You’re outa your tree!

Make sure that tree is in your yard before you cut it down

Spring is here and many of us will head into our yards where, of course, we instantly become experts in landscape design. For some, competing against our neighbors for a greener lawn is enough. But for too many, more is required. Some of us need to take it a step further and put on a loud display of awesomeness. We need to flex our muscles, that is, in the form of power-tools. And nothing says power like a chainsaw.

So, a word of caution through this article.  For the inexperienced, trimming a tree is akin to giving your young son a buzz cut with the clippers.  You'd better know when to stop, or there could be a lot of crying to follow.

After heading out to the yard, you fire up your new chainsaw for the first time. You start off slowly, taking down a couple of branches that get in the way of your lawn tractor. Appreciating the amazing progress you made in only a half hour, it suddenly hits you; what the place really needs is to be opened up - let in some sun. An hour later, you’ve not only cut down a bunch of good-sized hanging branches, but you’ve also taken down a few of the trees that were keeping the sun away from your house and causing your siding to turn green.

Ignoring, for the moment, the branches and trees lying all over your yard, the place otherwise looks great. You couldn’t be happier…that is, until your next-door neighbor, Victoria, pulls around the corner in her minivan. Something in her look tells you that she is not in agreement with your rosy assessment of the situation.  Bah - she must wish her husband was as good with a chainsaw as you.

A half hour later, Victoria’s husband, Ron, head hung-low, comes over to talk with you. Ron explains that Victoria is upset because you cut down branches from their trees, and because two of the trees that you cut down were in their yard. You quickly point out to Ron that you are absolutely positive that there was a good chance that the trees were probably yours.  Besides, the trees were hanging mostly on your property, so you believe you had every right to take them down.

You explain that your kids play in the yard and you weren’t about to just sit around and wait for the next storm to knock down one of those trees, taking out your garage or worse, one of your kids. Anyway, what’s done is done and you’re only talking about a couple of trees, so what’s the big deal? After assuring Ron that you will not be cutting down any more trees, Ron heads back and its water under the bridge.  Right?

A couple of days later, you come home from work to find a couple of survey stakes in the ground along your property line. Your first thought is that the stakes must be in the wrong spot, because you’ve been mowing a good five feet past the stakes for as long as you can remember. If the stakes are right, however, it appears as though two of the stumps from the trees that you cut down are located entirely on your neighbor’s property, although most of the branches hung over onto your land.

The stump of the third tree that you took down appears to actually be located right on the lot line, so that roughly half the stump is on Ron’s property and the other half on your property. As far as the branches that you cut down, although they came from trees that look to have been located on their property, the branches themselves were located entirely above your land.

A few weeks later, you receive a letter from Ron’s lawyer. Based on a professional appraisal, Victoria and Ron are asking that you pay them the replacement cost of the trees, which is $15,000 - per tree! This is perhaps the craziest thing you have ever heard, and you can’t believe that your neighbors think you are going to pay them for cutting down a couple of useless trees, never mind pay them $45,000. In fact, you are still waiting for them to thank you for taking care of this problem.

Still reeling and baffled at the nerve of Victoria and Ron, you head into your lawyer’s office. First the good news. Because those branches that you cut down were located entirely over your property, and you made no cuts in any airspace over Victoria and Ron’s property, you had every right to cut those branches down. Unfortunately, that’s where most of the good news ends. He informs you that Victoria and Ron have a good claim for reimbursement of the cost to replace the trees that you cut down and to restore the area.

Your lawyer next tells you that the appraisal seems to be in the ballpark, based on the size and type of trees that you cut down. There is, however, a glimmer of good news; they may not have a claim for the full replacement cost of the one tree that was located directly on the property line, as it was half yours.  But, as crazy as it might sound, he explains that because you didn’t have your neighbor's permission to cut that one down, they still have a claim for at least half the cost to replace the tree and there is a possibly more.

Finally, although an independent appraisal should be obtained, at first glance, it looks as though you may be on the hook for $37,500 or even more.  So much for that great deal you got on the chainsaw.

Expecting that things can’t get worse, your lawyer looks at you over his reading glasses - and adds, “ah, there’s more.” In Massachusetts, and in most places, cutting down another person’s trees is not looked upon very fondly. To discourage people like you from getting too ambitious with your new chainsaw, the law here adds a little extra punch - triple damages. So, instead of looking at upwards of $37,500, you learn that potential liability just rose to $112,500 (not including your lawyer's fees).

So there you have it. The weekend will be here before we know it. Go get that yard cleaned up. Just keep your chainsaw well over your side of the lot line, and if you don’t know for sure where that line is, you might want to put that chainsaw back in the garage. Cutting your son's hair too short might upset him, or mom, but it'll grow back in short order.  Not so with a 75-year-old maple tree.