Homeownership can sometimes come with confusing details about property lines. One family has been contending with a complicated shared driveway for years, and things recently came to a head when a tree was cut down without their knowledge or consent.
When their tree was destroyed by a neighbor, one homeowner turned to the folks on the r/treelaw subreddit to get advice from experts and those with experience. The post includes pictures and gives a detailed explanation of everything they have been dealing with for years. They live contiguous to a driveway that is shared by three households under an easement.
Quicken Loans defines an easement as "a legal situation in which the title to a specific piece of land remains with the landowner, but another individual or entity is given the right to use that land for a distinct purpose."
This means that all three households have use rights, and disputes over maintenance and tree care along the drive can become contentious.
The original poster wrote: "We came home and realized one of our trees on that driveway was cut down. We are kind of in shock at the whole thing and very upset. The tree in question provided a nice wall of privacy as well as blocked the sun from directly hitting our bedroom."
While it is clearly a complicated issue, they are hoping for some resolution and restitution: "We are unsure of our legal options, as this is an easement on the property, and know abutters have a certain amount of rights. Could anyone help in terms of how to go about this?"
Living in a community can be a boon — sharing gardens, resources, and more. Sometimes, however, neighbors make it much harder to make environmentally and ethically friendly choices. Homeowners have contended with neighbors spraying pesticides, damaging plants, and more.
In addition to the fact that the tree was perfectly healthy before it was cut, research has shown that living near trees can have positive effects on the cardiovascular system.
In this case, Redditors had plenty of advice for how to move forward.
🗣️ Should we be actively working to kill invasive species?
🔘 Absolutely 💯
🔘 It depends on the species 🤔
🔘 I don't know 🤷
🔘 No — leave nature alone 🙅
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
One lawyer gave their understanding of the land rights agreement. "The easement was likely intended as an 'access' easement. So the dominant tenements have rights, but their rights are limited in scope. They can't do whatever they want, and their activities can't unreasonably interfere with your use of your own land."
"At the very least they should be responsible for moving the stump since they effectively killed the tree," wrote one commenter who was quite upset for the OP.
Someone else suggested trying to get a new use agreement: "A new land use lawyer consult is needed. You really need to lawyer up ASAP in order to have someone guide you through this process and recommend the right specialists (arborist, surveyor, and possibly civil engineer) in order to defend your possession of the property."
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