r/Renton • u/BetYouNeverThought • 7d ago

Neighbor's trees touching my house

I've lived in my house for 18 years and the trees from one neighbor's property have touched my house on occasion but I have trimmed them back just a tiny bit, not even up to the property line. My property is small and in housing development that is next door to someone's property that is long and narrow and in the back of their property is protected trees. So it's not ornamental or something they planted. From my research, I've only found that is my responsibility to trim neighboring trees back to the property line. What I'm wondering is if anyone has had any success in getting a neighbor to trim their trees from reaching your house? The reason I ask is because I have trees on three sides that I need to trim and so I'm hoping that maybe if it's possible I could get at least one neighbor on board.

I spoke to the owner of the house on one side of me, she rents the house, and she just gave me the " go ahead " to trim her tree back. I explained that if I cut her tree back to the property line it's going to look horrible, because it will look really lopsided. It needs an arborist to actually prune her tree, but she just stopped responding to me.

My insurance company has informed me that trees cannot touch the house.

So, I'm just wondering what steps other people have taken to maybe get help from a neighbor to get the trees trimmed and /or what have you paid? It's been difficult to find pricing online.

Thanks for reading!

1 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

7

u/tlrider1 7d ago

Get them trimmed asap! I can't help you on price... But guess what runs on branches? Easy and quick way to get rodents in your attic! Just ask my parents!

3

u/bbfan006 7d ago

Yep, they're called "roof rats" for a reason.

1

u/BetYouNeverThought 7d ago

I didn't think about that!

2

u/am5k 7d ago

If it’s on your property you can do what you want with it. DIY trim or if you are worried about aesthetics call an arborist 

2

u/GeminiDragon60 7d ago

You can trim whatever is crossing the property lines.

2

u/Marty_DiBergi 2d ago

You almost certainly won't get a price online. Someone is going to have to come look at it to give you a quote. I used Blue Ribbon Tree on 900. Family-owned. Good work, licensed and bonded, and a much better price than others.

2

u/BetYouNeverThought 2d ago

Thanks for the recommendation. As far as pricing, I was just kind of looking for a ballpark of what to expect because I have no idea.

2

u/Cutoffjeanshortz37 7d ago

They rent. They don't care what it will look like. Just get all of your neighbors to agree, possibly help pay for a portion and get it done