Q: I read your answer about damage by a neighbor’s tree falling on your house being your responsibility and not the neighbor’s. I have heard this before, and it is hard to wrap my head around. I have neighbors on both sides that planted royal palms, which are now 50 feet high and would cut a house in half. Neither neighbor asked my permission to plant them. How is this right? — Bruce
A: The law does not always make sense at first glance. While the application of the law may seem arbitrary, there is usually sound reasoning to be found if you look. There is often a compromise or trade-off necessary to ensure a functioning legal system and, through it, society.
The well-settled reason is that it is better to allow people to protect themselves from unintentional harm caused by their neighbors’ reasonable use of their property than to subject those neighbors to being told how to maintain their property and the numerous and often frivolous lawsuits that your flow from doing things that way.
If we let each neighbor decide how their neighbors keep their property and vice versa, chaos would surely ensue. Instead, the law requires that each property owner maintain their property to be healthy and safe while requiring them to bear the brunt of unintentional damage caused by their neighbor’s vegetation.
Your neighbors must keep their palm trees healthy, or they will be liable for damage that could have been avoided.
When a hurricane or tornado passes through a neighborhood, homes are damaged in many ways besides just trees being knocked down.
Fortunately, property owners have an excellent tool for protecting themselves financially when the unexpected occurs — homeowners insurance. A healthy tree damaging your home in a storm would be covered by proper insurance, like if your home suffered a different casualty, like a fire or flood.
