Jonny wrote:
"Doug Lassiter" wrote in message

A neighbor tells me that one of my live oaks has dead branches that are
overhanging his property and I need to get them trimmed...

I don't want to turn this into a legal case, and neighborliness is
another matter, but if there is Austin city code that applies, I'd very
much like to be aware of it.

Thanks



There is a possibility of liability if either party cuts the limbs. There
is no doubt the tree belongs to you, however. Neighborliness should always
come first, if that fails, seek legal advice.

My house has trees on the property line on both sides. Both
sides tell me they are my trees, because more of the trunk
is on my side than theirs. One guy the way we met was that
he knocked on my door, said a large limb had fallen on his
property and I had to pay him for cutting and hauling it away.

I paid him to avoid a neighbor battle. (He only wanted $50,
and he did work a whole afternoon sawing it.)

Next limb that fell on his property, I bought myself a chain
saw and cut it up myself.

Later another tree had a smallish limb overhanging his
property 20 feet up, dead. He moved his boat to park it
right under the dead limb. I figure he was hoping it would
fall so he could claim I owed him a new boat. I took a
picture. Yes there's a dead limb in the photo, but also
obvious he has lots of space to park the boat not under that
limb. (He's dead now, boat is gone.)

I'm no expert at property law, but there has to be some
responsibility for him avoid obvious damage when doing so is
not unduly restrictive.