many people argue that trees increase property value. This has not been my experience in NW Ohio. They destroy sidewalks, foundations, change grading of the yard, destroy water lines, destroy power lines, cost extra money to maintain, destroy gas lines, and when to large - literally fall on houses. Now before you think I am a tree hater, it's more of the size of the tree that I have an issue with. My personal rule is no tree should be closer than twice its full grown height to a house in order to ensure that they maintain proper spacing, still provide shade, minimize risk of house damage due to the roots, and are less expensive to maintain/less of a risk when they fall. I have gone round and round about this with my local town's "Tree Committee," mainly because they didn't take maximum size into account as they come through all the old neighborhoods planting new trees after all the owners spent tens of thousands taking the old ones down that ruined the view. This was occurring because they filled the community with local arborists / ornamental gardeners and never even considered adding in contractors who deal with the problems, investors who own homes, or even real estate agents who sell the homes. It's frustrating when small town politicians think they are doing right, but have no experience in the field they are dealing with.
It's like that around here too. Unless there's something going on to cause specific liability, it's an act of god and everybody's own insurance pays.We had a rather significant maple tree growing right on the fence line, although I guess slightly more on the neighbor's side, that was sick and could have potentially fallen down. It was eventually removed when efforts to preserve it failed, but it would have more or less taken out an entire house if it had fallen down. This is one of the reasons to know what your insurance covers and what the legal status of things like this is. Falling trees is probably not very unusual in parts of the country with significant trees.
Saw Dave Marcus’s 71 car back there, what a driver, I always loved the hard working independent Dave Marcus and how he marched to the beat of his own drum, what a man!!!
This literally hits close to home. Neighbors tree fell on and totaled 2 cars. In Texas the owner of the tree is liable only if they were negligent. They were not negligent so it was all on me.
It's the same here in Kentucky; another example of negligence is if the tree was already dead when it fell over, in that case the property owner from which the tree came from is liable. If the tree was alive or "green" when it fell then it's the opposite.
I was told that if the tree is rotted - you are responsible (or your insurance) if it fall on neighbors house - negligence. However if it is living and healthy, their responsibility (act of God).
In my state they are only responsible if you have served notice of the condition of the tree to them and asked them to remove it. Certified letter with return receipt for proof. Otherwise, you pay for the damage yourself.
@@adkeric In my experience dead/dying trees are pretty obvious - missing bark, leaves that never bloom. Ignoring something like that doesn't happen over night and takes years and means owner has been negligent. Had a neighbors 30' pine tree fall one time down the length of my fence - landed within 6 inches, but didn't damage. It was clearly dead for some time - it was hollow inside.
My place is in north central Florida and has dozens of oak trees of various species. Several years ago a smallish tornado came through the neighborhood and two trees were uprooted and fell. Somehow, they didn't hit anything. But, right next to each of them were a few other oaks, about the same size, that looked like the same species - but they were leaning to one side - a lot. The two that fell were the ones in the groups that were straight. My guess was that the leaners had to have better roots because they were leaning, so they lucked out.
Had this exact situation in reverse. There's a guy who owns a land-locked 1 acre within my mostly wooded 12 acres (long story) His plot is cleared, but there are a number of trees just outside it which are all mine. One big one came down in a wind storm and smashed the roof of his trailer-ish prefab house. He had, some time back mentioned to me that he didn't like the look of that tree, but it would have cost me well over a thousand bucks to remove it, so I didn't give a ra... i mean I decided not to. He let me know when it fall, and I let my insurance company (Liberty) know. He's also insured. This is in Pennsylvania, btw. My company told me (and I told him) that he would be better off with a claim to his own company because they would pay full replacement cost, while mine would only pay him depreciated value. When I told him, he said he'd heard the same from his company. I don't know if strict liability was ever determined, but I got a note some time later that my case was closed and they never paid anything out.
The claimed advantage f no-fault insurance is that there should be an overall savings because there's no money spent of legal wrangling. Even when there isn't no-fault I think the insurance companies are sometimes smart enough to figure that every thing evens out in the long run, and if they don't go after you for this incident somewhere down the road your insurance company won't come after them for some other incident. The bit about replacement cost vs depreciated cost is interesting.
I had one of my trees fall on my neighbor's house. The first thing I did was ask my college classmates (on FB when I used to be on it) if any of them were insurance agents and how liable I was for the damage. To my amazement, I was told that her insurance company would cover the damage unless they could show that I knew that it was dead or diseased and likely to fall on her house. The people who removed the tree from her house even cut it down to the ground in my yard. It only took a few years before the trunk rotted away and only left an indention in the ground.
I know a woman who actually thinks the neighbors should go into her yard and clean up the leaves every fall because they fell from their tree. So she's supposed to get free labor from them because of the wind.
I had a neighbor that complained because the dandelions in my yard blew their white seeds into his yard. I told him to talk to the one that directed the wind.
I wish I could do that! I also have a neighbor that took out all their trees so they wouldn't have to clean up their yard. Unfortunately, most neighbors don't clean up their leaves in their own yards so the wind blows them into the yard of the people with no trees.
I had a new neighbor who bought a lot that had never been developed previously. He was trenching in his utilities and was going to take down one of the 3 big oak trees that straddle the property line because he was worried that the trenching would disturb the roots and damage the tree. I talked it over with him, the trees were a major factor in my buying this piece of property, the biggest of the 3 is older than the United States but even the one he was looking to take down predated the civil war and provided shade for 3/4 of my house during the summer significantly lowering my AC bill. I asked him to leave the tree alone and that if it started to show signs of stress we'd hire an arborist and if it needed to be cut down at that point we'd split the cost. That was 8 years ago and the tree is still doing great, it's survived 60+ mph winds and ice storms a plenty so I'm pretty sure it's going to outlast me.
I heard of a case where a neighbor's tree landed on their house. Their insurance paid to remove the tree from the house, but not to haul away the resulting branches and pieces of trunk. The haul away fee would have been around 600 dollars if done at the time the tree was removed from the house. They offered to split the cost with the tree's owners but were turned down. They therefore "returned" the pieces of tree to the neighbors by pitching them over the fence. The neighbors then had to pay around 800 dollars for the removal as a separate work order -- and it was all on the neighbor.
The same thing happened to us in 2016. A tree from our neighbors vacant lot fell, no bad weather or storms, on our property and struck a corner of our house doing some major damage. His insurance adjuster came out and said that the leaves were still green. when I questioned that statement, I was informed that in Florida, if the tree is not rotted or naturally damaged, the damaged home owner is responsible for the repairs. THAT'S INSANE! Since then, my insurance rates have skyrocketed..
I've always thought that part of this is that it's probably not worth the effort of insurance companies to subrogate claims like these because neighboring houses in the same neighborhood usually represent roughly the same level of risk for the insurers. In other words, it all balances out in the end. This isn't so much true in auto insurance where the two parties might have wildly different risks (and insurance cost)
My neighbors had about 6 trees planted about a foot from our shared fence. One fall day he told me that he was planning on having them cut down and wanted to know if it was OK if a few branches landed in our yard and could they come over a retrieve them. Rather than a few branches, it was all of the tree that was taller than the fence. Not surprisingly, it damaged the top of the fence. Fortunately, I snapped some photos because a few months later he realized he needed a new fence and wanted me to split the cost.
I had that that same BS LIE from a Neighbor. I said no thank you I'll be happy to pick up anything that falls on my yard. Then they came back later and said that they would really have to use our yard. So it was obvious to me that they had lied. Then they tried to give us assurances that the person was bonded and insured. Then I found out they were lying about that too. Then later, I even found out, they planned on using our tree as a hoist mechanism to remove their tree. I will never let another neighbor come on my property again without a signed waiver of liability, and also 100% in indemnification for any of their actions. You are lucky it was not worse. People are scum... I trust no one anymore !
In Florida they won’t insure unless roof is less than 10 years old, so we bought cash the house and now we need to replace a perfectly good roof to be able to insure
@@gerardogonzalez8076 new laws in place in Florida. You can pay to have an expert look at it and if it is evaluated to have at least 5 years of life left in the roof, you cannot be denied insurance simply because of the roof. I’m sure it is slightly more complicated, but look that new law up.
When I owned a newer home that had a massive Cottonwood tree in the back yard I checked out my liability on it. If it fell down it could destroy my home and two of my neighbors homes. So I hired an arborist to come over and cut it down and grind out the stump. That contractor was worth every dollar I spent.
This happened to me. My tree fell on my neighbors garage. I immediately took responsibility and called my insurance agent. The agent told me it is not covered by my insurance and is covered by my neighbors insurance. He had to fix it through his insurance. I felt terrible, but it wasn’t a tree that was already falling down. It wasn’t neglect on my part.
I'll join the parade of anecdotes, with an example where I got paid! In college a neighbors tree fell. It caused superficial damage to my car and the house I was renting, but destroyed my roommates car. My state had a similar "natural disaster" law to the one described here. BUT, six months earlier my landlord had sent a letter letting them know the tree was obviously dead, and a danger. They ignored the letter, but were on notice. There was no way I was going to put that grand into my junky college car, so enjoyed the payday!
This is why I’m happy that nobody has built houses next to my property line. I still make it a habit to look for signs of rot, disease, or anything that might make trees unstable on my property lines. If something fell right now it would end up in a neighbor’s woods or a fence. It wouldn’t be an expensive fix. Now I’m pretty sure that we will eventually have people building closer to us so it’s a good idea to remove trees that look like they pose a danger of falling. And I could miss something bc I’m not a professional but I don’t see any reason to hire a professional at this time since there isn’t any structures close enough to my property lines.
In Ohio it's that way, _unless you were warned by certain authorities that a tree was dangerous._ In my case, Duke Energy gas line tree people wrote me a note that said a certain 75-foot walnut tree (that leaned over the neighbor's shed) had a split, and was dangerous. It was a spectacle to have removed, and the split extended-loudly-as it was cut. Two trucks and half-a-dozen lines were needed. It did fall the right way! But at my [great] expense.
Retired forester here from Washington State. You have described the law perfectly as it applies here also. Only if a tree is designated "hazardous" or is obviously "hazardous" is it's owner responsible for damages. Otherwise, a forest property owner would have to cut a buffer zone equal to a tree height all around their property to avoid liability.
This actually happened to me and I live in Alabama. My tree fell on my neighbors house after a storm. I felt terrible and I called my insurance, and they said his insurance covers that so it was all on him.
Are you not allowed to just cut overhanging branches yourself? Here in Australia, thats the standard practice. You can remove any branches that are overhanging your property, as long as you do it from your side and only cut what is on your side of the fence (and if it is a significant tree there are extra things to follow). You theoretically then have to return those branches to the neighbor, but ive never heard of anyone actually doing that.
I have had something similar happen. I was mortified to learn that my homeowners insurance refused to pay for the damage one of my trees caused to my neighbor's property during a serious rainstorm with lots of wild wind that knocked over a tree. I ended up doing the right thing and paid them back for the repairs to their property completely out of pocket. I operate on the "farmers rule" of: If something I own damages or destroys someone else's property, I pay for the repairs because that's the right thing to do. That experience taught me that all insurance companies today are useless except for exceptional, catastrophic events. And even then I doubt they are useful for much of anything. My neighbor obviously wasn't thrilled with the damage but was fine with me paying them back for the repairs. Everything looks good as new and we're cool on the financial front.
Be careful with relying on Insurance companies to pay up for exceptional, catastrophic events. Its important to read your plan and know exactly what is covered. For instance, a co-worker had a pipe burst and do all sorts of water damage. Insurance wouldn't pay because they didn't have flood insurance. I've also heard from people in areas affected by major disasters that their insurance refuses to pay and tells them to go to FEMA instead.
I lost a big tree in a windstorm a few years ago. It landed in my neighbor's front yard. I went and talked to her about it the next morning, and met her insurance adjuster who was there first thing. Her insurance took care of the removal, even the part that was still in my yard. My insurance didn't cover the tree in my back yard that fell on my own property. This is in Missouri. No idea about the law, but she definitely had better insurance than I do.
For several years I had been talking to my neighbor about her tree that is very massive and actually covered most of her house and my garage and a small shed. Even offered to go half’s to take care of it. If it went down there would be massive destruction . She finally decided to take care of it last summer and it was greatly cut back. She even paid for it all. I think my garage is safe , but the shed is still somewhat in danger. I will take it as a win
Steve, I live in Alabama. My mom lives in TN and it is the same there. We get a LOT of storms down here, so this law is in place to simplify claims and keep them out of the courts. Basically, if the tree is dead or diseased, the land owner where the tree is located is responsible, but if the tree is green and healthy the land owner where the tree resides is not responsible.
The problem is consolidation and lack of competition. If the only options are a small handful of people who are all culturally identical, corruption and greed is easy. Same as has happened to every other industry.
This happened to my neighbor a few years ago. During a massive windstorm, a large tree in their backend fell on to the neighbor's house on the other side. The owner of the damaged house's insurance paid for the damage. My neighbor was not liable, as the tree was healthy and there was no previous indication there was an issue with it falling. When it happened there was some yelling between the two, but it was taken care of by insurance and no animosity.
Hi Carolyn: I am in MD too... A month ago I felt the need to cover my ass... I had one of the biggest tree companies come out and insect my tree... They said that my tree was "healthy as hell..." and that every branch had healthy buds.. and that I could relax... no work or pruning needed ! I was ecstatic.... " I texted him back and said thank you for the good news my tree is healthy as hell and needs no work. I appreciate your honesty." He texted me back "you are welcome".... I am saving that text for the obvious reasons in case Murphy's law comes along...
The law is the same in Vermont and I’m an insurance agent. The damages are the responsibility of the tree owner if the tree was sick or damaged or was an obvious hazard that the owner neglected to take care of and caused damage because of that Tree owner is otherwise not responsible because the wind blows
Hey, Steve... I had a similar situation with a neighbor's tree. I live in Alabama, about 50 miles from Decatur. A few years ago, my neighbor's rotten old Hackberry tree was in really bad shape... falling limbs, leaves gone and leaning. So, I had a state certified arborist come over and survey the tree. He wrote a report for me which stated that the tree was in bad shape and was subject to falling should a stiff wind occur, I paid him $50 for the survey and the letter. I then wrote a letter to my neighbor explaining the danger that his dead tree posed to my house, and included the arborist's report. I sent the letter to him by certified mail, and when I received the receipt that he had gotten the notice, I stapled it to my copy of the letter and the report and sealed everything up in an envelope, should I need it. Sure enough, the tree fell on my house a couple of years later. It damaged the roof structure and the roofing shingles to the tune of about $6,000. Now, I have homeowner's insurance, but there's a $1,000 deductible on the policy that the insurance company wanted me to pay. So, I gave the adjuster the sealed envelope containing the stuff from the arborist and the letter. And then, like magic, the insurance company went to my neighbor and gave him the good news that he would get to pay my deductible! I would guess that had this person in Decatur done the same thing with her neighbor, the neighbor would have gotten to pay for her entire repair job. What do you think?
My understanding (from a NY perspective) mostly matches your experience. Falling trees are generally considered an act of god, but a report from a certified arborist can identify damage that makes it obvious that the tree is weakened and poses a specific risk. That makes it a known hazard that the property owner is responsible for. The part where my understanding differs is that because your neighbor failed to correct the problem despite receiving notice they (through their insurance) would be liable for the entire bill.
We had just finished building a new shed in our back yard. Two weeks later our neighbors tree fell in the shed. Our insurance company said it was on us to make a claim. Down side was the deductible was higher than the cost of the shed. So we eat the cost. This was in Missouri.
Depends on the cost. If the damage to the house was $20,000 and she had avoided paying insurance for more than 6 years, she has come out ahead. (6*3600=21,600)
@@ohsweetmystery Correct in theory, but almost always fails in practice. Step 1: Cancel insurance. Step 2: Maintain an emergency fund with an adequate balance to cover emergency repairs. Most people skip Step 2 and opt to spend the money on 100" TVs and above-ground swimming pools.
Same in North Carolina. My neighbor has had one of his trees fall on my fence 5 times over the past 32 years. His insurance says that it's my responsibility to remove the downed tree (the part on my side) and fix the fence. My insurance is 1000 dollars deductible so I have had to pay out of my pocket each time. I understand that you may not be able to control when and where a tree in your yard falls, but you should be required to pay for the damages.
I had four trees removed on my property. One was an 80-plus year-old water oak with such a lean that the roots were on my south property line and the crown was over the next door neighbor's yard to the north, and the neighbor to the north had three kids who played in the back yard. I also removed a huge magnolia and a forty-foot tall Savannah holly that were too close to my house, and both shed s lot of unpleasant leaves, and a dogwood that had blight. They say a water oak lives for thirty years and dies for seventy.
I always thought that trees falling were an act of god, and therefore your own insurance pays in all 50 states. I've been waiting patiently for a long time for my neighbor's huge oak tree to fall on my garage so that State Farm will pay for the new garage I've been wanting. Despite an impressive ice storm and a microburst that took down hundreds (thousand?) of trees in my general area in the last year or so the biggest branches to come down haven't been more than a couple of pounds.
@@theeaskey Being that I can think I'm an atheist, but "act of god" is simply a convenient idiom. I'll also note that wile I'm not happy about it I'm well aware that life isn't fair, and there's frequently nobody at fault when bad things happen.
@@silvadelshaladin I don't have much of a clue how much my premiums might o up if I had a claim for a neighbor's tree falling on the garage, but as a fairly wild guess I'd think it wouldn't be more than 20%. Even if it cost me another $500 a year I'd consider it a good deal. I put on a new roof about 10 years ago, but I'd really like a new and improved garage. I just don't want it enough to shell out 20k.
I'm in Massachusetts. About 5 years ago during an ice storm, my neighbor's tree fell on my house and my truck ripping the electrical out of the house. I was without electric or heat for 3 days. I was responsible for paying deductibles to my own insurance company on the house and the truck to pay for the repairs. That is BS.
I live in Alabama and the average cost, monthly for homeowners insurance is about $150...certainly not $300. If she was quoted that much, she must have a whopper of an estate.
@@gordongordon4434 If you expect coverage in the event of a tornado I'd expect it to cost at least a couple of grand per year even if you don't have a double-wide.
Generally this is accepted practice throughout the country. Unless there are signs that the tree poses a risk to a neighbor’s property you cannot prove negligence. The neighbor’s homeowners insurance will defend liability claims, but the plaintiff has to prove negligence. The cost of property insurance in many southern states near the gulf is high because of hurricane and tornado exposure. I have friends in Florida. The cost of property insurance there is frightening.
Here in FL, my daughter had a similar incident. A large tree on her side of the property line lost a limb, that just caught the corner of the neighbors house, damaging some facia. The house has been unoccupied for a couple of years,due to family dispute, but the family wanted her to pay for an entire new roof. They even threatened to sue. A lawyer friend,who lives nearby, sent them a nice letter, and that ended the threats.
Same in NY. My sister's house had 7 trees fall within a few minutes after a few days of soaking rain, they all fell on the neighbor's lawn and house. We cleaned it up though we had no obligation to do so, just being neighborly. The damage to the house was covered by the neighbor's insurance.
I once did a lot of reading on r/legaladvice (so consider the source, naturally) but I seem to remember learning that some states permit homeowners to trim, maintain, or remove overhanging branches that encroach the property line as a way to protect themselves from such acts of nature as this woman experienced. I wonder if that's the case in Alabama.
I was wondering about that. If a neighbors tree presents a threat and they aren't liable for damage I would think that would give you some ability to take preventative measures to keep it from falling on your house.
I think she should look into if her neighbor had a permitted septic. If the neighbor was dumping gray-water or sewage-effluent near that tree & it caused the soil be become soggy where the tree uprooted then they may be at fault. But if she's old then odds are she has OSSF views from the 1980s & may be living in a cesspool-yard(in 2020 my State finally started forcing failed systems to upgrade past 2000 standards, though in 2023 they're still passing old gray-water pits for 1st-time-home-buyers with outdated-advice).
Insurance companies do not bribe legislators to protect you. They bribe legislators to write laws to protect them selves. If you think i sound bitter, well at least you got that part right.
I just looked up the average price for home insurance here in Florida, and it's only $199, and we're known for having high prices because of hurricanes. It's $174 in Alabama. Flood insurance is around $60/month, so that gets a bit closer to $300. Maybe it's an expensive home or close to the Gulf?
@@johndorian4078 She could be retired on a fixed income and cannot afford it. The law is ridiculous and probably written by insurance industry lobbyists.
It’s the same in Florida, if the tree is dead or damaged and you fail to remove it and it or part of it falls on your neighbors house you are responsible but if it falls during a thunderstorm from high winds and or from the ground being heavily saturated from a very wet season you are not responsible.
People in Alambama are saying to get trees inspected by an arborist and send certified letters to neighbors while keeping all documentation and the neighbor has to pay.
Had a similar incident here in Maryland where my tree fell on my neighbors camper and flattened it when struck by lightening during a severe storm. First thing my lawyer asked me was did the neighbors make any effort to notify you that the tree was a hazard.
Any tree near a house needs to be assessed for health. If the neighbor's tree was damaged by driving over the roots, or stress from drought, dying out of the crown, etc, the neighbor that owns the tree needs to be mindful of changes in the trees condition. The insurance company may have been done a poor job discerning culpability..
If they allow for the owner to not have liability hopefully they’d allow trimming. But in this case it was the trunk of the tree that fell on it. If you look up Alabama woman liable for tree it’s the first several hits.
not just Alabama. Most of Canada too. But, as you mentioned, if you have proof you warned the neighbor of an unstable tree, it gets paid out of their liability insurance. What surprises me is her high insurance premium quote. For a large house, mine has never been over $1000 per year for a 500k structure including earthquake, fire, 2M liability. (some quote three times that, but you shop around.) BTW, works both ways. My front yard tree fell into the street. City paid to clean up.
Happened to my folks. They have a giant cottonwood. It's yuge. Like 80'. Pretty much the center piece of their modest back yard. Lot's of shade. They like it. The neighbor behind them has a pool. When they moved in, the neighbor came over and, by way of introduction, offered to pay to have the tree cut down. No hello, no welcome, just the offer. They shooed him off. Many years and presumably many frustrating pool cleanings later, a large branch came off and took out his sliding door. He rushed back over shrieking about it. My folks called their insurers and were told to tell him to call his own insurance, not their issue. This was in IL.
I've had damage twice from trees that fell from our communities property (Maryland) onto our house and fence. My homeowners insurance covered the damage both times.
I kind of understand this, it's not your neighbor's fault their tree was blown over by a storm, or ripped out by a tornado, etc. It definitely sucks for the person it happened to, though, and I wish there was a better solution.
I am a Florida property and casualty agent and I run into this all the time especially after storms. If the wind blows a tree over from another property into your house, then you are also responsible and sorry, if you dont have insurance, that is on you. I hate trees with a passion especially the Scrub Oaks because with our soil, it does not take much to topple them. Majority of my claims from a hurricane is actually trees falling on houses. Also, carriers require tree limbs to be trimmed back so if it is coming off another neighbor's tree, you have to trim them. I do get calls about someone's tree is about to fall and ask me to put a claim in. I let them know that insurance only kicks in if property is damaged, not to stop damage. They get mad and say they will call me when it falls. Then I tell them "well, your claim will probably be denied because that is negligence." Trees suck, can't stand them in neighborhoods. The issue is ordinances require so many trees in a yard. You cant just plant some Palm Trees which handles wind very well and call it a day. They have to be hardwood trees. For us contractors will plant the Scrub Oaks because they are cheap. When I moved into my house, mine disappeared and not sure what happened to them.
Sounds similar to our situation. A wild storm slammed through our area. Snapped off the top half of a huge tree in our yard which crashed down on our neighbors house. I called our insurance and they refused to pay. Their logic…it was a healthy tree (it was) which I took good care of (I did). The insurance said IF I had been negligent in caring for the tree, for instance, let it die and just stand there, waiting to fall, then they would have paid the neighbor. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Do the right thing and the insurance company will screw you. Act negligently and they’ll pay up. Unbelievable.
Same way in Texas. A hurricane dropped a neighbor's tree on my dad's house, only some branches actually hit the house and it only broke a window. Replacing the window and getting the tree cut up were my dad's financial responsibility. He got a tree company to come cut it at the property line, and left the part of the trunk that fell in the neighbor's yard.
Makes perfect sense to me. I don't want to be liable for random acts of "nature" to other people's property when I have not done anything wrong but I just got unlucky. The quoted attorney's attitude that seemingly everything must fall on someone else is a big problem with our society.
I'm in Cali. My tree fell on my neighbor's car during a storm. No one was injured, thank God. Previously I had an arborist look at my tree and they said it needed to come down so I scheduled them to come take it down. It was scheduled to be taken down unfortunately two days "After" the storm. A perfect storm if you will. I had to pay for the car damage. The reason I had to pay for the damage is because I knew that the tree was in disrepair and had not "Yet" done something about it. It's only the fact that I was honest about meeting with the arborist with the judge that made me liable for the tree. I gladly paid for the damage because I knew that that was the law and the other party could not pay for the damage themselves. If I had not said anything, I would not have to pay for the damage. But, that would have been dishonest, and it was my neighbor. I'm a good neighbor. It's too bad that there are bad neighbors.
Interesting thing about no-fault insurance in MI. When I was in MI, a kid on drugs went on a joyride in his brother's car and managed to hit and total my parked car. My insurance paid as expected, but I found out that the insurance company went after the kid's brother's insurance company with a lawsuit to settle things behind the scenes. So no-fault is apparently only no-fault on the surface.
We had a property in Florida. A person that lived out of state owned the vacant property next to our property. A large tree started to lean over to our house because of wet soil and wind. We called the people that owned the property and explained the problem. They told us to cut it down. I did not want to cut it down and be responsible if it fell and damaged our house. They were not going to do anything about it. I called our insurance company and explained the situation to them. Our insurance company said they couldn't do anything about it until it fell on the house. Eventually it did fall but slowly and didn't cause much damage. At that point our insurance company paid to have the tree removed and roof fixed.
I’m in Upstate NY and in ‘98 a derecho hit over labor day causing severe damage, people were killed with winds reaching up to 115 mph. The wind blew a healthy, huge old pine tree over clipping the edge of the roof of my son’s bedroom and onto our porch, branches going thru the roof down to the floor & keeping the tree from crushing the porch. It took out part of the fence ending with the top bit scraping down my neighbors garage. Insurance paid for repairs to my house & property, and as I recall the removal of the tree. My neighbor was responsible for the minor damage to her garage.
Good question. I had a tree close to the property line and someone put a mobile home under it. I ask my insurance about the liability issue and they said if it is a healthy tree they are responsible and if it is a dead tree I would be responsible. Similar situation here.
Worked for an Insurance Company in St. Louis, Mo. in the 1980's. There was a area that the company insured for the value of the property not replacement because to rebuild the house was way more than the value. Sort of like "totaling out" a car. If the damage exceeded the value of the house - pay off, tear the house down and sell the lot.
The same law exists in PA. If your neighbor's tree falls on your property, it's your problem (not only removing the tree, but any damage caused by the tree). But, if you document communications with the neighbor that the tree was dangerous, it becomes your neighbor's problem.
Same in Colorado. A neighbor tried blaming us for our tree falling during that once in a 100 years windstorm a couple years back. He even tried suing which was quickly thrown out when we showed pictures of the healthy tree just 6 months prior to its toppling lol. Just goes to show how important it is to insure your property
North Carolina is very similar. Unless you can prove you warned the neighbor their tree was in danger of falling on your property then your insurance is responsible. My neighbor's tree fell against the side of my 2 story house. It was only about 5" in diameter so no real damage. But because they were good neighbors they called out a tree service on a Saturday night and got the tree removed from my property.
The only entity that can see this as fair is the insurance companies that are always looking for ways not to pay and the politicians that get campaign contributions.
I've encountered this issue with a home I have in Tennessee. The home is surrounded by very large, mature trees. Just about every year, I'll spend a few hundred dollars paying an arborist to trim it, but the dang thing has so many branches that some of them inevitably fall onto the neighbor's yard and mine. I read up on the law and any debris or damaged caused by a tree is the responsibility of the person who owns the property it fell on. That means, despite my neighbor getting cranky about the tree, it's not my responsibility beyond doing reasonable maintenance. If I had it my way, I'd just cut down the trees, but of course, I'm sure the city wouldn't like that.
Where I live, the city refused a friend the right to remove a tree. Friend considered it dangerous. She informed the city that considering they refused removal, then the city had taken responsibility for the tree and any damage it could cause. The tree was then allowed to be removed.
I used to live in NJ and it’s the same there. I had a tree during a storm fall onto my neighbors fence. I called my insurance and they said damage on his side is his responsibility. My insurance would only cover removal of the tree, and not the whole tree, only the portion on my property.
This happened to me in Washington state and I’d even pointed out the tree was rotted from ivy to the owner prior to it falling. As it turned out in Washington I needed to have hired a arborist and served the nieghbor via registered letter from the expert to be able to sue the neighbor
I would think that if a tree was proven to be at risk of falling, and they were informed, and they did nothing, that would paint some liability. But if the tree was never identified as being a danger, and a random storm happened to blow it down, it doesn't seem like it's that's owners fault at all. It's no one's fault, an act of god.
