Three years ago when the trees were first planted, you told the neighbor that the trees were on your property. "He had one of his workers come and immediately replant them, but right on the line. I wasn't happy, but I felt like saying something again would be obnoxious." Really unfortunate you did not continue to say something to the neighbor at that time. It may have been "obnoxious" to tell them to move the trees for the second time, but each year the trees have grown and the situation has only gotten worse.

Of course I feel for you and you certainly have the right to your property. But if you just go ahead and cut his trees without talking to him first, (thereby damaging them), be ready for him to be really ticked off at you. He will probably retaliate in some way. I have a good friend who has a neighbor from hell. That neighbor hates my friend. This has brought a lot of anxiety to my friend and she has informed police about some of the things he has been doing. She has also installed surveillance cameras as the police have suggested to her. Living with such a neighbor is really unpleasant and even scary at times. It's too bad that you are in this situation. But you have choices to make and those choices will have consequences.

Hi everyone.

Logan, I would never go on Judge Judy. lol I'm not a masochist! My step brother was once offered to go on Judge Joe Brown's court show for a dispute, this was many years ago, but my step brother declined.

Your neighbor's house could be sold much sooner than 60 years, especially if one of the owner's dies, goes bankrupt, is declared incompetent, a divorce happens etc. These kinds of neighborly agreements blow up in people's faces once new people come into the situation, and now own the property.

I wish you the best of luck.

Kara, thank you for responding. You're so sweet and you made me laugh out loud Welcome to the tree forum! I hope you stay awhile. Well, our fence is going up sooner rather than later since my shrubs order is to arrive in 4 weeks, and the fence has to be up before then, otherwise the shrubs could get trampled on while they're putting it up. Look, I'm a nice person, and I don't want to upset anyone. That's not my thing. In a perfect world I would give "E" a heads up. But I'm afraid with that knowledge ahead of time he could use it to his advantage in some sort of devious way. And he is devious, and sneaky. His mind operates in a different manner than most people.

Hi Newhostalady, thanks for offering up your thoughts and advice. Trust me, a security camera will be installed on the 2nd floor corner of our house facing the fence. It won't be facing our other neighbor's yard at all, only on the fence and my shrubs.

At this moment I'm thinking we can install the fence without trimming the trees. The fence will then be an obvious line of demarcation between our property and his, and at that point I may text him and ask him if he would be willing to trim his branches back off his fence. In reality we're only affecting 7 of his thousands and thousands of trees. Money is not an issue with him. A very famous movie actress who is on TV currently bought IIRC a thousand trees from him several years ago. Semi after semi was coming in and out of the tree farm carrying his trees to this actress to her many acres of land. I don't know how she found his tree farm; we're out in the middle of nowhere.

I don't know, maybe I should tell him we're willing to buy those 7 trees as Xmas trees from him come next Christmas, with the agreement that he plant the next group of saplings back off the line next time. At least our fence will prevent future plantings on the line.

I had a similar situation. I called the police and they came out and told me that I should go to a district justice and have the dj notify the neighbor that I would be removing all the parts of his plants that were growing over on my property. I told the neighbor what the police said, but I said that I didn't want to do that to him without talking to him. We compromised so that he removed some himself and letting me remove others. In your case, the Christmas trees are near marketable size and will soon be cut. You could legally ruin all of them for Christmas trees, or let him take half and let you take the other half. Then use the money you get to pay for the fence you put in.

Maybe you just need to tell him that "half Christmas Trees" are a needed holiday option these days! Solves everyone's problem!

Dh is putting in the 4 ×4 posts today. Apparently, that's all we can do, since we need a building permit to put up our 3ft fence. We had no idea. It's zoned agricultural out here; there's no homeowner's association.

Our next door (the maple guy) neighbor's best friend is the building inspector, so when we told our neighbor a few minutes ago, while we were outside, our plans for today, he nearly jumped for joy. He came to our front door not 5 minutes later with a string, sledgehammer, measuring tape and a level. LOL

He is SO excited about this, because he hates the Xmas guy so much. We'd already tied a string to denote our property lines, but apparently this is some special string he's letting us borrow to make sure the poles are lined up correctly.

So what's going to happen is the building inspector will show up to our house on thursday when he's back in the office, and then he will see the xmas trees are 3ft over the line, and in the way of the fence, and supposively he's going to make Xmas neighbor trim them back.

HA! I'll believe that only when I see it. I don't even think legally the Xmas guy has to trim the branches, since they're on our property, not his.

Dh and I have talked endlessly about this and on Fri night I said let's just buy the 7 xmas trees that are hanging over, and give them to charity. We can do that every 10 yrs or so, and that'll fix the problem. dh said no way! No way are we going to pay for 7 trees at a price of $700, all to keep his trees off our property.

So, here we are, now about to piss off our hothead Xmas neighbor.

At least the maple guy is gleeful.

I don't know if it's different where you live, but here you certainly don't need a building permit to put up a fence.

It says on our county website that we do, but I don't think anyone around here actually gets them. However, for sure we are going to get it, tomorrow, because xmas guy will be the first to bring it up. Last summer when we had a huge slab of concrete removed by a contractor (competitor of xmas guy), xmas neighbor pulled up and immediately asked the contractor if he had a permit to do the demo. :<

Half of the poles, 5 of them, are put in and cemented. We had an emergency to take care of over the holiday. We discovered we had a leak in our crawl space, in a water pipe attached to our water pump. It took us 12 hours to fix it, partly because we didn't know what we were doing at first. And it wasn't fun removing that pipe that was probably as old as the house. That took forever. I hope what we did is up to code. I told dh I would ask the inspector, when he comes over, to look at what we did down there and see what he says, but Dh said no way!

DH will finish up the poles this weekend, if the weather cooperates.

Im at a loss for words. Where do you live again cus I want no part of it. You are being way way to nice about the whole thing. Property cost alot of money and I intend to keep every inch I worked so hard to pay for. If I was in the situation the story would have went much the other way. those trees would have been gone a LOOONG time ago. Again the guy is a bully and you all are letting him get his way. Get an inspector get a lawyer hell buy a chainsaw, do something but don't let him do whatever he wants just out of fear..most bullys stop once confronted..Stand up to him and put a stop to it.

the problem is, the xmas tree person mistakes kindness for weakness. you can not be kind to bullies and nasties. you have to stand up and be firm and brook no nonsense when dealing with them. they need to know you will not back down because when you do, they will push you as far as they can.

The building inspector stopped by today and shook his head and said what a mess, and that the trees should never have been planted ON the property line. He said if it were him he would chainsaw each and every one of them down, right at ground level. He called the xmas guy on the phone right then and there, and apparently the xmas guy flipped out.

At the end of the call xmas guy agreed to look at the trees. The inspector told me that if the xmas guy doesn't do anything about them then we need to file a complaint and then it goes to the judge. I said how long will you give him to do something about the trees, and he said if by the time he sees him next Thursday, if he hasn't done anything, then it will be time to file a complaint.

The inspector said the xmas guy is an absolute jerk, that he can't stand him, and that he is a bully, and he always has nothing but problems with him.

How frustrating! Your neighbor knew exactly what he was doing when he planted those threes on that line. I'm sure he just thought you wouldn't make a fuss out of it. I agree with what Ingeorgia said he mistakes kindness for weakness! His property is getting bigger as yours is shrinking.

We've gone outside and taken pictures and video of ALL our property stakes, to show where they are in relation to the trees and our 4x4's, in case he gets the urge to move them. I've seen enough Fear Thy Neighbor to know that is not outside the realm of possibility.

His malignant narcissistic personality disorder knows no bounds. He flips out over people who want to merely put a picket fence up on their OWN property, in which he's intruding on. He's nuts.

Thanks for posting an update! I'm emotionally involved now (I hate your xmas guy too) so please let us know how it turns out!

I'm not sure how else to say it....

Tell your husband to grow some balls and cut those babies down :)

I will. Thank you for your support. I appreciate it. He's on probation, so if he does anything to our property he's going (back) to jail.

Jalcon, if we do that he will sue us for the value of those 7 trees, which is a total of $700. My husband has his job to consider, so he can't halfhazzardly destroy someone's property like that. We have to go through the proper legal channels.

That's what sucks about your problem. He's your neighbor and could literally make your life a living hell. You've got to play your cards right. I'm sure it would feel amazing to go out there with a chainsaw and cut them down to nothing, but who knows what he would do to you. Your neighbor seems vindictive on top of everything. Your going about it the right way. You have to live with this Ahole, and it's not like you will never see him again.

Goodluck:).

How can he sue you? They are on your property. If there was an imaginary wall from your property line to the sky, shear off everything that crosses it. I hear you though, and your way is probably more civil. You guys are handling it better than I would, kudos.

It isn't illegal to cut down a tree on your property, regardless to whom it was placed there by.

I get the vibe this guy is super vindictive. He may not sue her, but her dog may mysteriously end up dead or missing. Idk if she has a dog, but I was just giving an example:). Did you guys read This?

Jalcon, 2 of the trees have trunks that are on our property..... just ever so barely, but the other 5 trunks are on the property line. We can cut all the branches up to the trunk though, beause of that.

There is no doubt this guy will do nothing for the next week, thus making us wait to build the actual fence. At least we are holding him accountable, and we did it through the proper channels. We are putting a camera up this week end, in case he gets the urge to kill any of my plants.

I just read my dad your story. He's a pretty level headed Libra:). His advice is, you're going through the right channels, and just make him think the ball is in his court. But it's really in yours. Document everything, which I'm sure you're doing.

My dad had a tree issue with a neighbor years ago. They were Palm trees tho:). Ironically the trees ended up falling over on the neighbors side. Haha:).

Cameras are a great idea. Now you can hold his balls over the fire if he does anything nasty to your plants:).

Lol, I have split tree trunks before in situations like this. Although, the owner of the trees did not retaliate.

That's funny:)! That would good if you didn't tell him and started cutting down the trees. He comes out like a maniac and you just hand him a hand written note from mommy and daddy:).

Let's hope Jr. doesn't talk his way out of this. Goodluck:).

Get written permission from the property owner.

That's not how they operate. The father is well known in this area. His handshake or verbal permission is worth its weight in gold. I'm not worried about that at all.

Well, I suppose the xmas guy can't sue you, since he doesn't own the property..........

Oh boy and the count down begins:).

I don't know about NY, but in TN a tree on the property line belongs to both parties equally, whether planted or naturally growing. If that is your case and the trees are ON the line, and by that I mean that if any part of the trunk is touching the line, you own half interest, and neither party can remove the tree without the other's consent. In TN the law also states that if you do anything to damage a tree even though you have the right to remove anything on your side, you are liable. So if the trunks of the trees are on his side, and you remove or damage branches hanging over your side and ruin them as Xmas trees, you lose. A crappy situation.

You should've left the one on your side until Christmas, then, free christmas tree, Lol. Good job, though. I would've lost my patience and cut them long ago.

Looks good:)!Too bad it isn't Christmas. This is considering you celebrate Christmas:). You could have Christmas trees in every room of your house:)!

Do you think the parents gave Jr. the heads up? Maybe he's at his therapist's office on a special Sunday appointment;). Hopefully.

Mmmm I bet it smells good:).

Well the fact that you're pretty sure Jr. hasn't been warned, tells a lot about him and his parents relationship. He's probably been a piece of work the day he was born;).

Sometimes anticlimactic is good. Especially when dealing with certain people, but the good thing is you're prepared. It's definitely a good thing he wasn't around when they were being cut. Made the process quick and easy.

He has nobody to blame but himself.

I can't wait to see the finished product:).

You are so sweet, Kara! He won't blame himself, he always blames other people.

I'm with my dad now. I told him you cut the trees down today and showed him your pic. He said smiling "Looks good! Well she had the threes cut down by 12pm, and dead by 6pm;)". He was totally joking about the dead by 6 btw:).

So everybody has your back even tho we're not physically there:).

Update: :(

15 minutes ago, xmas guy drove by, then 5 minutes later he drove by from the other direction, then blared his horn full blast the entire length of our property. Its safe to say he wasn't warned. We were inside the house and saw him do it.

We're going to text him later on and tell him his dad gave us full permission. It may ratchet down his anger, or maybe not.

That's funny:)! At least you guys weren't outside:). I would think he's called his parents by now, but maybe not. Sounds like they don't have the best relationship.

Idk if I would say anything. May open a can of worms. Then again texting him may direct his anger towards his parents instead of you, and with his parents there's nothing he can really do.

I have like 8 fake trees, so it wouldn't bother me either, Lol.

ahh the end of this story really made my day LOL

He is suing my husband and I, AND his parents! That is all I'm going to say for now.

He won't do crap. Empty threat. He has no legality to do anything. Don't worry about it. But I WOULD have cameras set up outside and document everything that goes in with this guy! GL.

He has no legs to stand on. I agree with jalcon, put up some cameras and don't worry about it.

We talked to 4 lawyers today, and they ALL said his lawsuit would be considered frivolous, and that his case would be thrown out. And none of them believe he will actually go through with suing us. One of them called the xmas guy an idiot for even considering suing. One lawyer said our case would be a "simple" matter to handle, only one day of work @ $750. I talked to him at length. Basically, he would say to dismiss the case against us since we made an agreement with the property owner, and if the son had any theoretical agreement it would only be with his parents.

But I know this guy, and I have no doubt he will still sue us.

We bought security cameras last night. They're expensive! Holy cow! Xmas guy was outside and walked to the property's edge and made a spectacle of himself watching dh put the backyard camera up. If he was trying to intimidate dh it did not work.

Xmas guy also came over this morning and measured the tree trunks of only 5 trees, because the other trees are totally on our property. He didn't measure the tree lengths which I found surprising. He did take pictures. We just barely missed him, as we were outside 20 minutes before him measuring the lengths of the trees and taking more pics. We screen-grabbed his facebook page; he sells them for $6 a foot. 2 of the trees we cut were only 3.5ft tall! The others were around 7-8ft. What does he think he's going to get? Even if we pretend he's the property owner, then we would at least be entitled to half the value of the trees since 50% of each of the trunks was on our land. He would get less than $100 total. He'd be a schmuck for suing.

One last thing, I talked to the building inspector this morning and he said xmas guy called him late last night (Sunday!) and screamed at him, and that he had to listen to xmas guy even though he was out of town visiting family. He said xmas guy doesn't have a case and not to worry.

That's all I can update for now. Thank you for "listening". It means a lot. I was up all night last night worrying about being sued.

Well, he's succeeded in one thing, getting you to worry over nothing. :-)

I'm pretty sure that if a person sues someone in my state and loses, that person pays for both the legal fees from both sides. So unless he would have a chance of gaining a big sum from the attempt, he would be a fool for starting anything along those lines. I would ask my lawyer if that is so in this case.

It would no doubt be handled in a small claims court anyways because of the amount, where no attorneys are necessary. https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/smallclaims/startingcase.shtml

Edit: Added link.

IANAL:

It's over!!!

He didn't sue us nor his parents, and he's not going to at all.. He apparently confirmed through the family that we did indeed have the parents permission, and he's dropped the issue entirely.

I don't know what was said to him, but I can only imagine it had to do with further permission from his parents to plant his trees on his parents' land again. He plants every year, as trees get sold, or if they die over the winter.

Whatever was said certainly made a strong impression on him, because he's a bully, and has a Napolean complex, but yet he's done a complete turn around in behavior. Not being friendly, mind you, but leaving us alone.

I'm sure he's still as pissed off as he was, but as long as he continues to leave us alone then we're fine.

Now you can get on with building that fence!

Well that's a relief:). Keep your walls up around him tho or maybe I should say fence in this situation:). I still wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. Good thing for those cameras.

Maybe he spoke to a lawyer that actually had his best interest, and was like it's a waste of time and money. Gave him a reality check.

I feel sorry for his parents. They have to deal with a man child.

Maybe he realized he was in the wrong and came to his senses.

Ya right;)!

Yes, I think his parents finally just put their collective foot down and, because their man-child realised that this time they meant it, he thought he'd better behave. (His version of behave.) I reckon they said, "No more Xmas trees unless you quit acting the goat."

Best wishes for better times. You were put through a lot of worry and distress for no good reason.