Can you trim your neighbor's bushes that are damaging your fence?

Dan: Yes. Hey, thanks for taking my call. I've got a question. I've got about two acres in the Longwood area, and it's bordered on two sides, so about 300 foot on each side, by fencing. It's my fence, and it was just in a trust, the property on either side of the fence, for years, but no one's maintained it. It's like a greenway. It's just a bunch of trees and forestation, et cetera. They haven't maintained it. I sent a certified letter to the- The property that was in a trust. -to the trustee- They never wrote me back. -to allow me to go on the property and clear out that side of the fence because I knew over time something would probably happen.

Since then, I think the property's been sold or got by a family member, and now the property is so not maintained that trees and bushes have grown through my fence, and it's destroyed about 25 yards of that fence back there. I want to know what my legal right is for that. It's not like an act of God where a tree fell during a storm. These are actually grown through, and it destroyed my fence because of them not maintaining the property.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Dan, your property line goes down to the center of the earth and goes up into space, and that means you can trim any and all branches and roots that come over onto your side of the property for trees that are on your neighbor's property as long as you do it reasonably. Dan, what you don't have is a right to go onto their property and trim their bushes from their side of the property. It would be nice if they said, fine, Dan, go ahead and do that, but Dan, you don't--

Are they responsible for replacing your fence because their bushes are overgrown? The answer is no. Now Dan,-

Dan: Oh, really?

Tom Olsen: -from a practical point of view, maybe you could walk over there and do some trimming just to keep their bushes away from your fence. I don't see why they would care about that, Dan.

Dan: Yes, that's what I was wondering. We're talking, maybe, $10,000 worth of fence damage and just from limbs growing through it on their side.

Tom Olsen: Dan, if-

Dan: Even though I [crosstalk]-- Yes.

Tom Olsen: -you had to replace that fence, you could think about placing that fence three feet inside your property line so that you always have a right to walk down that three feet and maintain your fence from the opposite side.

Dan: I got you. The damage has already been done, and there's nothing, I guess, I could do about it then. [unintelligible 00:02:41]

Tom Olsen: They are not legally responsible for it.

Dan: Even if you sent them notice because you knew something was going to happen, and they just never responded.

Tom Olsen: The legally notices is that if a tree falls or a branch falls, but the fact that they're overgrowth is damaging your fence is not what that law has in mind, Dan.

Dan: I got you. All righty. Well, thank you very much. I certainly appreciate it. I guess my other option is to offer to buy the property.

Tom Olsen: That'd be a great option too, Dan.

[00:03:13] [END OF AUDIO]