What is the name of your state? New York
What should I do about a neighbor with which I'm having a dispute over a tree?
The base of the trunk is on his side of the fence, but it arches over onto the side of my house and roof. Now it's starting to damage the roof and trim on my house. I have spoken to him several times about having it trimmed or even removed, but he just walked away without comment. He doesn't live there, but he owns it and runs a business on the property, so he's in and out and it's difficult to "catch" him to talk to. The last time I approached him, I said that I'd be willing to split the cost of having the tree cut down. He responded by saying that if I came on his property again or brought up the issue, he would file charges against me for harassment and trespassing, and if I touched the tree, even the section impinging on my house, he'd have me arrested for illegal dumping. I was shocked and asked him what he meant as I don't dump on his lot, nor did I didn't get the connection between the tree and garbage. He said that having a tree isn't illegal, but throwing garbage on his property was. I told him I didn't dump garbage on his lot. He responded that whether I did or did not didn't matter because he could get people to testify that they saw me doing this. I feel like my hands are tied in this issue. If I trim the tree, I'll be facing some stiff penalties in court and I can't prove I didn't dump garbage on his property, but he and his "snitches" can. Now what should I do?
What should I do about a neighbor with which I'm having a dispute over a tree?
The base of the trunk is on his side of the fence, but it arches over onto the side of my house and roof. Now it's starting to damage the roof and trim on my house. I have spoken to him several times about having it trimmed or even removed, but he just walked away without comment. He doesn't live there, but he owns it and runs a business on the property, so he's in and out and it's difficult to "catch" him to talk to. The last time I approached him, I said that I'd be willing to split the cost of having the tree cut down. He responded by saying that if I came on his property again or brought up the issue, he would file charges against me for harassment and trespassing, and if I touched the tree, even the section impinging on my house, he'd have me arrested for illegal dumping. I was shocked and asked him what he meant as I don't dump on his lot, nor did I didn't get the connection between the tree and garbage. He said that having a tree isn't illegal, but throwing garbage on his property was. I told him I didn't dump garbage on his lot. He responded that whether I did or did not didn't matter because he could get people to testify that they saw me doing this. I feel like my hands are tied in this issue. If I trim the tree, I'll be facing some stiff penalties in court and I can't prove I didn't dump garbage on his property, but he and his "snitches" can. Now what should I do?