Who is responsible when a tree in my yard falls and does damage to a neighbors yard?

Answer 1

Ok.. I can answer this as a surveyor with a few hours of experience in tree ownership, but ultimately its going to be a legal question that, if you fight over it, a judge will decide based on the unique conditions to your site. Having said that here we go...

1) Its YOUR tree.. you are responsible for it... but

2) Your neighbor has a responsibility to mitigate threat and potental harm to himself, his property, and those who visit. If this tree has been hanging over his property for years and all he does is complain then it might be held that he knew about the problem and did nothing to remove the threat, hereby accepting the risk.

but.. if a nice, healthy tree.. growing straight and tall , suddenly fell over and smashed his house, car, whatever. Nope.. that is YOUR problem and that is what you have homeowners insurance for. It should cover you for this.

The shoe goes on the other foot if the tree was old, sickly, dropping branches all the time and people had told you it was going to fall (and you did nothing...).. Even your insurance company may be able to bail on that one.

You sound pretty sure it is your tree so I did not cover the option where the tree is partially on the other persons property ..

hope this helps...

.

Answer 2

You are responsible for anything that is related to your property or person. If you don't maintain a tree in a safe manner it becomes a safety hazard and could hurt someone when it falls. Your property owners insurance will most likely cover any damage done by the tree, but it will revert to your insurance not the neighbors.
Put yourself in their place, if a tree from their yard fell and broke your fence and tore up the side of your house would you feel responsible or would you think it should be paid for by the neighbors.

This is true no matter the circumstances.

If your dog chases someone on a bicycle and makes them fall, you are responsible for not controlling your dog. If you are burning leaves and they blow across the street unto the neighbors roof and start a fire, you are responsible.
That is the only way to keep people from being careless and abusive of their neighbors.

Answer 3

You are. It is also your responsibility to trim and otherwise maintain the tree on your property to prevent then from being a nuisance to others. Tree laws do vary from state to state and even city to city. It is probably best to discuss this with your neighbor and come to an amicable solution. If lawyers become involved it will cost everyone.

Doug

Answer 4

If you own the property the tree is on, you might be responsible dpending on what caused the tree to fall, such as mother nature or did someone cut the tree down. Check with your homeowners insurance. They should be able to tell you.

Answer 5

My parents recently were worried about a neighbor's tree falling on their garage, they went to city hall and were told if it fell that they were responsible for their own property. That is in Kentucky, it may be different in your state. They drafted a letter to the owner and he cut it down though.

Answer 6

You are. But it partly depends on why the tree fell and how much of it. Wind and storms might trigger their insurance and partly or fully cover the damage. Your insurance should also cover related damage although it is likely to have almost no coverage for the value of the tree or removing it.

Answer 7

Several years ago our neighbor's huge sweet gum tree fell on my garage b/c of Tropical Storm Alicia. They found out it had termites the week before and choose to go on vacation instead of having the tree cut down. My insurance paid for the repairs to the garage.

Answer 8

Believe it or not but here in Canada, we had this happen to us in August we thought because it was our neighbours tree(which it was) that they were responsible but apparently they weren't, it was our insurance that had to cover the damages. But hopefully you can work this out with your neighbours, when you know where everyone stands legally. Even share the expense, especially when it was"An Act of God", so they say?

Answer 9

Depends on the state..........in my state the TREE OWNER is responsible..........Even if it was thru no fault of your own..........such as ; act of God...the owners are responsible for the maintenance to prevent such happenings. In my state the neighbors can have any branches that hang over the fence line or survey line can have the tree branches remove and send you the bill.

Answer 10

I am an arborist and have dealt with this issue before. You are resposible but your homeowners ins. will cover it unless the tree was dead or had obvious problems that you ignored, then your insurance co. may refuse to pay but you are still liable. If it was a healthy tree and it fell over in a windstorm then it was an act of god and ins. will cover it. I hope you are insured