Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Washington

Re: Damage to my property from my neighbors tree

Do you know exactly where the property line is? If you do, then is the tree on his property, or your property, or does it straddle the line? If it is on your property you can take it down. If it is not on your property, you cannot do that without running afoul of washington's timber trespass statute. The penalties are treble damages and attorney fees and costs. That's why you really want to know where the property line is.

First place to start addressing this issue is by knowing where the property line is. Second, call a tree service and ask them to inspect and tell you what remedial steps they could provide and what that would cost.

Then call code enforcement for your city or county and relate your concerns regarding the tree to them. They may or may not have a policy

and it is to your advantage to find out.

Your neighbor's response may be because he doesn't know what you want him to do or what costs you want him to incur.

So, it would be most effective to be clear with him what you want to do and how you propose to do it. But you need to start from a basis of knowlege, not speculation. He may not own the house - is he a renter?

Anyway, that's where to start with this problem. Good luck. Powell