Benchwarmers Opinion Wanted: Neighbors' Dead Tree in my Yard

[Nova98]

So about a week ago when we had some heavy winds a dead tree in my neighbor's yard came down and crashed from his side across the back bed of my yard. Now it fell into a mulch bed & not onto the lawn so I'm not worried about it doing any damage to the lawn etc.. However, it's been close to a week and it's been laying there-again no real harm being done but it's an eyesore. The thing is that we are on friendly terms with this neighbor (we don't hang out or anything but a quick "Hi how are you" type thing if they are out in the driveway. I don't want to piss the people off and get into a border war in the future every time a branch falls in the neighbor's yard-however, it's starting to piss me off. I could probably clean it up but that would involve me getting a chain saw and chopping the trunk and branches just to move the thing-it's not that I can't - I just feel since it's not my tree I shouldn't have to do that.

How long do I wait before I knock on the door and ask them to please remove their dead tree from my yard? Is there a delicate way to approach this without it turning into WW III?

 

[DunkinTennisBalls]

You gave him some time. Now get over there and ask nicely when you can expect the tree to be removed. See how that works. Failing that, chop the tree up yourself and dump the remains back onto his property. The **** his wife to further teach him a lesson.

 

[adp98]

A real man would go out with an ax and chop the sucker up.

Your neighbor is a lazy, deadbeat. Out of respect for his community and fact the tree is his responsibility at a minimum he should have come over and told you the steps he's taken to have it removed. You need to go over, be very nice and simply tell him it's been a week but the tree needs to go. If that doesn't get him to apologize quickly and act, he doesn't have any intention of moving quickly. That's ridiculous to have your tree laying on someone's property for a week.

 

[OldManYellsatCloud]

I don't agree with chopping it up and dumping logs back on his lawn. Why give him free firewood?

The part about banging the wife though is solid advice.

 

[NickleDimer]

Whine to the government and expect them to do everything for you.

 

[NovaHoops2002]

Legally, if it falls in your yard you are responsible.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

Legally, if it falls in your yard you are responsible.

This is correct. Don't be a dick, go over and see if he needs a hand. Maybe you guys can split the cost of renting a chain saw or something and make it easier on the both of you. You don't know whats preventing him from removing it in a timely manner.

bang his wife just to remind him how great of a neighbor you are.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

If you want to avoid WW III, be careful with your wording.

A cheek would ask "when are you going to do something about this tree?"

A good neighbor would ask a more open ended question about the tree. Ask if they were surprised it fell, etc.

the burrs would just say "it is too soon to tell if this tree is going to cause damage to the yard. let it play out."

 

[Mr. Wade Garrett]

Eat his wife out. But dont make her cum.

 

[sikdog]

By law, the tree is your problem. He has no obligation to clear it from your property.

 

[Nova98]

Legally, if it falls in your yard you are responsible.

Is that really true? The tree is clearly rooted in his yard-there is about 30 feet of the tree in his yard and then another 60 feet or so in my yard-so that majority of the tree is in my yard but it's clearly his tree. If it's truly my legal responsibility then I won't be a cheek and I'll go out there and clean it up-that just doesn't seem right to me. Maybe I should have paid more attention in Business Law years ago.

As far as banging his wife-that's solid advice although his wife is in her late 50's so I'm not sure who would be showing who at that point.

 

[sikdog]

Is that really true? The tree is clearly rooted in his yard-there is about 30 feet of the tree in his yard and then another 60 feet or so in my yard-so that majority of the tree is in my yard but it's clearly his tree. If it's truly my legal responsibility then I won't be a cheek and I'll go out there and clean it up-that just doesn't seem right to me. Maybe I should have paid more attention in Business Law years ago.

As far as banging his wife-that's solid advice although his wife is in her late 50's so I'm not sure who would be showing who at that point.

Generally, yes it's true. HOWEVER, if the tree was completely dead, and you can prove it was prior to it falling, your neighbor can be held responsible for not properly maintaining the tree, ie: taking it down, and it would be his responsibility.

Your best bet is to split the cost, or just find someone who sells firewood. They will often come cut up and take the tree for free in order to sell the wood, as long as it's not pine.

 

[bgranc02]

Is that really true? The tree is clearly rooted in his yard-there is about 30 feet of the tree in his yard and then another 60 feet or so in my yard-so that majority of the tree is in my yard but it's clearly his tree. If it's truly my legal responsibility then I won't be a cheek and I'll go out there and clean it up-that just doesn't seem right to me. Maybe I should have paid more attention in Business Law years ago.

indeed.. only if you could prove he knew it was going to fall is it on him. I'd suggest asking him if he's cool if you get an estimate for removing the whole thing and then just split the cost 50/50.

 

[Nova98]

The tree is completely rotted and has been dead for a while which is why it fell over with the wind. What pisses me off is we had a similar sized tree about 50 feet from this one that recently died. I paid $650 to have the thing cut down this spring and taken away before it fell in their yard and caused any damage. Now that the shoe is on the other foot-nothing.

I'm not going to go Johnny Cochran on him or anything-it's just the principal of the thing.

 

[NovaHoops2002]

This happened to my mom 2 years ago. Neighbors dead tree fell and damaged the roof. Her insurance had to cover everything, I am not sure if there was a way to prove it was dead. Tree guys cut up tree and removed only what was on her yard, left stump for neighbors to remove. There was a 2nd dead tree that probably would have ended up falling in the near future so we sent them a letter asking them to remove it since it was clearly dead. They were more than happy to take care of it and even split the cost of the tree removal for 1st tree.

 

[NorCalVU10]

As far as banging his wife-that's solid advice although his wife is in her late 50's so I'm not sure who would be showing who at that point.

Interesting point- you might be doing him a favor...

 

[lowry99]

Definitely time for a conversation. I would definitely be cordial about it, but my wife probably would not be. I would've aimed to find a way to make it happen seemingly nonchalantly over the weekend -- gets harder to do that in casual interactions during the week.

 

[HereComeTheCats]

Get something like this made from the stump.

 

[nardibynature123]

Just give the wife a facial or at least a body shot.

 

[SnottieDrippen]

This kind of stuff reminds me why I don't want to move to the suburbs quite yet. With each passing year, the idea of a backyard becomes more appealing - thank you for this reminder

 

[KrazyKat]

Not on the same level as the tree falling but recently a family of five bears went through the area rummaging through garbage bins for food. Back yard and side of house was a mess with rubbish all over. While cleaning it up, noticed a lot of unfamiliar items and noticed it was from the neighbour's bins across the road - docs with name/address on them.

Do you just put the stuff in your bins for next week and say nothing or go to the neighbour and 'return' their nicely bagged rubbish you picked up for them to discard next week?

 

[gldendog]

Take a shit on his front porch.

 

[cleanwave]

Buy a chainsaw, chop up limb by yourself. Yeah u will be scared, but feel good when done.. Or got to hospital

Bonus enjoyment: have a little fire with it backyard, w/ drinks & smores.

 

[RW_Prescott]

Buy a chainsaw, chop up limb by yourself. Yeah u will be scared, but feel good when done.. then use the firewood as a source of heat, cancel your electric bill and go off the grid, away from the government, bc everyone knows that your neighbor's tree helped cause or not cause (depending on your viewpoint) 9-11.

Fixed.

 

[Mainliner II]

I checked with my snow/lawn Mexicans and they say they will provide you an estimate for removing the tree..............

 

[Greg Woodward]

I checked with my snow/lawn Mexicans and they say they will provide you an estimate for removing the tree..............

Worst, most tired, overused joke in Bench Warmers history if you ask me. When I saw that Mainliner II was the "last post" in this thread, I cringed and knew it was going to have a "Snow Mexicans" reference. He didn't disappoint.

 

[NickleDimer]

And he thinks it's genuinely funny as opposed to appallingly out of touch.

 

[DunkinTennisBalls]

Bump. What happened? Throw ropes on the wife yet?

 

[Jerseyjoe027]

Call me when you have a dead neighbor in your yard.

--white people problems