I’m worried a neighbor’s tree will fall on my house. What can I do?

So your neighbor has a big, dead tree on their property that’s leaning precariously towards your home. What can you do about it?

If a tree is a hazard to others the tree owner has a duty to remove the tree. You can read more about a tree owner’s duties, and what constitutes a hazardous tree, here. But in summary, if a tree is sick, dead, or otherwise creates a dangerous condition, it is a hazard.

The first thing to do is give notice to your neighbor about the hazardous tree. This notice can be done via certified mail, email, or even text message. Your communication needs to describe the tree that concerns you, explain why the tree concerns you, and describe the damage that would occur if the tree fell. Include pictures. Try to get your neighbor to respond to the message, or at least acknowledge they received it. An example might be this:

Dear Neighbor,
I am writing you about the large oak tree on the north side of your property. This tree has no green leaves on it, appears to be dead, and has visible rot on its trunk. It is also leaning towards my house. If this large tree fell and hit my house it would damage the house and may injure me or my family. This tree is a hazard, please remove it or at the very least have an arborist come look at it.

If you’re friendly with your neighbor a chat by the mailbox or on the phone would be a good first step, but always follow up with a certified letter, email, or text. Remind your neighbor that your city may send out an arborist for free to assess the tree.

Hopefully your neighbor will remove the hazardous tree once they have notice of it. But what if, despite the notice, your neighbor refuses to remove the tree? Your options aren’t good at this point.

You could do nothing and hope the tree doesn’t fall over. If the tree does fall and causes damage you would have a strong claim against your neighbor, with the obvious downside being that you or your property would be harmed if the tree fell.

You could ask your city or HOA to order the neighbor to remove the hazardous tree. This option isn’t available to everyone, and it will depend on your city ordinances or HOA rules, but it may be an option.

You could seek a court order directing your neighbor to remove the tree. I haven’t personally seen this done but it should be possible, legally, to do this. It would be expensive though, and if you’re asking, no, our firm does not do this.

You may think one of your options is to sneak over on your neighbor’s property one night and drop the tree yourself. This is not a lawful option, and is also not a good idea. Your neighbor could sue you for trespass or conversion of timber, and you could also be arrested and criminally charged.

Let’s review. If you are worried about a neighbor’s tree you should have a friendly chat with your neighbor about the tree, followed by an email, text, or certified letter. Encourage your neighbor to have the tree examined by an arborist. If your neighbor refuses to remove the tree your options are to do nothing, ask you city or HOA to order the tree removed, or to seek a court order to remove the tree. You should not enter your neighbor’s property and remove the tree yourself.