I got a question. The person who lives behind me just cut some of my tree branches that hang over the fence into his or her yard. I live in a house with a yard, but they live in a little town home type thing that only has a small patio. The branches may have actually been touching the house during high winds. Anyway, can he legally cut them down without asking my permission, since the tree is in my yard? I actually dont care, I'm planning on cutting down the whole tree once I landscape the backyard, but I'm just curious.
Racking my brain on this (mainly because this would be civil and not a criminal matter most of the time) and thinking back I think the answer is yes. It is legal in most all cases that a homeowner can trim branches (that are crossing over onto their property line) of a tree whose trunk resides on anther's property....with one caveat in that the permanent overall health of the tree isn't damaged with the trimming.
I'm not a douche. Like I said, this was more out of curiosity than anything, since I'll be cutting down the whole thing eventually...
Nothing happened, so no one is at fault. If it falls during a storm, it's considered an act of god. If the branch was dead and I didn't do anything about it and it fell on something of theirs, I'd be at fault.
You don't need the branch to fall for it to be encroachment. Learn what the word means before posting first, no offence. It is one of the first things you learn in real estate classes, Princples 1. You have the right to cut branches entering your yard without permission.
We actually had this happen at our house when I was a kid. I remember my Dad having a heated discussion with my neighbor (not really an argument, but pretty close). He did some research and it turned out the neighbor did have every right to trim the branches that overhang the fence into his yard.
Lol, he's the OP. Why should he need to know the definition of some word someone might use before he posts? Especially if knowing about encroachment would preclude him from needing to start a thread.