F
famster
Guest
What is the name of your state? CA
I live in a community that has CC&Rs but no HOA. The neighbors who live at the back of my house but on a higher elevation are claiming that my palm trees are blocking their views and through their attorney, demand that we cut down the palm trees on our front lawn.
The 3 palm trees were planted when we moved in the house when it was first built, 16 years ago. Now the trees are taller and some of the fronds are reaching about 2 feet above the highest point of our roof. The neighbors are not the original owners of their houses. They moved in about 10 years ago. From the backyard of the neighbor immediate behind our house, no view is obstructed. They have 180 degree views plus total unobstructed views from their deck on the 2nd floor. Yet they claim that some of the fronds are blocking the views when the viewpoint is from their kitchen.
The other neighbor is 2 houses away, also at the higher elevation. They also have 180 degree views and deck on the 2nd floor but they choose to look toward my palm trees because they want to see the "night lights from the highschool". On one hand, they said that they wanted the ability to look at the views like the date they moved in. On the other hand, they want to focus on the "nightlights from the highschool" but then, the highschool was built only last year! Before that, all they could see was a dried hill and at night, darkness, because there were no houses then.
The CC&Rs address views as below:
VIEWS-- Each homeowner will respect the view corridors of all other homeowners. No solid fence, or other improvements,including plantings, shrubs, trees, or other vegetation shall be constructed or placed so as to obstruct a view corridor of any other homeowner, unless expressly agreed to by a written, recorded document signed by each of the homeowners
I don't think the builder thought of this kind of problem when they wrote the CC&Rs because they never once mentioned about not planting trees that could grow tall. They even planted mature, tall palm trees on the grounds of their model homes. Those trees are very tall by now and are still standing.
I feel that the CC&Rs are too vague when "view corridors" is used. To my neighbors, the space between houses on the street below them (our street) is part of their views and no trees should be planted to block that view. I would like to know if I have the rights to retain my palm trees that have been around a lot longer than my neighbors have. After all, this clump of 3 king palm trees are the only palm trees we have left on our property. A month ago, we already cut down 4 other palm trees due to the same demand from these neighbors.
Please share your legal advice with me. Thank you very much.
I live in a community that has CC&Rs but no HOA. The neighbors who live at the back of my house but on a higher elevation are claiming that my palm trees are blocking their views and through their attorney, demand that we cut down the palm trees on our front lawn.
The 3 palm trees were planted when we moved in the house when it was first built, 16 years ago. Now the trees are taller and some of the fronds are reaching about 2 feet above the highest point of our roof. The neighbors are not the original owners of their houses. They moved in about 10 years ago. From the backyard of the neighbor immediate behind our house, no view is obstructed. They have 180 degree views plus total unobstructed views from their deck on the 2nd floor. Yet they claim that some of the fronds are blocking the views when the viewpoint is from their kitchen.
The other neighbor is 2 houses away, also at the higher elevation. They also have 180 degree views and deck on the 2nd floor but they choose to look toward my palm trees because they want to see the "night lights from the highschool". On one hand, they said that they wanted the ability to look at the views like the date they moved in. On the other hand, they want to focus on the "nightlights from the highschool" but then, the highschool was built only last year! Before that, all they could see was a dried hill and at night, darkness, because there were no houses then.
The CC&Rs address views as below:
VIEWS-- Each homeowner will respect the view corridors of all other homeowners. No solid fence, or other improvements,including plantings, shrubs, trees, or other vegetation shall be constructed or placed so as to obstruct a view corridor of any other homeowner, unless expressly agreed to by a written, recorded document signed by each of the homeowners
I don't think the builder thought of this kind of problem when they wrote the CC&Rs because they never once mentioned about not planting trees that could grow tall. They even planted mature, tall palm trees on the grounds of their model homes. Those trees are very tall by now and are still standing.
I feel that the CC&Rs are too vague when "view corridors" is used. To my neighbors, the space between houses on the street below them (our street) is part of their views and no trees should be planted to block that view. I would like to know if I have the rights to retain my palm trees that have been around a lot longer than my neighbors have. After all, this clump of 3 king palm trees are the only palm trees we have left on our property. A month ago, we already cut down 4 other palm trees due to the same demand from these neighbors.
Please share your legal advice with me. Thank you very much.
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