What are MA laws when it comes to damage from branches of neighbor's trees. I warned neighbor two years ago this would happen, in writing.

Submitted by bcardarella t3_zuaxe1 in boston

Branch came down, did enough damage that it is looking like over $10,000 at least to repair/replace everything.

Branch came from tree on neighbor's property. I told him two years ago about this issue when we removed trees on our property and saw many were rotten on the inside.

Considering this is MA, I'm guessing I'm fucked and there is no way to hold my neighbor responsible.

Edit: I have no idea if his tree had rot.

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hitbyacar1 t1_j1i0iea wrote

Just tell your homeowners insurance and they’ll deal with it.

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MeatSack_NothingMore t1_j1i4w28 wrote

For the future, if the tree branch is over your property you are within your rights to trim it back yourself.

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bcardarella OP t1_j1i5en5 wrote

Replying to MeatSack_NothingMore (#1,039,734)

The issue here is that the trunk where the heaviest part wasn't hanging over just some of the branches of that limb. When it broke off it must have tumbled over or got hung up and fell over into my yard. So what I would have had access to to trim likely would not have changed this outcome.

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nogiblets t1_j1i5xut wrote

If you notified your neighbor via registered letter (or have some other means that documents their receipt of the 'notice' you sent like a text or email) that the tree was unhealthy, you may be able to have your insurance company subrogate (go after their insurance company). It will be especially helpful if you have photos of the tree before and after the damage was incurred. If the neighbor claims to have no idea the tree was failing, they will likely claim it was an 'act of God" and have no liability for damages to your property. Get as many close-up photos of the tree possible showing the rot and all the damage it caused.

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sjsoz t1_j1i6hcq wrote

I had this happen to me. Very difficult to prove negligence. Even with the local arborist telling me he told my neighbor the tree should come down. I just had to swallow the deductible and haven’t talked to my neighbor since.

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CLS4L t1_j1ibzio wrote

Did you send your neighbor a letter? If you did they are negligent. If not you are and will use your insurance

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LackingUtility t1_j1ily73 wrote

I just had an arborist come out and remove three trees at the edge of my property that were in danger of crushing my neighbor's fence (one was dead and had fallen onto another tree supporting it, one was almost dead, and one was waaaay leaning). $3k is not cheap, but cheaper than a $10k fence.

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bcardarella OP t1_j1imma6 wrote

Replying to sarcasticlhath (#1,040,488)

Ripped pool cover, took out corner of roof of a small pool house, destroyed a few appliances. The pool cover is more concerning as I think they're built to order so getting a replacement is tricky and the rip exposing the pool in Winter is a huge liability.

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Ockham51 t1_j1imwa3 wrote

This works the same everywhere - regardless of what state you're in. Falls on your property, you own it. If it causes damage your insurance company takes care of it and subrogates with other parties if needed. Done.

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ucme1234 t1_j1iofez wrote

Replying to sjsoz (#1,039,931)

Same exact thing happened to me! Except the insurance agent basically told us to not even bother because it would make our premium go up so much to put a in a claim in our situation. So frustrating that nothing negative falls upon the negligent tree owners!!

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pimflapvoratio t1_j1iouf3 wrote

First time it falls it’s on you in Mass. if it did enough damage, then it’s prob worth making a claim. Second time (say the rest of the tree) it’s on the tree owner. Been through this on both sides.

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Epicritical t1_j1ip9nn wrote

Any limbs hanging over on to your property are your responsibility. You can trim them without permission from the neighbor as well.

Insurance should cover it regardless.

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Squidworth89 t1_j1ir97q wrote

Iirc if the trees dead and known to be dead they have liability. If it’s alive it’s Mother Nature.

Either way call your insurance.

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MindMugging t1_j1is2l5 wrote

This happened to me some years ago though I was the neighbor. Same thing with a large branch over their house, and I was concerned about my liability. I kept wanting them to split the cost to remove it but with no luck. About a week after I scheduled a removal, there was a large storm that took it down for me right on their roof…..luckily no one was home at the time. Called my insurance to figure out what’s going to happened and all here’s what I found out.

  1. Your home include the airspace. This means the neighbor has the right to trim the branch that belongs to me even if I object, but responsibility also falls on the owner of the airspace.
  2. Exception is if the tree is DEAD or UNHEALTHY then it is the tree owner’s responsibility to remove it.

Maybe you can make a case of the condition and health of the tree. However it’ll be up to the insurance company to determine if it’s worth going after their insurance company….more likely than not, your insurance would just pay it out and increase your premium. Sorry it’s never a winning situation when it involves insurance companies.

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tmotytmoty t1_j1iuci3 wrote

Usually, the law is that if a BRANCH is hanging over on your property from a tree that is on your neighbor's property, you have every right to cut the BRANCH. Unfortunately, you can not likely successfully sue your neighbor for the existence of the tree, even though the branch is connected. In most cases, in the eyes of the law, that BRANCH is your problem. Sorry.

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Cameron_james t1_j1ivihd wrote

Branches falling are your "problem" unless you pass the issue to the home insurance. Your neighbor has to do some real neglectful stuff for it to be their fault. Like they'd have to be cutting it down and go answer a phone inside.

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tomatuvm t1_j1izx4t wrote

My neighbor has giant pines on her side of my fence. Branches hang over my side. They've twice come down and broken my fence. I had a tree company come take a dead one down that was actually on her property and at risk of damaging mine and another neighbors and I paid for it. I asked if she wanted any others down when the tree guy was there and she said no.

Giant tree came down 2 years ago and is leaning against a tree in her yard. She tried to get me to pay for it. To be extra neighborly, I told her if she found someone, I would cover half the cost, but that I wasn't arranging work on her property.

Despite all this, she blames me for the leaning tree and stopped talking to me.

I don't know why I'm sharing this except to say that trees on property lines are a huge pain and you can't win no matter what you do.

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LiamW t1_j1j0co6 wrote

Replying to ceciltech (#1,042,625)

Yeah, all the people complaining about Southie gentrifying clearly never spent time there before…. My family goes back multiple generations in southie. I have absolutely no issues with it no longer being a festering pit of tribal violence, vice and despair.

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CaptainWollaston t1_j1j2zwt wrote

Replying to houligan27 (#1,039,644)

That's not true. Wherever it lands is so needs to cover it. Trees have fallen and damaged more than one property, and insurance of each one is responsible for their own part.

Unless the tree was rotten and confirmed that it should have been taken down for danger.

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camlaw63 t1_j1j32iy wrote

Notify your neighbor and request their insurance info. Put your homeowner’s on notice as well.

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houligan27 t1_j1j48hf wrote

Replying to CaptainWollaston (#1,043,352)

What isnt true? OP implied they contacted the owner of said tree about the tree being rotted. I told them to document everything and contact their own insurance company regarding the damages. Their insurance company will investigate and go after the neighbor's insurance company if they think they're liable.

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Maleficent-Guess8632 t1_j1jb5yn wrote

You told him 2 years ago doesn’t make a difference. Let Insurnace deal with it. You are really over thinking / over complicating it .

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drtywater t1_j1jdufg wrote

Others have said let insurance deal with this its what you pay for. Generally speaking unless its super obvious neglect you have an act of god situation.

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Se7enLC t1_j1jsel2 wrote

Replying to MeatSack_NothingMore (#1,039,734)

That may be true...

But that doesn't mean that a tree company will be willing to actually do that trimming without permission.

My neighbor removed a bunch of trees from their property, and while they were at it, they wanted to remove some branches that overhung their property. The tree was technically on my property.

I didn't care, but the tree removal company needed my permission. They gave me a letter to sign.

I suspect this might be pretty common. Tree removal company doesn't want to be in the middle of a neighbor fight. So even if it's legal to do it, they don't want to be liable

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SynbiosVyse t1_j1jv6qf wrote

That's your fault. Stop trying to blame your neighbor just because it came from their tree.

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MyThreeSense t1_j1kddq7 wrote

Replying to MindMugging (#1,042,303)

I am a lawyer who has dealt with large trees knocking over neighbor’a houses, taking out cars, and in one instance crushing a man as he was driving by in a bad storm of all things.

This is the correct answer. If the limb overhangs your property then you can cut it down no matter it’s condition. If the limb is diseased or dying, the person who owns the land where the base of the tree sits is aware of this (or has reason to be aware) and that limb falls because of the diseased condition - then the neighbor could be liable.

Either way. To anyone who has a limb overhanging your car or property - if you want it gone then cut it down. Best to talk to your neighbor about it first to explain this before doing it.

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popornrm t1_j1kgxvy wrote

You’re allowed to trim anything back to your property line, otherwise the tree is theirs. They have no obligation to cut or trim anything for you other than the tree rotting or being dead and that must be determined by an arborist that they are under no obligation to pay for or schedule. It’s on you entirely. The exception to this is the power utility companys. They have been given the right to trim or cut down anything that they deem as a threat or unsafe to their property/investment aka the power lines. However, they will always trim back the absolute bare minimum or be incredibly conservative so as to not incur much cost or be sued.

Basically, MA laws are fucking stupid. We had an issue years ago where we had to fight against a neighbor across the street who had 10-15 trees that simply originated on the edge of their property but grew towards us. They wouldn’t cut their trees, spent years only cutting the beaches on their side to add more weight to our side, and they won’t let us cut them either even if we wanted to pay. Have lawyers in the fam and we tried everything but ended up having to settle to cut it back to the property line and eventually got them to agree that we’d take it a few feetback beyond that so it didn’t grow back quickly. But we ensured we did it in the worse way possible so their trees look like shit now since we took away most of the greenery. They’re left with tall stumps now since they wanted to be assholes.

If you have pictures of the rot then you may have a case if it’s very clear from the pics but generally you should have called an arborist and paid the $100-150 to have them give you an official assessment and then taken that to them to get them to cut them down. You’d have easily been able to get the courts to force them to remove those trees at their own cost or protect yourself if they refused since they’d be liable.

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LawrenceSan t1_j1khriw wrote

Replying to MyThreeSense (#1,047,659)

I can't remember all the details but… years ago my relatives living in a third-floor condo (in Brookline, MA) warned a neighbor that the large tree on her property was obviously dying, leaning unnaturally… but there were no branches actually hanging over onto my relatives' side. When they asked the neighbor to have the tree cut down before it fell down, she told them to mind their own business.

Then one day the whole tree fell over and completely destroyed my relatives' wooden porch. Luckily nobody was on it at the time, nobody hurt. But removing the tree and replacing the porch was very expensive.

I don't remember how the insurance worked out, but I do remember my relatives asking a lawyer if they had recourse against the neighbor, and they were told no, a tree coming down all by itself was considered "an act of God", not negligence. Which sounded crazy to me, especially considering that my relatives were atheists. What happened to separation of church and state?

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WompWompWombats t1_j1ko2lj wrote

The fence is covered property on a homeowners policy so it’s most likely covered.

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camlaw63 t1_j1kp5p7 wrote

Replying to DBLJ33 (#1,048,716)

OP states he warned the neighbor. Proof isn’t a factor here at this point. Both homeowner policies should be notified and claims filed. A claim isn’t sustainable if the tree was healthy.

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EarMain4670 t1_j1kvrn3 wrote

Yea used to work for a board of health in MA. It isn’t their responsibility and it’s so stupid

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Why-R-People-So-Dumb t1_j1kywg0 wrote

Shiel v. Rowell, 480 Mass. 106 (2018) Upholds the "Massachusetts rule" that "an individual whose property is damaged by a neighbor's healthy tree has no cause of action against a landowner of the property upon which the tree lies." Property owners who are disturbed by their neighbor's trees are "not without recourse," though. They remain free to remove any part of the tree that crosses the property line.

Ponte v. DaSilva, 388 Mass. 1008 (1983). "The failure of a landowner to prevent the blowing or dropping of leaves, branches, and sap from a healthy tree onto a neighbor's property is not unreasonable and cannot be the basis of a finding of negligence or private nuisance."

Kurtigan v. City of Worcester, 348 Mass. 284 (1965) (Superseded by Statute as Stated in Hanna v. Town of Framingham, Mass. App. Ct., February 11, 2004) City was held liable for damages caused by limbs of dead tree falling from property which city acquired for nonpayment of taxes. "Public policy in a civilized community requires that there be someone to be held responsible for a private nuisance on each piece of real estate, and, particularly in an urban area, that there be no oases of nonliability where a private nuisance may be maintained with impunity."

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chesterfielders t1_j1l69ic wrote

The person where the branches land is responsible AS LONG AS there was nothing wrong with the trees.

If you told your neighbor the trees were unhealthy or dead, and she did not do anything about the trees, then she is responsible.

If she had a tree expert come out and bless (assess) her trees as health, then you are responsible.

This happened to me earlier this year.

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upsidedown1313 t1_j1ldb19 wrote

Good luck, I mean, you're out of luck. Tree law sucks.

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Ttttbbb80 t1_j1lpj0k wrote

Go through insurance like a normal person

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MyThreeSense t1_j1m76vu wrote

Replying to LawrenceSan (#1,048,192)

So I would say to that - if from the outside this tree appeared diseased and dying, AND, that was what caused the tree to fall (I have seen healthy portions of a tree fall during a savage windstorm, and had nothing to do with what was going on in other portions of the tree…) then when you submit that claim to your insurance company, your insurance company may have surrogates (or tried to) against your neighbor’s insurance company.

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fart-sausage t1_j1mbtlw wrote

If you live in Hingham, good luck, lol. By the way you live 2 minutes from my golf club. Cheers!

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Next-Raccoon9590 t1_j1octdb wrote

Hopefully you’re insurance covers more than just a ficus tree 🤣

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LukeWarmCheesecake t1_j1pufc4 wrote

> Considering this is MA, I'm guessing I'm fucked and there is no way to hold my neighbor responsible.

Can you share this magical state where you think laws are better?

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