Can my neighbors cut their Arborvitae on my property against my will
Hello all and thank you for any advice you have regarding my situation.
so anyway, we have lived in this home (own) for 8 years now. The neighbors in question lived here before we came. In our backyard are his Arborvitae that line the fence on our property. The base are very close to the fence. So quite a bit of the shrub grew into our side. Including branches that lead to the tops of the plants (Towards our side) we are very reasonable people. When we first moved in. I let the guy come into our backyard to trim them because he wanted to do it. Also, we have a row of Arborvitae that lines our properties in the front of the house. They are on our property but we only kept them because the neighbor asked that we do. Also we let him have his boat cover partially on our property in the section pictured here. So it's fair to say we have been more then good neighbors. Well it turns out they are both raging alcoholics and the relationship went south fast. They have reported us to the city 3 times, two were unfounded, And one forced me to move a ton of gravel for parking and move our boat or we would be fined. (we had our boat in the front. They tell the neighbors that we steal from them etc..
So here is the issue he trims them all bare and gross on his side. So that he can see into our yard (Whats the point of the shrub then?) and when he trims the tops that lie on our property line it falls into our yard. Forcing me to clean it up and that's no fun.. Also my Aunt can't plant a garden or flowers there because the trimmings would just fall on them anyway. So about two weeks ago he was trimming the shrubs. And my uncle (the actual home owner) told him that "If any of that 'stuff' falls in my yard i'
m gonna charge you to clean it up" Needless to say words were exchanged. So he did not cut our side. We were very happy. Until two nights ago, the neighbors wife came to our back gate while we were gardening and said she called the state and that they are allowed to trim our side and that it can fall in our yard. Also told us she got a lawyer and that "we can get one too if we want." But that at 8 am Sunday morning he will be out there doing it. She was drunk and cussed out my entire family but this is beside the point. Other than to capture my motivation to have my property rights not violated.
Comments (16)
alley_cat_gw_7b
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Are a neighbors shrubs allowed to overhang my property line?
Comments (37)We've lived in our house for coming up on 25 years. We got new neighbors about a year ago. Occasionally, if our mail woman goes on vacation, we get all their mail. They get a bunch. Being neighborly we take it over next door and leave it between their storm door and main door on the side of their house. The had a lock installed on their mailbox when they moved in. No door in front. They're not home but we wouldn't bother them if they were. This a courtesy as the alternative, leaving it in our box with the flag up so it can be re-delivered could take days. They are virtually never out in the yard. Met the husband once when he had just moved in, but that's it. He called me over to tell me there were baby squirrels nesting in our yard because he sees them playing when he has coffee in his kitchen. He said he was worried they'd chew through our electrical wire. I thanked him for letting me know. But I didn't do anything because we've always had squirrels. Not sure what we're supposed to do. Well this year, instead of talking to us or sending us a note, they call city code enforcement. Why? Because our ashleaf spirea is hanging over their property line. In the past, neighbors usally do one of two things if anything hung over a fence on any side of our yard (three neighbors): 1) trim it (would take literally 15 minutes inclduing raking or putting in a yard waste can), 2) mention it to us. This would prompt us to offer trim it and clean up, or 3) let us know they'd like to trim it as a courtesy. They are early 30s and we are late 60s. Possibly they are hesitant to ask or find it awkward? I have no idea. The ashleaf spirea is beautiful with sprays of white flowers.I have actually deadheaded it after it blooms last year so that it looks its best. I talked to code enforcement and proposed that I bisect the plant. It will look bad on their side. Fortunately it is hardy so cutting it severely won't kill it. Each fall I cut it almost all the way back. It grows to 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide during each growing season. Strange way for new neighbors to behave among many families who have lived in our neighbor for decades. Thay are next to a street on the other side....See MoreFicus Benjamina, my neighbor is demanding that I cut it down
Comments (21)... happens all the time, Susan. I often reply to old posts because I know others will come across the information at some later point in time while they are searching for information, so don't feel like you've wasted anyone's time, including your own. Unless your tree came into being as the product of a seed germinating, it doesn't really have a tap root/ primary root in the sense that a tap root is the first organ to appear after a seed germinates. Almost all ficus that you would buy at retail would be the product of propagation by cuttings or tissue culture, so all the roots produced by those methods would be considered to be of the adventitious type, which simply means roots that do not occur where they would normally grow. However - that information is provided for those who might be interested in that sort of stuff, and not meant to call into question what you said. For all intents and purposes, several of the plant's roots will have grown deep in the soil where they act as primary roots/ tap roots in that they serve as anchorage against toppling and as conductive plumbing for (primarily but not exclusively) water. Your tree's dependency on you for water will be nullified by new roots which will grow deep into the soil to take the place of those severed. Al...See MoreNeighbor Planted Leyland Cypress 3 ft. from my Property
Comments (71)Please, don't suggest that she commit illegal acts. Besides, it won't work that well anyway. Lets see. The vindictive old guy suddenly sees all of his trees die off, maybe the grass around them too. He knows that the only person who would profit from it is this neighbor who has been feuding about those trees for the last couple of years. So the next act of vindictive old guy is to put in an ugly metal privacy fence 10 feet high. Or perhaps he decides this is the spot to establish that junkyard he has always wanted to find a spot for. So a pile of rusted tractors and farm implements suddenly appear in that corner of his property, and maybe a junked car or two. He might even replant those trees on his side of the junk, so he does not need to look at it. Even if nobody can prove that you did it, the vindictive, pissed off old guy knows who did it. Doing something stupid will only escalate the fight. John...See MoreProperty line issue: Neighbor is mowing on my side, how to design it?
Comments (6)I'd suggest getting your property surveyed and ask the surveyor to leave a clear visual marker on the surface - here that meant the pin in the ground, with a length of florescent pink ribbon attached to it :-) When we moved here in 1999 there had never been a fence between our property and the neighbour on the north side. The owner(s) there bought the house from the husband's parents - who were original owners from when the houses were built in the early 1960s. We had a 'rescued' dog who was unreliably friendly with strangers, so needed to put up some sort of barrier between the properties. The neighbours wanted to retain the open look and were afraid we'd put up a 6' wooden wall for a fence :-) We didn't want to do that either, so we all agreed to put up a temporary fence using horribly tacky plastic mesh stuff! We put it up along where both we and the neighbours thought the property line ran. A year or two later we were ready to put up a more permanent fence (black chainlink to be consistent with the surrounding properties and retain an open look). So we had a survey done. It turned out that where we all thought the property line ran was incorrect and we had been gardening on a foot or two of the neighbour's property - with their consent because they didn't think it was theirs! Since the neighbours are nice and gardeners too, they 'adopted' the plants that were on their property as it was easier than digging them up and moving them! We've been very lucky that all our adjoining neighbours are very nice. But having a survey done puts everybody 'on the same page' and is much better than guessing....See More
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