Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Trees:Tall Trees Could Fall On Our Home.

Write the neighbor a letter to that effect. Send it certified, return receipt mail. Once the neighbor is on notice that the tree(s) are unsafe, any damage to your property is the neighbor's responsibility. You are entitled to prune limbs that overhang your property and to trim roots on your property as long as it doesn't cause damage to the tree. If you do so, take plenty of photographs.

Re: Trees:Tall Trees Could Fall On Our Home.

There are several possible approaches you could take through a lawyer, but I would start out doing these things, which have some legal significance but are basically pre-lawyer precautions:

1. Try to get a licensed arborist to come out and look at the situation and give you a written analysis addressing both the danger and what could or should be done about the trees from a botanical standpoint.

2. Take pictures of the trees from several angles.

3. Send the pictures and arborist's report to the neighbor by certified mail, return receipt requested, pointing out his potential liability and asking for a prompt response.

4. Do a little geometry and figure out which parts of your house are most vulnerable in the event of a blow-over. Avoid those rooms as much as possible in high winds.

A lawyer might try the following:

1. Try to open a negotiation by tracking down the absentee owner and discussing items 1 through 3, above, with him.

2. If negotiation fails, a suit based on private nuisance might be filed and served. Although it would take a long time to come to trial, it might prod the owner into action.

3. If the trees are leaning over the boundary line, they are, to the extent of the intrusion, a trespass. You could sue for trespass as well as nuisance. You could also try for a TRO or some other kind of provisional remedy to allow you to remove the trees yourself or ??? It is generally not advisable to cut the tops off trees just because they are trespassing - self-help to abate a trespass or nuisance is usually not condoned by the law - but on the advice of an arborist that the situation is critical and the danger warrants it, a lawyer might advise having the trees professionally trimmed or removed.

You need to have a sound basis to believe an emergency exists before resorting to self-help to abate a nuisance or remove a trespass where the cutting or whatever may cause serious damage to the trees. That's just one of the several reasons you should have an arborist (and not just a tree removal service) give you a professional opinion first.