Annoying neighbors

[figmo]

There's a couple living behind me who have been complaining about some branches of one of my trees hanging over into their yard. I told them months ago to go ahead and cut them down, explaining to them that it was their legal right to do so.

Instead, they wanted me to pay 50% of a bill to have someone cut the branches down. I am neither legally obligated to do so nor do I have the financial resources to do so.

Today they somehow got ahold of my phone number and telephoned. I reiterated what I said. That somehow wasn't good enough for them, so they had the police intervene for "conflict mediation." The officers at first were taking the couple's side, but I was able to have one of them come into my house where I explained my situation and the legal situation. It was clear neither officer knew what the law in this regard was. The cop was trying to talk me into renting a chainsaw and having "a guy come in and cut the branches down." I explained this was utterly ridiculous.

IIRC if I tell the neighbor to "go ahead and cut whatever is on your side," they can legally do so and are absolved from any potential lawsuits on my part. IIRC I am not at all legally responsible for the part of my tree that hangs over onto their property.

The neighbors are now threatening to take me to small claims court over this. I am L-I-V-I-D.

Comments

Re: Start by clearing up some misconceptions

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

The last point on Nolo's page is that they'll have to sue in regular court (not small claims court) and have proof that the tree really does pose a danger. In my opinion, their Neighbor Law book is a remarkably useful resource. See if your local library has a copy, as the book has some good advice on writing polite and clear letters to neighbors as a first step to resolving problems (and as a CYA maneuver). My (IANAL) instinct would be to focus narrowly on their concerns about the one branch (and specify that number, too) and to give them explicit, written permission to cut back branches to the property line.

We used that book to good effect when some overzealous neighbors one day cleaned up our yard and then implied somehow that we had been negligent because we had weeds in our yard and because we let some of the fallen leaves stay on the ground to rot—and didn't get out to help them in their efforts. So I wrote a cheerful letter that nonetheless made clear that they were not to go on our property and try to do any groundskeeping. At least for the last few years, we haven't had any such overzealous yard micromanagers. In any case, the book is definitely recommended.