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Recommendations? - Neighbor's Tree in my Yard
Hi everyone! Looking for some guidance. Seattle got crushed by a series of snowstorms last week. All the snow and ice brought down about 40% of a tree that's in my neighbor's yard, but of course everything fell square into my yard. Of course the house is a rental and the very nice lady who lives there was in no way prepared to do anything about it, other than direct me to the property management company who "maintains" the property on behalf of the out of state owner.
I reached out to the property management company and no surprise they are failing to return my calls. The renter tells me they are totally unresponsive to her requests for repairs. Leaking window, broken blinds, even a tree growing through a gutter that makes a horrible screeching noise when the wind blows that I can hear inside my house. Cant imagine how loud it is for her!
So bottom line I think there's a 1% chance they do anything for me. I've spoken with a colleague of mine who went though something similar and was told that unless I can demonstrate that the tree was not well maintained, the tree owner is not liable and it's 100% on the owner of the property in which the tree fell into to deal with it. So basically, the law is not on my side on this one, unless I pay an arborist to prove the tree was in ill repair.
I just paid $150 to have a pile of brush clippings about 1/2 this size hauled away so I estimate I'm looking at $300 to make it go away. Not the end of the world and not worth a battle, but there's also just the feeling that this shouldn't be on me.
What would you guys recommend? Keep bugging the property management company? Spend the $300 and just be done with it? A friend said "Had their garbage can, lawn chair, or porch umbrella blown into your yard you'd simply return it, right? So why not just return this property to their yard?" That's honestly how I'm leaning right now. Get a chainsaw, chop it up, and chuck it all over the fence. Perhaps I'll haul it down to the property management office after hours and dump it on their front doorstep.
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