Neighbour's tree fallen into Dad's garden

keystone

Greenlight77 wrote: »

.........I think if he says they should just refer it to their insurers to sort it out then that will be the solution

and cop an increased premium yourself next year for having made a claim and have to pay your own excess as well!! C'mon - think a bit. I'm sorry if that appears unfeeling towards the old girl but reality is reality and unfortunately, it strikes at the most inopportune moments.

Cheers

keystone

TonyMMM wrote: »

The neighbour will only be liable if she has been negligent ...i.e. she was told the tree was unsafe, and chose to do nothing about it.

Tree owners have a responsibility to keep others safe from their trees.

Cheers

dacouch

keystone wrote: »

Tree owners have a responsibility to keep others safe from their trees.

Cheers

Actually Tony is on the right lines. In UK law just because a neighboors tree falls onto your property and damages your property they are not automatically liable.

For them to be liable you would need to prove negligence which is very roughly could the actions of a reasonable person avoided the damage.

If a healthy tree is blown down by a storm the neighboor would normally not be liable. This is especially so if the neighboor had been reguarly inspecting and / or trimming the tree etc.

If the tree was obviously dead or in need of attention and nothing was done about it then there is a fairly good chance the neighboor could be held liable

keystone

dacouch wrote: »

Actually Tony is on the right lines. In UK law just because a neighboors tree falls onto your property and damages your property they are not automatically liable.

Agree.

For them to be liable you would need to prove negligence which is very roughly could the actions of a reasonable person avoided the damage.

Indeed so and this is where the obligation comes in as the tree was obviously dead and potentially dangerous but nothing was done.

If a healthy tree is blown down by a storm the neighboor would normally not be liable. This is especially so if the neighboor had been reguarly inspecting and / or trimming the tree etc.

Absolutely.

If the tree was obviously dead or in need of attention and nothing was done about it then there is a fairly good chance the neighbour could be held liable

Agree and this is what I meant. Common sense dictates that the owner of the tree should be happy to and take responsibility to abate the resultant nuisance.

Cheers

geri1965_2

Does the elderly woman have sufficient knowledge of trees to know that it is "obviously dead"?

macman

geri1965 wrote: »

Does the elderly woman have sufficient knowledge of trees to know that it is "obviously dead"?

Failure to leaf is usually obvious...
A dead tree can be assumed to be liable to fall at some point. The lady cannot ignore her responsibilities to remove it and repair the fence.

lindos90

I find it astonishing that the neighbour can just shrug her shoulders and say she can't do anything. If anything in my garden had damaged my neighbours property I would feel so guilty I would be arranging to get the work done myself.

You may find someone is happy to take the trunk off you for nothing via freecycle..years ago we had a poplar cut down and while we were chopping it into logs a passerby asked if he could have them for his log burner and took the lot! Freecycle maybe a good solution for the tree if you have to sort it out yourself.

Might also be worth looking on your dads deeds to see who is actually responsible for the fence on that side (susally shown by a 'T' on the boundary). Like this which shows responsibility in this case is the rear and right hand side of property..

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.legalmove.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/MAS-03.11.090001-747460.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.legalmove.com/blogs/2009/11/who-owns-your-boundaries.html&usg=__bVzqybPJzLkuIgPkChK9KdD4n5M=&h=299&w=300&sz=10&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=5D2o-pvlXpGIsM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=127&ei=klx_TfjII9GyhAffvpmuBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddeeds%2Bboundary%2Blines%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D567%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C111&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=471&vpy=245&dur=425&hovh=127&hovw=127&tx=115&ty=129&oei=klx_TfjII9GyhAffvpmuBw&page=1&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0&biw=1280&bih=567

If it is the neighbours responsibility, and her tree that did the damage I think I would be tempted to leave the fence and see what she does, (unless it would cause a significant security issue for your dad in the short term)

...or you could suggest at going halves, as a compromise often helps, especially if your dad wants to stay on good terms.

Alan_M_2

It sounds to me like an old lady who has recently lost her husband doesn't really know quite what to do to put things right.

I would be inclined to go around and ask her if we can help sort it out for her, get her insurance details, submit all the information and get it all sorted using a local contractor.

At least that's how I was brought up to deal with people, to help the elderly.

It grates on me reading posts on this forum (not just this thread) that are just taking legal positions and stating who's right and who's wrong when what you really need is a good bit of neighbourly help for a recently widowed old lady. (No offense to the OP).

Casati

Find someone with a woodburning stove and a chainsaw to come cut it up & take it away???

natlol

I don't understand why you don't just sort it out for your dad? You have said it is an elderly person who has lost someone close to them so to me it is not worth the hassle or distress to chase it.
At the end of the day its just a tree that has come down and a fence. Do the neighbourly thing and help her out. Chop the thing up for her and repair the fence. It isn't your fault that the tree came down and yes she should sort it out but is it really worth the hassle of messing with Insurance?
My elderly neighbour wouldnt know where to start if this happened to them so I wouldnt even mess about asking them to sort it.