Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
On Tuesday the cable company sent out someone to instal cable in my house, however the cable guy said that my neighbors palm tree is pushing up against the power line and prevents him from safely climbing up the pole to instal the cable. So the cable guy told me that I would have to get my neighbors to trim the tree because it's on their property, but the problem is that I believe my neighbors won't do this or will take several weeks or months to do this. So I was wondering if I can just call the electric company and have them trim the tree from my backyard with our the permission of my neighbors. We have had the electric company come out to our house to do the same thing because our tree limbs were in the lines. This is for southern california.
2 Answers from Attorneys
You do have the right to trim the branches to the extent they hang over into your yard, as long as you do not harm the tree.
You don't, however, have the right to trim portions of the tree that don't overhang your property, but the power company probably does, because it presumably has an easement, and the easement undoubtedly includes the right to maintain the easement properly for safe operation of power lines including trimming of trees.
In general, I'd try to be as friendly and cooperative with the neighbor as possible, and share all information about your contacts with the utility with the neighbor.
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