songxxx
New Member
Hello all. I apologize in advance for the length of this post/question. I am hoping I can get some input about a dispute I am having with my neighbor regarding a tree that was cut down.
My neighbor took the liberty of cutting down a tree that is on my side of our property line. He owns the chain link fence (4 ft.) that goes along the actual property line between his yard and mine. About 18 inches into my property is my wood fence (6 ft.), so everything within this 18 inch gap is on my property. The tree in question I have determined to be a Black Locust tree about 40 feet tall (my guess). It’s not a particularly valuable tree from the standpoint of beauty (in fact I think it’s actually an overgrown weed), but it provided shade and privacy from our backyard neighbor, which is especially important to us.
On a Sunday in February he had a tree cutting crew start cutting down this tree. When we realized what was going on it was already cut down to the height of the chain link fence. We told the tree crew to stop and we told them they were cutting down trees on our side of the property line. They were going to cut more trees down on my side of the property. When we confronted the neighbor he pleaded ignorance, claiming that he thought the trees were on his side of the property line. A little context/background … We paid for a property survey when we purchased our home about 4 years ago so we knew where the property line was and the trees were definitely on our side. Our neighbor did not do a survey when he purchased his home about 2 years ago. We were instructed by our real estate lawyer to do a survey, which we did. My neighbor said he didn’t want to spend his limited funds on a survey. My wife and I were very upset about the whole situation and we explained the value of privacy and shade to my family. He apologized and as compensation we agreed that the neighbor would plant a tree of our choice in our backyard and we would revisit this in May. I wanted to keep things cordial with my neighbor.
Come Saturday May 14, I met up with the neighbor and we told him what tree we wanted, ie. We wanted a Crape Myrtle Tree, 6 feet tall preferably, but at least 4 feet tall. We did not tell him where we wanted it planted. He said he would reach out to a landscaper/friend he knew to see what could be done. There was no further discussion. We were expecting him to come back to us with information about what he found out, height of the tree and the correct type of tree and when we would schedule the planting and further, we expected to be informed of the time when the tree planting crew would arrive so we can explain where the tree would be planted, totally reasonable (in fact expected) from my point of view.
Fast forward to this morning Wednesday May 18, I get a text at 11am from the neighbor that the tree is coming and “can you tell the guys where you want it planted?” I texted back saying “you should have given me notice, can we schedule this another day?” and I also said “yes I am home, but I have meetings all day (I work remote).” I told him, “how would you assume I was home, and how would the crew know where to plant the tree if I wasn’t home”. He said it was “beyond his control and he was notified this morning the crew was coming”. I don't believe this. He said, “they can leave it somewhere, but I would have to plant it.” I didn’t want to do that, so I grudgingly said I would meet the tree planting crew. BTW, the neighbor was at work all day. In the meantime I texted him asking if there would be a warranty on the tree. He said he would check with the crew when they arrived. He didn’t do that and they came to plant the tree. I asked the tree planting crew about a warranty and they said they provided no warranty, nor did the nursery they purchased from, after I called the nursery and asked them about it, while the crew was there. At that point we refused to have the tree planted because we wanted the warranty that comes with tree purchases that appears to be fairly common. If the tree died after a month we wanted to have some sort of recourse. Now the neighbor is saying he did everything we asked and we brought up the warranty at the last minute.
Our view is that he gave us no notice of the planting and by rushing the job, we didn’t have the opportunity to discuss the warranty when he was supposed to get back to us before the tree was planted, which he did not. He claims he would have made the warranty possible if he had known about it earlier after we made an “agreement”. In my view, we didn’t have a fully realized “agreement” because we didn’t have ANY details of the planting before this morning. We asked the neighbor to take on the responsibility of the tree himself it it dies within a year in a written statement. Can I get your opinions about this situation?
My neighbor made two grossly bad assumptions in my view. He assumed the tree was on his side of the property in the first place and he assumed there wouldn’t be a problem if he notified me of the tree planting on the day of the planting. So far as of late Wednesday night I have not heard from my neighbor and I see the tree sitting in his backyard, left by the crew. Are there any good suggestions about what to do at this point? If I decide to take him to small claims court, how do I determine the value of a tree, not known for its beauty, but valuable to our family for shade and privacy? Thanks for reading this and sorry it’s so long, but there isn’t another way to tell the full story of what happened.
My neighbor took the liberty of cutting down a tree that is on my side of our property line. He owns the chain link fence (4 ft.) that goes along the actual property line between his yard and mine. About 18 inches into my property is my wood fence (6 ft.), so everything within this 18 inch gap is on my property. The tree in question I have determined to be a Black Locust tree about 40 feet tall (my guess). It’s not a particularly valuable tree from the standpoint of beauty (in fact I think it’s actually an overgrown weed), but it provided shade and privacy from our backyard neighbor, which is especially important to us.
On a Sunday in February he had a tree cutting crew start cutting down this tree. When we realized what was going on it was already cut down to the height of the chain link fence. We told the tree crew to stop and we told them they were cutting down trees on our side of the property line. They were going to cut more trees down on my side of the property. When we confronted the neighbor he pleaded ignorance, claiming that he thought the trees were on his side of the property line. A little context/background … We paid for a property survey when we purchased our home about 4 years ago so we knew where the property line was and the trees were definitely on our side. Our neighbor did not do a survey when he purchased his home about 2 years ago. We were instructed by our real estate lawyer to do a survey, which we did. My neighbor said he didn’t want to spend his limited funds on a survey. My wife and I were very upset about the whole situation and we explained the value of privacy and shade to my family. He apologized and as compensation we agreed that the neighbor would plant a tree of our choice in our backyard and we would revisit this in May. I wanted to keep things cordial with my neighbor.
Come Saturday May 14, I met up with the neighbor and we told him what tree we wanted, ie. We wanted a Crape Myrtle Tree, 6 feet tall preferably, but at least 4 feet tall. We did not tell him where we wanted it planted. He said he would reach out to a landscaper/friend he knew to see what could be done. There was no further discussion. We were expecting him to come back to us with information about what he found out, height of the tree and the correct type of tree and when we would schedule the planting and further, we expected to be informed of the time when the tree planting crew would arrive so we can explain where the tree would be planted, totally reasonable (in fact expected) from my point of view.
Fast forward to this morning Wednesday May 18, I get a text at 11am from the neighbor that the tree is coming and “can you tell the guys where you want it planted?” I texted back saying “you should have given me notice, can we schedule this another day?” and I also said “yes I am home, but I have meetings all day (I work remote).” I told him, “how would you assume I was home, and how would the crew know where to plant the tree if I wasn’t home”. He said it was “beyond his control and he was notified this morning the crew was coming”. I don't believe this. He said, “they can leave it somewhere, but I would have to plant it.” I didn’t want to do that, so I grudgingly said I would meet the tree planting crew. BTW, the neighbor was at work all day. In the meantime I texted him asking if there would be a warranty on the tree. He said he would check with the crew when they arrived. He didn’t do that and they came to plant the tree. I asked the tree planting crew about a warranty and they said they provided no warranty, nor did the nursery they purchased from, after I called the nursery and asked them about it, while the crew was there. At that point we refused to have the tree planted because we wanted the warranty that comes with tree purchases that appears to be fairly common. If the tree died after a month we wanted to have some sort of recourse. Now the neighbor is saying he did everything we asked and we brought up the warranty at the last minute.
Our view is that he gave us no notice of the planting and by rushing the job, we didn’t have the opportunity to discuss the warranty when he was supposed to get back to us before the tree was planted, which he did not. He claims he would have made the warranty possible if he had known about it earlier after we made an “agreement”. In my view, we didn’t have a fully realized “agreement” because we didn’t have ANY details of the planting before this morning. We asked the neighbor to take on the responsibility of the tree himself it it dies within a year in a written statement. Can I get your opinions about this situation?
My neighbor made two grossly bad assumptions in my view. He assumed the tree was on his side of the property in the first place and he assumed there wouldn’t be a problem if he notified me of the tree planting on the day of the planting. So far as of late Wednesday night I have not heard from my neighbor and I see the tree sitting in his backyard, left by the crew. Are there any good suggestions about what to do at this point? If I decide to take him to small claims court, how do I determine the value of a tree, not known for its beauty, but valuable to our family for shade and privacy? Thanks for reading this and sorry it’s so long, but there isn’t another way to tell the full story of what happened.
