We had a severe storm come through Tuesday and had high winds and a ton of rain. My friend and direct neighbor came over Thursday night and told me two trees of mine came down on his property close to his house. I had no idea as I can't see that area anywhere from my house or driveway. I told him I would clean it up, and started on it the next day. What a mess, turned out to be a couple of black locust trees completely covered with all types of vines. You couldn't even see the tree as the vines were several feet thick around the entire trees. Finished it all today and now have a little black locust in my stacks for the first time ever... The pic below is the top of the tree and is about 3" in diameter, the rest is vines. The largest diameter wood in the pic below is 5"' the rest is dozens and dozens of interwoven vines. Out of both those trees, the top half of this stack is the black locust from both trees, not much considering the mess I cleaned up looked like it would yield a lot more wood instead of grape vines!
Nice BTU's! I was always told " if you want good neighbors- BE. A good neighbor " You are a good neighbor! Wish I had more like you in my neighborhood.
Thanks, but it's pretty staight forward to me, they were my trees and they fell on his property. Mostly grape and some other mystery vine to me. There was some poison ivy at the base. I ended up using my front loader to push the massive amount of interwoven vines into the woods in three separate areas. Unbelievable the amount of vines! Anyone who thinks grape vines don't overtake trees can come view some of mine. I've cut hundreds and still on the war path for any I missed.
I'm glad you got that cleaned up right away and I had to read this thread right away after I saw the title just out of curiosity to see how that worked out. Reason I say that is about 2 months ago I was talking to a friend from church about something similar that happened to him with a neighbor but the outcome was much different. A couple of his good size cherrys fell on his neighbors property and happened to be a not so nice neighbor I guess. This neighbor got huffy when my friend that owned the trees hooked onto them and pulled them back over onto his property and proceeded to call the sheriff. So my friend found out that if your tree falls onto the neighbor the neighbor then owns what ever is on his property believe it or not. Now I'm not sure if that is everywhere or just county, state, etc specific. I was very surprized by this but he assured me he had check into it.
I never heard that one, but nothing surprises me about this kind of situation. When my neighbor came over, I wasn't sure what he wanted me to do at first, so I told him I would be happy to clean up the mess or if he wanted to do it he could keep the wood since he heats with wood also, whatever he wanted me to do was OK with me. They are such good and polite neighbors, I was having a little trouble figuring out what they would prefer. Eventually I figured out they would appreciate me to do it but didn't want to say it. I was going to give him the wood, but when I saw the poisen ivy on the lower part of both trees, I decided to keep it.
I'm pretty sure that everywhere in the US, been a while since I took any realty law classes but I do remember that, of course most neighbors would want it he hell off their property but you never know.
In PA similar deal. A tree on my property falls into my neighbors yard, technically those trees are treated like water in a stream that runs through both our properties, or deer that run around. He has the right to part of the tree on his side of the property line, just like he could drink the water from the stream or could shoot the deer once it was on his side of the line as well. Most people don't know this and figure that its their tree all the way, and it only seems right to clean it up when it has fallen on someone else's property. but technically, the property line divides the tree. Only exception is if the neighbor notifies you of a dead or deseased tree that is "likely" to come down. If he does that, and you do nothing, and it then comes down on his property, he has the right then to hold you or your insurance liable for damage, or has the right to make you clean everything up and restore his property. I have checked this theory out a couple of times, and it is apparently correct. I once was called to a site with a tree laying across a property line, on top of a neighbors house. I was called by the person with the damaged house, and they had been informed that their own homeowners would be liable for the damage, and the other guys whose property the tree came from was only responsible for the part on his property. And that guy did nothing, just said sorry, stuff happens. Once insurance claim was completed, I cut up the tree and took the wood. Other twist I have seen is from neighbors that don't get along, and one has a tree with limbs hanging over the neighbors yard. Neighbor has the right to cut those limbs back to the property line without giving notice or requesting permission. Of course when we look out for our neighbors, and help one another to enjoy life, none of this crap matters. Clean em up, enjoy the wood, and move on!!!
I have also seen the ins. comeback on the the property owner of the origin of the tree that did the damage to their client for damages.
Nice job! Good to know about the property line stuff too. My neighbors to the east and west are both family, and they call me to clean up any fallen trees anyway. But my property line to the north is some old abandoned railroad tracks. Everyone used to use them, but several years ago the town auctioned them off, and nobody likes the guy who bought them. All the neighbors have a story about when he's called the police on them. I think he gets most of his firewood by 'poaching' other people's trees that fall onto his right-of-way. Nice guy.
I do believe this is correct. However, most folks tend to work with the neighbor's rather than making claims.
A couple weeks ago, my neighbor to the south had a small walnut break off about 10' up and land on one of my wood piles. I just went out first thing that morning and took care of it including the trunk. Never asked them and they have never said anything. They don't burn so I know that they appreciate my taking care of the mess.
In Illinois, anything on my property belongs to me. It has both pluses and minuses. If your tree drops wood on my property I own it but that makes it very hard to get your insurance to pay any damages to me. On the other hand, if I am a wood burner, I just got a free donation of farwood.
