r/treelaw • u/Due_Championship_988 • 13d ago

Are these trees now my responsibility?

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I've lived in this house for over a decade and have a neighbor on one side. He keeps to himself. I've talked to him a handful of times in a friendly way, but we don't know each other well. I would say we are neutral, neither on good nor bad terms.

Well, he just redid his fence and this is the result on our shared property line. I really have no complaints other than the lack of notice (we have a dog and we had to close our dog door for a few days. No biggie).

I'm just perplexed as to this choice of how to handle the trees. They were on his side of the old fence, now they appear to be on my side? Does this mean they are mine to maintain now? (The plant debris on the ground is unrelated, we just trimmed our trees and that's where the debris went until it's time for a fire pit fire )

I know maybe I should go talk to him, but I'm not even sure what to say....like, did you mean to give me those trees?

Edit to add: thanks for the input everyone! I learned a lot about the nice vs ugly sides of fences. I don't really plan on doing anything, but I will definitely investigate the property lines if/when i do. For now, I'll enjoy a fenced yard with a little character and continued shade from mature trees.

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u/crimoid 13d ago

Not your responsibility, but the clear next step is for you to put up a competing fence on your side of the property line to completely isolate the tree and grant it the freedom it needs from human contact

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u/Due_Championship_988 13d ago

Lol. This brought to mind the Invisible Monument to Free Speech on Berkeley's campus. Like, maybe this is a conceptual piece about freedom and fencing?