r/treelaw

How concerned should i be in regards to having to pay damages for a tree growing near or on the property line?

I live in Minneapolis, the building the tree is on is a commercial building. Been here 3 years, never had any mention of the tree prior. The investment property company is small and based out of Chicago. They only have been around because the previous tenant of the building has moved.

I will be meeting with the guy in the coming days.

Seems like something that could be easily handled given the trunk is 7-10 inches thick. I really would not want to pay for an arborist.

I have a 1000 deductible, is my apartment responsible for this 1000? Not sure what to do, the tree/branch still on top of my entire car, not sure about how much damage but it’s the second accident with my car in less than 6 months because of the apartment, first one was during the snowstorm and my car got stuck because they didn’t clear the parking lot and I got hit and run(I replaced my windshield less than a month ago 😭)
I have contacted insurance and filed a claim.

Location: Alexandria VA

Mutilated and untreated. Poor thing will take three years to grow back and it was packed with fruit. Whoever did it took the branches with fruit and everything and left this like this. Is that some form of theft? The tree is within property lines and not blocking anything in any way. Thank you all!

(Edit for the sake of context: Tree was untrimmed because it almost died during a Texas Freeze).

I want to ensure it doesn’t take out our power or fence. just happened a few hours ago. Should I call PECO the power provider? I do not want to have this end up n my property…

One of our neighbors reached over the fence to drill holes in a mulberry tree and inject herbicide because he doesn't like the mulberries falling on his yard.

This tree is huge, probably around 70+ y/o, and fairly healthy, it is fully on our property.

This man has also been spraying our fence & property line with herbicide chemicals because he doesn't like the ivy growing on his side (killed a whole chunk of the ivy, rooted on our side). He made no effort to have the branches overhanging his property trimmed, and you can very clearly see the angle of drilling in relation to the fence height.

What should we do to press charges or file a lawsuit against him?

This seemed to have happened a few days ago, and the tree is already showing signs of injury/dying.

In an attempt to reduce injury, I cleared & flushed the holes and tapped some dowels in. The dowels also clearly show the drilling angles (11 holes total, last 2 photos)

EDIT: It’s a red mulberry, fully native to IL

EDIT 2: I was just taught about red hybrids, and it turns out it unfortunately is one, so nevermind on that.

EDIT 3: For clarity -- this property is a rental with an on-site manager, my family owns this property and I help with some of the grounds management & maintenance among other work. The only communication we've received from this new neighbor (1-2 years) about his displeasure with the tree was through a tenant who he complained to in passing. We had no idea he was so unhappy with it that he was willing to poison it for the 5% canopy overhang. This had never been a problem with the previous owners who lived there for like 20 years. This tree is one of our primary shade trees and several tenants eat from it regularly (as well as myself). We have already been planning to take down a massive tree of heaven that provides the other half of our shade and replace ir with a native hardwood, and we do not want to loose all of our yard shade at once.

EDIT 4: Holy shit, I did not expect this to blow up. Yes, I know this is a blighted landscape, I just removed a whole fenceline of Japanese knotweed that had been there for probably 50 years so we could put in prairie grasses & native flowers instead. I have been working on turning over our landscaping theory to conservation-centric, but I also don't want to lose all of our shade and greenspace at once so I have been staggering work for the last few years and allocating projects as I have the energy. I didn't realize that red-white hybrid mulberries are a thing, and I had no idea there is such vitriol against mulberries in general, I've grown up with them as a staple of the Midwest fruiting foliage. Now that I know about the hybrid thing, that tree is definitely on the chopping block but not immediately because shade from very tall trees is increasingly rare in Chicago, and with the planned removal of the ToH I don't want us having a sun-baked yard. HOWEVER, I have been doing some research and I have found out about tree fruit suppressors and will be looking more into that to keep the tree from spreading while maintaining yard shade (assuming it survives). Installing trail cams today.

I would also like to note that he wasn't spraying all the ivy, just the ivy behind his cheap-looking water feature which shares a fence with our native-species butterfly garden, potentially poisoning that too. He only ever made a complaint to one tenant about this while already spraying and never came to us directly when he has our information and sees the live-in manager. His yard style is also west-coast manicure as opposed to Midwest conservation, he has not attacked the other neighbor's ivy vine on the other side of his yard, I guess it looks fine there.

Didn’t ask permission anything just chop them up

Tree trimmers from Pepco came by today and completely destroyed a tree in my yard, making it look terrible and also leaving broken branches waiting to fall from the tree with a good wind. What recourse do we have?

Location: Aurora, Colorado. Arapahoe County
My neighbor planted a trumpet vine against our shared fence 25 days ago and in that time it has grown a lot and is starting to damage our shared fence by pushing out boards and growing through onto my side. I tried to have a civil conversation with them about it and they are not interested in getting rid of the vine or coming to a resolution of any sort. “Just cut what comes through” is their solution for me. Is my only option really to cut what comes through and hope that the fence doesn’t get damaged any more? This thing grows a foot a day and seems like it would have to become a daily task.
Vine on 6-7-26
Vine on 7-2-26
Damage to Fence

Putting key lockboxes on public trees damages urban nature, creates security risks, and is illegal in many cities. Is it allowed in Denmark? Asking for a friend!

Hi there,
I am a maintenance gardener in San Francisco, CA. My client has two beautiful magnolias in her backyard. A couple of years ago she got a new neighbor who constantly cuts any growth back to the property line. I myself have never cut these trees. The cutting occurs on the left in the photo. You can see branches cut back to bare wood.

They have quite a lot of new growth on the opposing side of the tree, they’ve become very lopsided. I am worried the trees are now going to fail and the constant cutting is adding stress to the trees.

I mentioned this to my client and she agreed but seemed at a loss for what to do.
I am looking to get some advice that I can pass along to her. I thought sending a certified letter insisting no more pruning be done by the neighbors? It is an older woman who I think does the pruning on her own. She doesn’t speak English but I think her grandchildren or children do.

Thanks for any info you can help provide.