Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Tree Root Damage
An HOA maintains the front yard of the homes in the association. The Tree with an exposed root on private property that is maintained by the association has damaged the private property driveway That person claims the association is responsible because the association maintains the front yard. The claims is that the HOA owns the tree( because the HOA maintains the yards/trees) and has to pay to fix the damage to the driveway. Does the HOA have responsibility or is this their responsibility since it is on their property?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Tree Root Damage
The basic principles are (1) that a tree is the property of whomever owns the land under its trunk, and (2) that person commits a trespass to the land of any other property owner whose above-ground space is encroached by its branches or below-surface soil is encroached by its roots.
Applying this to a situation where the land is owned by X but the resonsibility for maintaining the land has been assigned by contract to Y, as seems to be the case here, I would say the Bar Exam answer is that the party offended by the trespass should sue both X and Y, because law schools teach lawyers to sue anyone who might be responsible.
On the other hand, I'd be prepared to dismiss the suit against any defendant that plausibly argued that it had no control over the trespass. Such an argument could perhaps be made by the landowner, or by the manager, but they cannot both be powerless to prevent or control the trespass.
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