My leaves fall into neighbors driveway. Who should rake them?

[Clairitek]

I just spent about an hour raking up leaves from 4 trees that line one side of our property and drop their leaves straight onto the neighbors driveway. I raked up most of the stuff in their driveway but is it truly my responsibility to clean them up since they are my trees?

I am a first time homeowner and I am not really well versed in this sort of stuff.

The people who own the driveway are really lovely and I wouldn''t want to do anything to hurt our good raport with them. They''ve never complained about our unruly bushes that poke into the area they exit their car or the brambles that crawl into their trash bin area. We pretty much never go over onto that strip of dirt/lawn where the trees are because its really only about 5 feet wide so we don''t notice this stuff. The only time we''ve been there in the 6 months we have lived in the house has been to rake leaves.

 

[neatfreak]

I think it''s very important to have good relationships with neighbors and thus I would probably rake the leaves if they were my trees. Or trim my trees back so they don''t hang over the neighbor''s yard.

 

[Clairitek]

Yeah this is pretty much how I feel too. They were the first ones to come over and welcome us to the neighborhood and they always stop to say hello and ask how we are doing when they see us out in our yard.

We plan on removing some, if not all, of the trees eventually because as they continue to grow they will start pushing into our foundation. I''ll miss the privacy they provide though.

I suppose I was curious as to what the law would be on this matter.

 

[girlie-girl]

Anything that hangs over the property line is technically your neighbor''s. It doesn''t matter if the base of the tree is on your side, any of the branches etc. that cross that property line are their responsibility. In fact, they have the right to do what they want with them including cutting them off. So, it would be your neighbor''s responsibility to pick up the leaves on his side.

Having said that however, I think you are a really generous neighbor for cleaning up his driveway and being thoughtful that way... kudos to you!

I wish my neighbors were more considerate like you! lol

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 11/16/2008 2:23:55 PM
Author: girlie-girl
Anything that hangs over the property line is technically your neighbor''s. It doesn''t matter if the base of the tree is on your side, any of the branches etc. that cross that property line are their responsibility. In fact, they have the right to do what they want with them including cutting them off. So, it would be your neighbor''s responsibility to pick up the leaves on his side.


Having said that however, I think you are a really generous neighbor for cleaning up his driveway and being thoughtful that way... kudos to you!

I wish my neighbors were more considerate like you! lol

Thanks! I''m doing my best to be a conscientious neighbor and not inconvenience anyone around us with our foliage. I suppose the fact that they don''t complain about the trees is a good trade for cleaning up the leaves.

It was good exercise anyway.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I think it is the nice thing to do and makes you a great neighbor. Our neighbor had a *dead* tree that fell on our driveway during a storm (didn''t do any damage but block out driveway) DH ended up chain sawing it up but our neighbor did come over to say he was sorry about the tree. He seemed embarrassed about it.

 

[Tuckins1]

I think it''s very nice of you to rake your neighbor''s driveway. My neighbor has 5 huge oak trees that FILL my yard with leaves... They do come over and rake at least once per season which is nice. But, it''s my yard, and who''s to say which leaf came from which tree..... I do rake my own yard and I don''t mind. Perhaps it''s because of the fact that they make an effort to help, so i''m ok with it. Just continue to be a courteous neighbor, but don''t feel like it''s solely your job to clean them up. Raking is part of the "joy" of being a home owner.

 

[beach]

Another novel idea is to simply ask them what their thoughts are about the tree They enjoy the shade just as much as they might not like the leaves. IMO you should not be responsible for keeping the peace. It should be a team effort, just like everything else iin life....

 

[Clairitek]

Just a moment ago I heard my neighbor come home from the store. I popped out and told her that if our bushes or anything were ever bothering them to just speak up and we would take care of it because we don''t notice this stuff since we don''t ever look at that side of the house. She thanked me for cutting back what I did near their car area (not even sure if she had noticed before I pointed it out) and said not to worry about the leaves. She did thank me for doing what work I did today though. I''m sure she''s relieved that its less for her and husband to do. Her response to it all was "When you have 4 kids you don''t worry too much about leaves and bushes!" with a laugh. She is a really kind woman. I just wanted her to know that we were open to suggestions with our foliage over there.

I can imagine that they appreciate the buffer the trees provide half the months of the year. Without the foliage I bet we will be seeing into each others bedrooms.

I better remember to keep the curtains drawn!

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 11/16/2008 1:55:31 PM
Author:Clairitek
I just spent about an hour raking up leaves from 4 trees that line one side of our property and drop their leaves straight onto the neighbors driveway. I raked up most of the stuff in their driveway but is it truly my responsibility to clean them up since they are my trees?

I am a first time homeowner and I am not really well versed in this sort of stuff.

The people who own the driveway are really lovely and I wouldn''t want to do anything to hurt our good raport with them. They''ve never complained about our unruly bushes that poke into the area they exit their car or the brambles that crawl into their trash bin area. We pretty much never go over onto that strip of dirt/lawn where the trees are because its really only about 5 feet wide so we don''t notice this stuff. The only time we''ve been there in the 6 months we have lived in the house has been to rake leaves.

Nope. The leaves belong to them. So do the brambles on their side. Not your responsiblity in any way to clean them up, but if you know that it would be appreciated, go ahead and help out. You never know. It could be they want the leaves for the kids to play in, and they might like those brambles.

Several years ago we had a nasty windstorm in town and lost several trees. Some of them fell over the fence and parts were in the neighbors'' yards. Since those portions of the tree in their yard now belonged to them, we discussed it with them and got their permission before doing anything with the trees. In some cases, they wanted the wood for firewood. That''s fine. It was their tree now.

 

[Clairitek]

I find this hilarious. I just heard the distinct sound of a leave blower in the neighbors driveway. I look out to see some guy blowing the leaves on their property into a pile! (and some back onto our side, sort of unavoidable when you use a leaf blower I guess)

I suppose if I had been a little more lazy I could have saved myself the trouble of bagging up 5 packed-to-the-brim trash bags with leaves yesterday. Oh well. Maybe my work will save them some of the cost of paying this guy to clean up their yard.

 

[CharmyPoo]

You sound like a wonderful neighbour! My parents'' house had a tree that had branches going into our neighbour''s yard. For years, no one ever complained so we never felt it was a problem. We got new neighbours and the next week half the tree was chopped off. They never came to talk to us first.

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 11/21/2008 8:49:53 PM
Author: CharmyPoo
You sound like a wonderful neighbour! My parents'' house had a tree that had branches going into our neighbour''s yard. For years, no one ever complained so we never felt it was a problem. We got new neighbours and the next week half the tree was chopped off. They never came to talk to us first.

See I know that this was the neighbor''s right to trim to the property line but I personally think that trees look funny with one side of branches missing! I hope that our neighbors ask before cutting anything down.

The neighbor on the other side asked if he could a whole tree down that was on the edge of our driveway because it was blocking light to a small tree he had planted. As a compromise he cut down two smaller branches to let more sunlight through. I didn''t even notice until FF pointed it out (well he was there when they were cut).

 

[April20]

Please be my neighbor.

At the house I just sold, I had only one medium sized dogwood tree in the front corner of the front yard. It was no problem at all to rake its leaves. My next door neighbors (but across the street, houses are on the corners) have/had this HUGE oak tree. It blew 80% of its leaves into our front yard. It would COVER the yard. It was no big deal to rake them and we never, ever expected the neighbors to do it, but I would love to have a neighbor that helped! Next house is surround my trees too, so we''ll see what we get!