In article ,
Jim Redelfs wrote:

In article .com,
"Ron" wrote:

Who's responsibility is it to have the tree pruned?

Yours.

My neighbor's tree was a wonderful ash providing great shade to our rear deck
in the afternoon. It was planted immediately inside his side of the property
line between the two houses that are perhaps 35-40-feet apart.

Years ago, during a severe storm, it split in two with his side remaining
upright but my side falling over the property line and (mildly) crunching my
deck.

It was at MY expense to have the tree removed from my side of the property
line.

Prior to the storm, my neighbor and I alternated trimming the tree away from
over my kitchen using high-reach, tree-trimming equipment from my company
truck. (I am a telco lineman.) We trimmed it perhaps 2-3-times a year
during
the non-wintertime.

Talk to your neighbor about the situation. You have nothing to lose to
simply
ASK your neighbor to help pay for any cost incurred having THEIR tree
trimmed.

....

I had nearly the same situation three years ago. Neighbor's huge
backyard ash split in a storm and pretty severely crunched my back
sunroom, broke many windows, destroyed a newly installed flat roof,
gutters and most of the shingles on the house roof. It was not a happy
July 4th.
The year before, we had maples in our yard pruned, and also a number of
large limbs from that ash that went over our property line. Before doing
this I had spoken with the neighbor to let him know I was doing this,
and also suggested he could get a deal from the tree service if, while
they were here, to just take the ash down, something he had mentioned
wanting to do, being worried about the tree. He chose to not do it; the
next summer the tree fell on my house. As mentioned earlier, once it's
in my yard, it's my tree, and my insurance had to take care of removal,
damage etc. What remained of the tree in his yard was quite unstable and
a danger, as it could easily fall or crack, taking down nearby power
lines, my garage, etc., but neighbor had no plans to have it removed.
Attitude was, "Well, I didn't PLANT the tree, and I don't care if it
falls on your garage or on you." After citing ordinances about dangerous
trees, hazards, nuisances and a willingness to pursue other action, he
finally did get it taken down some four months later. We haven't spoken
much since.
--
Chuck Reti
Detroit MI