The insurance policy of the owner of the damaged property is usually first in line. I agree that laws vary state to state, and OP was prudent in doing some research before taking action. Insurance is not always common sense. OP, if houses are being built right close to “your” trees, be careful in setting a precedent about paying for damaged caused by “your” trees. Purchasing a fence panel is generous, and making a gesture of good will hopefully will not put you on the hook for purchasing a new roof for someone down the road should a nasty storm hit your neck of the woods.
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Can someone explain why making a gesture of good-will by offering to remove the tree and replace the fence somehow sets a “precedent?”
This isn’t a legal action, it is an agreement between 2 people and no lawyers are involved.
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I’ve been burnt badly by prematurely admitting fault and ended up paying out a fortune for something I would not have been responsible for otherwise.
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HAHA I’ve learned you say as little as possible whenever dealing with insurance, lawyers, or the police! They will all use what you say against you!
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I would clean up the tree, offer to pay for the fence repair AND I would inspect the remaining trees. If any are diseased, cut them down or do some heavy pruning to prevent future problems.
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I have nothing to add except that I am sad you changed the name of the discussion.
One word makes you sad? I called their house a McMansion because its a large house on a small lot. I thought that made it sound like I thought they were snooty or something and I don’t so I took the word out. They actually thought the house was too big for the size lot the builders put it on too and actually bought 3 lots lol. I only used the word because it gives you a visual of how close the houses are to the property lines these are 3000+ sq ft houses on a 1/3 of an acre.
Thanks for clarifying on the suggestion to not offer help and implications for admission of liability…I may have to ask attorney friends about this.
Liability for a $150 tree clean up and fence repair?
I would just pay it and be done, but that’s me. I’m not giving you legal advice either way.
If you are worried about future liability you can have a tree service out to inspect the rest.
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I believe in being responsible and taking care of the damage that my tree caused. Call me crazy, but neighbor relations are important to me. I do not think it causes “precedent” to the other neighbors, but it does show you are a good neighbor and you are responsible. I would do as others have suggested, and walk the fence line and inspect the other trees.
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A lot of misinformation here.
A tree falling onto your neighbors fence - your neighbor would have to claim it. It is a “sudden and accidental loss”, that effects his property. It’s not your Insurance to respond since, its not YOUR property that is damaged. You have no Insurable interest.
I know you don’t want to make a claim, but I just wanted to clarify for everyone here.
You are not at fault, or obliged to pay for anything. Removing the tree would be a nice gesture.
I dont know where you get that info, but its not what my ins co says
if my tree falls and takes down my fence, oh well too bad my problem
if my tree falls and hits my house, then ins will take care of it
if my tree falls and takes down my neighbors fence, its my fault and my liability and my ins pays.
moral: check with your own ins co.
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I think you are missing the fact that these rules are very area dependent. It is one of those things that local laws are very different from place to place.
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I don’t understand why you would be unwilling to set a precedent of yourself doing the right thing. When your stuff breaks another person’s stuff, you fix it. If there is a next person, you fix theirs too. And the next, and the next. You don’t randomly get to screw over the fifth neighbor because you have grown tired of cleaning up after your own trees.
If you have an excessive number of termite infested trees threatening to fall on your neighbors’ properties, perhaps you should deal with them preemptively.
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This is correct from a legal and insurance point of view.
What if there is a severe storm and several trees come down? One falls on a neighbor’s shed, which houses a brand new John Deere mower, destroying both. Another falls on a neighbor’s house, causing damage to the roof, siding and breaking a window. Is she supposed to just whip out her checkbook? Even healthy trees come down under the right circumstances.
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But you can’t insure what you don’t own. She does not own their fence. Her insurance may subrogate for the loss (doubtful because the legal fees would be too high). Her insurance can not pay for the repair because she has no Insurable interest.
Car insurance frequently pays for things that the driver of the other car has no insurable interest in.
Home owner’s insurance pays for things that the person who owns the home has no insurable interest in too.
For example, loose dog was hit by a car and there was damage to the car that the home owner policy covered because of the loose dog.
My neighbors and I are good. They had some left over panels from when the fence was installed so everything is taken care of.
I live on a small 15 acre farm, most of it is pastures (probably 10-12 acres of it) I have 100’s if not 1000’s of trees. My property is almost completely surrounded by a line cedars, plus another 3-5 acres of woods. I can’t even tell you how many trees I have in my yard, next to my own house.
My homestead (the house I actually live in) has been here since 1888. My grandfather paid to have our road paved (to keep the red mud off of the house from people driving down a dirt road) and then builders came in and built neighborhoods all around the farm. If people want to buy property next to my trees, or pond, or horses. Then they have to realize that they bought property next to trees, water, or horses. I like my property to be nice just like everyone else does, but when the conditions are right in the summer sometimes it smells like horse manure, sometimes trees in the woods fall down, and wildlife is attracted to ponds (frogs, snakes, birds, and anything that eats any of those things). I am SO glad my neighbors realize that’s the stuff that happens when you buy property next to a farm.
I am not out to screw them but I also can’t make everybody happy when they realize they bought property next to a farm. I’m lucky that the majority of my neighbors are fairly easy to get along with and I try to help them out when I can too. However, can you see why all this can snowball out of control?
I have had to go toe to toe with my own insurance before when a hail storm came through, they (Farm Bureau-Don’t use them by the way) didn’t wan’t to pay for my own roof or fences, or buildings. I had 3 adjusters out and had to threaten contacting the insurance commission before they fixed my own property that my family was paying insurance premiums on with no claims since our last major storm in 1989 (Hurricane Hugo). I am certainly not setting my self up to have to deal with that again. They wanted to say they didn’t need to buy me a new roof when my roof was only 1 year old at the time. I ended up with water damage in 5 rooms waiting on them to decide that I needed a new roof. I had water coming out of my light fixtures when it rained.
If they found out I admitted liability for something that I actually wasn’t “legally” responsible for, you can bet they would try to weasel out of covering things in the future. It not that I’m a $h!++y neighbor its that I know how insurance companies work (they are only looking out for themselves while taking your money for premiums!) They are also sneaky bass turds and you can bet they would be asking questions trying to get someone to innocently admit something. The police and Lawyers do the exact same thing. Why do you think when you are pulled over, they ask “do you know why I pulled you over today?” They are trying to get you to admit guilt
@Lmabernathy
If you find your insurance company so very unreasonable why not find a different insurance company?
(Not saying you should or should not pay for this tree damage in any way in this post)
@trubandloki I did, Just as soon as they finished paying for the hail storm damage. I feel as it is my duty to tell anyone that will listen how terrible Farm Bureau is with property damage claims. I hope and pray the people dealing with the wild fires in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas don’t have Farm Bureau. Once they pay out so much money in an area they try to get out of covering stuff.
My new insurance is commercial farm insurance so I am hoping they will be better to deal with in the future. However, Farm Bureau is supposed to be a reputable company too, so I learned my lesson about insurance!
