Neighbor planted trees that extend over property line

[tahoefamily]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I own a lot in Placer County, California in the North Lake Tahoe area. My lot shares a property line with a neighbor to our South that runs about 100 feet. Our neighbors recently completed construction of their Tahoe home in June of 2010. At that time we were beginning the planning process for our construction to commence in May of 2011. I offered and our neighbor agreed (verbal) to share the cost of landscaping the shared property line with some (8-9) Aspen trees that are approved by our neighborhood architectural review committee. The neighbor then unilaterally planted 3 Aspen trees in Sept 2010 without any further input or feedback from us. In May of this year our project broke ground and we provided, in advance, a copy of our building plans, building timeline, contractor information, etc in an effort to minimally impact our neighbors who were now enjoying their recently completed vacation home on a part time basis (their main residence is in Southern California). In June of 2011, the neighbors visited their Tahoe residence and were able to see our construction in person for the first time. They then contacted their contractor and told him to plant some trees to create more privacy so they would not have to look at our home (also concern about having construction workers looking through the window in their kitchen). The contractor then planted 3 white Firs on July 22nd without any advance notice to us. We arrived the evening of that same day and noticed the trees in place. Property stakes are still in place and a tight string run post to post along that property line shows branches from 2 of the 3 trees extend across the property line onto our parcel. These trees are estimated by their arborist to be 40-60 feet tall and have a canopy spread of 15-30 feet when fully mature. My question is this: can we modify (trim/cut) any branches of these trees that extend onto our property? Does this constitute a "spite fence" as the trees when they reach a height of 15 feet will start to impact our views of Northstar Mountain? Do we own the airspace above our dirt property such that we do not have to allow branches from these trees to impact our property? Your advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

 

[dmcc10880]

You can trim/cut back anything that hangs over your property.

However, the best course of action would be to speak to your neighbors, explain your concerns about the firs potential height and work out an arrangement that works for the two of you.

If at 15', they have their privacy and you have your view.

 

[JustAPal00]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I own a lot in Placer County, California in the North Lake Tahoe area. My lot shares a property line with a neighbor to our South that runs about 100 feet. Our neighbors recently completed construction of their Tahoe home in June of 2010. At that time we were beginning the planning process for our construction to commence in May of 2011. I offered and our neighbor agreed (verbal) to share the cost of landscaping the shared property line with some (8-9) Aspen trees that are approved by our neighborhood architectural review committee. The neighbor then unilaterally planted 3 Aspen trees in Sept 2010 without any further input or feedback from us. In May of this year our project broke ground and we provided, in advance, a copy of our building plans, building timeline, contractor information, etc in an effort to minimally impact our neighbors who were now enjoying their recently completed vacation home on a part time basis (their main residence is in Southern California). In June of 2011, the neighbors visited their Tahoe residence and were able to see our construction in person for the first time. They then contacted their contractor and told him to plant some trees to create more privacy so they would not have to look at our home (also concern about having construction workers looking through the window in their kitchen). The contractor then planted 3 white Firs on July 22nd without any advance notice to us. We arrived the evening of that same day and noticed the trees in place. Property stakes are still in place and a tight string run post to post along that property line shows branches from 2 of the 3 trees extend across the property line onto our parcel. These trees are estimated by their arborist to be 40-60 feet tall and have a canopy spread of 15-30 feet when fully mature. My question is this: can we modify (trim/cut) any branches of these trees that extend onto our property? Does this constitute a "spite fence" as the trees when they reach a height of 15 feet will start to impact our views of Northstar Mountain? Do we own the airspace above our dirt property such that we do not have to allow branches from these trees to impact our property? Your advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

Yes you can trim the trees. You can cut them back to the property line as long as you don't kill them. I would suggest that you also obtain a permit and build a solid privacy fence along that portion of the property line. Then if the trees grow back and begin to push your fence over I would sue them to stop the trees from doing anymore damage.

 

[tahoefamily]

We have tried the Friendly Neighbor approach!

Thanks for your prompt reply! Once we noticed the trees planted we contacted our neighbors via phone and politely expressed our concern. I didn't want to put them on the defensive and implied that their landscaper may have mistakenly planted the trees too closely to our property. We exchanged emails about the issue and agreed to meet in person to discuss. I should note that our HOA does not allow any fences to be constructed in our neighborhood. When we met to discuss, I was told by the neighbor that she's "an attorney" and has a friend who's a real estate attorney and , "you do not own the airspace above your property!!!" She then accused me a being a "fir hater!" without provocation (even though we designed our home around an existing beautiful 40' fir tree adjacent to our front entry). I suggested politely again that we had agreed to having 9 Aspen trees at shared expense to provide the privacy she desired and she said that "those leaves fall off in the winter and then they're just sticks...I'll have to look at your driveway and house all winter long!" We also invited a member of the HOA association to weigh in on the situation and he is an architect (not an attorney) and while he admittedthe trees were on my property he tried to suggest that I am not guaranteed any views over any neighboring property and I was "nit-picking". Since the trees were only planted 3 weeks ago and did not exist when we bought the lot I'd like to understand my rights so that these trees are not allowed to grow over the next couple of decades and create serious problems. I was also told by her husband that, "you'll be 6 feet under before those trees are big enough to block your views!" For information, I'm in my early 40's now and really don't care so much about me as I do my 3 children and future generations to whom I will leave the house when my time comes! I just feel like my neighbors can exercise their right to soveriegn property but when I try to do the same I'm accused of being a nit-picker and a fir-hater. Any advise? P.S. We did agree that they would move the location of one of the 3 firs off the property line an additional 2-3 feet but eventually as these trees grow they are and will continue to hang over onto my property.

 

[asiny]

Thanks for your prompt reply! Once we noticed the trees planted we contacted our neighbors via phone and politely expressed our concern. I didn't want to put them on the defensive and implied that their landscaper may have mistakenly planted the trees too closely to our property. We exchanged emails about the issue and agreed to meet in person to discuss. I should note that our HOA does not allow any fences to be constructed in our neighborhood. When we met to discuss, I was told by the neighbor that she's "an attorney" and has a friend who's a real estate attorney and , "you do not own the airspace above your property!!!" She then accused me a being a "fir hater!" without provocation (even though we designed our home around an existing beautiful 40' fir tree adjacent to our front entry). I suggested politely again that we had agreed to having 9 Aspen trees at shared expense to provide the privacy she desired and she said that "those leaves fall off in the winter and then they're just sticks...I'll have to look at your driveway and house all winter long!" We also invited a member of the HOA association to weigh in on the situation and he is an architect (not an attorney) and while he admittedthe trees were on my property he tried to suggest that I am not guaranteed any views over any neighboring property and I was "nit-picking". Since the trees were only planted 3 weeks ago and did not exist when we bought the lot I'd like to understand my rights so that these trees are not allowed to grow over the next couple of decades and create serious problems. I was also told by her husband that, "you'll be 6 feet under before those trees are big enough to block your views!" For information, I'm in my early 40's now and really don't care so much about me as I do my 3 children and future generations to whom I will leave the house when my time comes! I just feel like my neighbors can exercise their right to soveriegn property but when I try to do the same I'm accused of being a nit-picker and a fir-hater. Any advise? P.S. We did agree that they would move the location of one of the 3 firs off the property line an additional 2-3 feet but eventually as these trees grow they are and will continue to hang over onto my property.

And each time they continue to hang over onto your property - you are free to cut them back to the property line.. again, without killing them.
Worse scenario - seek advice of an attorney. If your neighbour spouted they are an attorney - without provocation - then they will enjoy speaking to another attorney.

 

[dmcc10880]

Unless the deed to your property states otherwise, you own the space above your property up to heaven and down to hell.

And, if the trees are actually on your property as the HOA member stated, then just cut them down.

To be quite honest, both sides are being a little nit-picky here. There has to be a reasonable conclusion. After all, neither you nor your neighbor are living their year round. Correct?

 

[tahoefamily]

Trying not to be nit-picky....

To answer your question....the truncks of 2 of these 3 newly planted 6' white firs are located just across the property line but about 12-18" of the branches currently protrude over the property line. My concern is not only right now are they over the line, honestly, if the trees were a static entity I would have no issue with them currently. Although, just a courtesy phone call by the neighbors to let me know their intent would have gone a long way as I was very proactive in engaging them on the area of our shared landscaping plans. However, I'm more concerned that these trees will grow in time 40-60 feet with an according spread at the base. I really don't desire to cut back the limbs on their trees but I feel like I've been given no options...I really would prefer to have the original 9 Aspen trees we discussed last year. I do feel this is a "spite fence" issue and it seems our goal of having friendly neighbors for many years to come is not working out as planned. I just want to have a better understanding of my legal backing in the protection of my deeded property should they desire to escalate. I've made peace with the fact that our small view lines are now not going to last as we had originally thought when we bought the property 2 years ago and then started to build recently.

 

[dmcc10880]

To answer your question....the truncks of 2 of these 3 newly planted 6' white firs are located just across the property line but about 12-18" of the branches currently protrude over the property line. My concern is not only right now are they over the line, honestly, if the trees were a static entity I would have no issue with them currently. Although, just a courtesy phone call by the neighbors to let me know their intent would have gone a long way as I was very proactive in engaging them on the area of our shared landscaping plans. However, I'm more concerned that these trees will grow in time 40-60 feet with an according spread at the base. I really don't desire to cut back the limbs on their trees but I feel like I've been given no options...I really would prefer to have the original 9 Aspen trees we discussed last year. I do feel this is a "spite fence" issue and it seems our goal of having friendly neighbors for many years to come is not working out as planned. I just want to have a better understanding of my legal backing in the protection of my deeded property should they desire to escalate. I've made peace with the fact that our small view lines are now not going to last as we had originally thought when we bought the property 2 years ago and then started to build recently.

I'll probably get blasted here, but you can give your neighbors the choice of moving the trees, or with the exacting precision of a surveyor and a tree trimmer, cut the trees right down the property line.

That said, it's definitely not a good mode of action and will more than likely open litigation. And, while there is a winner and a loser in litigation, in a situation like this, there are no winners.

Perhaps you and your neighbor can come to an agreement on "topping" the trees at a certain height? Perhaps agree to pay to move the firs to another location on their property and replace with the aspens?

I can only assume that you and your neighbor are successful and reasonable people. There's no sense in beginning your part time life in Tahoe as foes. Try to make it work before you get lawyers involved.

 

[csi7]

Since the trees have been planted on the property line to be a natural fence, you need to submit the property survey, a tree specialist report to state the distance the trunks grow outward, and also the agreement you made to be proactive with the neighbors.
By doing this, and having an established timeline, it will help for any future disputes over the trees.
I have a very vindictive neighbor who has planted trees near the property line and put up a spite fence in direct violation of the covenants (no one wants to fight this guy) to the front of the property line, and so when the tree branches started hanging over into our yard, I went outside to cut the branches back to the property line.
The next week, all the branches were trimmed back by the neighbor after he was informed I did have the right to trim the branches back as long as I did not kill the tree.
The neighbor's comment about the leaves also needs to be mentioned as well.
Plus the fact that the neighbors did not attempt to talk to you about the placement of the trees.
Best wishes!