A Neighbor’s Tree Fell in My Yard

The weather makes headlines daily. When possible, you should try to “conjure up” potential problems and school yourself on how to react. For instance, if a neighbor’s tree fell in my yard, who pays for tree removal service?

Who’s Paying?

The actions you take after a tree falls could mean the difference between heartache and headache. The first thing you should do is contact your homeowner’s insurance agent.

Where the tree falls establish who pays for what. Many Orchard Park tree contractors state that the way the law works is, the place where the tree landed, that property owner is liable for dealing with it. It doesn’t matter what direction the tree came from.

Take Lots of Pics

If it leaves your yard and hits someone’s car, house, or anything else, it’s off you. It becomes their tree. Plenty of homeowners believe that if a tree fell from their neighbor’s home into their yard, they have to get an estimate and give it to their neighbor. However, it doesn’t work like that. This should make you think about the trees in your landscape as well as what type of trees you should and shouldn’t plant.

When a tree falls onto a neighbor’s property, that individual must submit an insurance claim immediately. The insurance company is typically in charge of handling the damages.

For instance, a healthy tree that falls over during a winter storm, tornado, hurricane, or windstorm won’t be the responsibility of the homeowner. Since the person living on the property where the fallen tree was didn’t push the tree over on purpose, nature is responsible. This signifies that the neighbor’s insurance policy should handle it.

Though there are some instances in which a homeowner could be held accountable. If the tree fell on the neighbor’s house when the homeowner was attempting to cut down the tree without the help of a tree care professional, the damage is the homeowner’s responsibility.

Also, if the tree was diseased, dying, or unstable and the property owner knew about it, he or she could be responsible if it falls over on its own.

When homeowners realize they have an unhealthy tree, it’s their responsibility to take the right actions to stop it from creating serious harm.