We have a tree on our property that hangs over on to our neighbor's yard and house. He has asked us about cutting it down because of fear of it blowing into his house. He hates doing this because it is his main form of shade during the summer months. We're having a local tree guy come and advise us. We figured, and our neighbor agreed, that we would both split the cost down the middle.

Is that the norm?

I think legally it's your responsibility, but that goes all ways. That is, he can't ask you to cut it down, but if it fell on his house, your insurance would have to pay for it. There have been a couple of court cases I've heard of where neighbors have forced other neighbors to cut down trees (interfering with their solar panels, a nut allergy, etc.), but those have been the exception rather than the rule.

I think he's doing the right thing by paying half.

No. It's your tree, so usually, the one who grows the item is the one responsible for it. Historically, and I'm pretty sure, legally (that's how it is here, and that's how it was in NY and CA). He's nice for offering.

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It may differ from place to place. We had a similar situation where we lived and the law was you could cut any portion hanging over your side of the property line.

I think that I would call my insurance company for advice. Then it would at least be on record that you were concerned and wanted to do the right thing.

Good luck.
Cathleen

he has the right to cut anything hanging over on his property off. it is your responsibility about the tree and if it falls on his house you insurance is responsible though it is considered an act of god if that happens.

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fALL SEVEN TIMES STAND UP EIGHT!

That is really cool of him to offer to help pay for it. I WISH my nieghbor would do something about the trees that hang into my property. They hang over my driveway and hit our cars. I get up on the stone wall and trim them back several times a year. THIS is not my job, but I'd rather not take the chance of a branch breaking my windshield. In the meantime, the guy is constantly cutting more and more into the brush that seperates our 2 properties to make more room for his JUNK vehicles. Ugh. Its like Sandford and Son over there.

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~Missy~Mommy
Meghan8.Samantha7,Cameron4

I guess if he doesn't want a tree blowing in his house, he should probably find a house with no trees around. There's no way I would cut down a tree that was perfectly fine and would take an act of God to blow into someone's house. We do have a tree that hangs over into our neighbor's yard and they have a hard time mowing under it, so we keep it trimmed to our side of the fence.

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"It's time to move from what we can do, to what we must do, to what we will do." ~Hillary Clinton

This actually happened to my parents about a month ago... Keep in mind that this was not during any storm; this occurred in the middle of the night. A tree from a neighboring property fell onto their yard smashing their patio set, one of those play log cabins, and their AC unit. It also hit a power line connected to my parent's house but did not snap it, although the pole was bent. It scraped the house but no major damage (thankfully!). The neighbors insurance refused to pay any damages due to it being "an act of God." The neighbors did come and cut up and remove the tree to use as firewood. My parents had to pay to have the electricity pole fixed and not to mention to replace their AC unit, which was just put in last year....

I would be thankful that your neighbor was willing to share costs with you. Personally I would much rather cut the tree down now and save the headache of dealing with insurance claims and who pays for what if the tree did fall.

I think this shows really good neighborly communication and cooperation!! Seriously, it sounds like a win/win all around -- IMHO!

I think your parents should talk to their insurance, and I think their insurance would probably work it out with the other person's insurance. But I might be wrong, I've just never heard of house insurance refusing to pay for something like that.