Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. What follows is how we approach situations, that is based on the advice we have received from legal counsel. In general, when a tree falls from someone else’s property onto your property, the portion of the tree that falls onto your property is your responsibility. The portion that remains on the other property is their responsibility. This may change if your neighbor’s tree was dead or diseased, and your neighbor breached a duty to remove the tree.
In general, you have the right to trim to the property line the portion of any tree that hangs over onto your property. In extreme cases, encroaching trees and plants may be regarded as a nuisance when they cause actual harm or pose an imminent danger of actual harm to adjoining property. If so, the owner of the tree or plant may be held responsible for harm caused to the adjoining property, and may also be required to cut back the encroaching branches or roots, assuming the encroaching vegetation constitutes a nuisance. This was the finding in Fancher v. Fagella, which some people believe changed the law.
The FCHOA will always attend to situations where a tree in a common area poses a danger to private property. Some equate an easement to a common area; that is not always the case. Every lot has easements, but not every lot adjoins common property. Unless a tree on private property is in imminent danger of falling and causing damage to adjoining property, the FCHOA does not get involved. Even then, the Association has the right, but not the duty, to do so. These are neighbor-to-neighbor issues unless the Association exercises its right to self-help.
