Board 8 > Opinions please. A TREE FELL IN MY YARD! AHHH!

(+) Yeah! (+)

So, a tree fell into my yard. Over my fence, breaking spots of it, and nearly wiped out my pool!

Sooo, a little background for why I am asking for opinions!

This tree is technically on my neighbors property. Barely. Supposedly.

About a year ago this guy bought this property next to me. He comes up and is like "Hey, a small part of your fence and your shed is on my property. I wanna make a street where your shed is to my property behind it!".

For reference, my shed is at the end of my driveway, so he basically wants to take my driveway and make it a road to his property and move my shed.

So, anyways, I was like dude this shed and fence has been here for like 20 years and was here when I bought it. I don't even think it is on your property anyways. (My other neighbor says my shed is technically on her property and not the guy trying to make me move it and she is okay with it there... and my fence is on my property).

Idk, whatever.

So anyways, a tree about 25 feet beyond my fence (which is what he claims is his property) fell last night and wiped out my fence (which he claimed was not part of what was on his property) and nearly wiped out my pool.

Everyone is telling me to get a hold of him and make him take care of it or report it to his insurance. But, I think it's better to just clean up the tree, repair the part of the fence, and not get involved with it because he is obviously just gonna start shit about my shed and fence again claiming it is his.

Plus, I don't even know who he is... he doesn't live around here and just bought the property because he wanted to make oil wells behind my house and have big ass trucks going through our driveways and shit.

So, should I be reporting this to his insurance or just do what I am doing? I spent about 6 hours today cutting up trees. About half done maybe... = /
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im not well versed on this kind of stuff but at the very least you'll want to make a record that the tree FELL and you didn't cut it down.

depending on the tree, that shit can get expensive if your neighbor decides to sue you for the value of the tree if he thinks you got rid of it on purpose
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Wow I didn't even think about it from that angle. I do have pictures of it tho fallen thru my property and it uprooted from the wind/ struck by lightning
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I'd say let your neighbor know it fell, provide pics, and figure out what you two are gonna do. He's going to find out about the tree at some point, so best to not to give him reason to think you did it on purpose
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Did you get a survey when you bought the property?
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Obellisk posted...

Did you get a survey when you bought the property?

This. It would clear up property lines pretty easily

Your neighbor should have gotten one when he bought too

Also if the tree is clearly on his property and fell clearly into yours then his homeowners insurance has to pay for it.
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ShatteredElysium posted...

Obellisk posted...

Did you get a survey when you bought the property?

This. It would clear up property lines pretty easily

Your neighbor should have gotten one when he bought too

You'd be surprised how many buyers don't care to get one and lenders who are happy with a no survey survey endorsement to their loan policy.
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Yeah, don't you have a survey from when you bought it?

If that shed has been there for actually 20 years, unless the prior owners of his property were making consistent claims with the county, it's definitely entirely yours.

Also, definitely don't pay for the cleanup and repairs yourself without talking to him, because that shit will be incredibly expensive.

Although depending on the state, he might not be at fault.

At least in Florida, a person is only liable for damage to a neighbor's property from a fallen tree if A) That tree was obviously dead or injured in a way that made it likely to fall AND B) The party who the tree falls on (you, in this case) made a notarized letter informing the owner of the tree that it's a potential danger.

I know this because a tree in my backyard fell into my neighbor's yard, but is currently caught in their tree (so it hasn't fallen all the way, or damaged anything), and the city inspector who came out told me this. He said as long as they don't tell me before it falls falls, if it does eventually fall, I'm not liable.
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Obellisk posted...

Did you get a survey when you bought the property?

This. You had to. Its standard, or at the very least your lawyer dug up an old one. Every property or structure ever made gets a survey its just standard. Dig out your purchase agreement and lawyers papers from when you purchased the house and see, the copy will be in there.

You can also go online or into your local municipal tax office and pay the small fee to get ahold of it if need be.

If the tree is on his property, call him first then his insurance if he wont honor the deed. Take pics but I see you did. If the tree is technically on your property just proceed with cleaning and repair and be happy it didn't kill anyone.

Source - I work in land development and deal with this stuff all the time. Usually surveys are only done once on a property or nee build so if you bought the house used your lawyer would have judt dug out the original survey but it still remains the guide. Your lawyer would have also done a roll under check to make sure the deed was clean and there was no crazy means against it before purchase. The survey is part of that process.

Also give us pictures.
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Corrik you still in PA?
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ChaosTonyV4 posted...

At least in Florida, a person is only liable for damage to a neighbor's property from a fallen tree if A) That tree was obviously dead or injured in a way that made it likely to fall AND B) The party who the tree falls on (you, in this case) made a notarized letter informing the owner of the tree that it's a potential danger.

I know this because a tree in my backyard fell into my neighbor's yard, but is currently caught in their tree (so it hasn't fallen all the way, or damaged anything), and the city inspector who came out told me this. He said as long as they don't tell me before it falls falls, if it does eventually fall, I'm not liable.

Oh also the important part of this is if the tree is dead or not.

If the tree is obviously and blatantly dead and has been for some time (something an arborist should be able to determine), then the owner is liable because of neglect.

But if it's still appears healthy and just got uprooted, the owner can claim they had no way of knowing, and they're not liable.

The important part is to try and figure it out, so don't remove the tree before it's health can be assessed.
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Obellisk posted...

Corrik you still in PA?

Yes. Busy ATM. Get back to yinz soon.
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Okay hold on. How do I upload pictures here or do I have to do via imgur which you can't do on a cell phone?
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1. No, I did not get a survey done.
2. The property plan when I purchased had my shed listed as part of my property.
3. Supposedly the old plans show my driveway as a paper alley and my shed not on my property, but the new water authority plans show the paper alley as no longer existing and it all my property.
4. My pins are way further out than he stated on the bottom end of my property. None seem to exist on the top end.
5. Tree was either struck by lightning or uprooted by wind.
6. You don't have to do a survey when you purchase, but it is an option. I was given a property diagram though.
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If one of yinz wanna email me, I'll email ya the pics to post them here.
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Corrik7 posted...

6. You don't have to do a survey when you purchase, but it is an option. I was given a property diagram though.

If you have a neighbor who is starting to be a dick, get yourself a survey. Better to protect your interests.
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Obellisk posted...

Corrik7 posted...

6. You don't have to do a survey when you purchase, but it is an option. I was given a property diagram though.

If you have a neighbor who is starting to be a dick, get yourself a survey. Better to protect your interests.

Well, he kept saying all my surrounding neighbors built sheds and garages on his property also and was trying to bulldoze them and move them and they all sued him. So I basically just kept my head down and let them do the dirty work. He hasn't really been back in over a year.
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Well that's good.

I don't have any surveyors in PA. If you were in jersey I could get you a deal though.
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So, um, you guys are saying if so alrdy went about cutting the tree apart and removing it... That it was a bad idea? Lol
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Corrik - if you buy a piece of property your lawyer needs a survey. Whether you had one done (you didnt) or your lawyer dug up the most recent one (even if its 100 years old) they have to have it to close on a piece of property.

Its Imperative because not only does it show boundaries about the shed and the fence but it also would specify about this weird driveway issue stating if it's a shared space or a mutual laneway

Imgtc.ws use it to upload pics.
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To be honest corrik I mean wooden and vinyl fences arent cheap but in this case it basically just folded some really old chain link over which is super cheap and also easy to unroll and put up so honestly i wouldn't bother trying to get the $20 out of him.

Rent a call chainsaw and take an hour to cut up the tree and remove the debris and call it a day. Take some plastic zip ties and secure the chain link fence until you buy a bee roll to replace it

Why do you have a tree that big anyway near your house?

PButterAndJelly posted...

Why do you have a tree that big anyway near your house?

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Yao posted...

To be honest corrik I mean wooden and vinyl fences arent cheap but in this case it basically just folded some really old chain link over which is super cheap and also easy to unroll and put up so honestly i wouldn't bother trying to get the $20 out of him.

Rent a call chainsaw and take an hour to cut up the tree and remove the debris and call it a day. Take some plastic zip ties and secure the chain link fence until you buy a bee roll to replace it

That's what I was thinking. We kinda alrdy started cutting it up. I am keeping the trunk pieces for firewood and tossing the limbs and branches and stuff down the hillside onto his property where he has a bunch of piled up trees anyways.

It almost looked like the fence would be saveable. Besides a little 2 foot stretch it all uncoiled back to normal. The 2 foot stretch is crumbled too much tho.
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didn't you have this issue last year before you left?
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GranzonEx posted...

didn't you have this issue last year before you left?

What issue? Maybe ur referring to my neighbor trying to say my property was his.
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