Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:04 am Post subject: neighbor's big tree
Well I was only curious if my neighbor's big tree fell on my roof and damaged it, would my homeowners insurance cover it? Or should my neighbor's homeowners cover? _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Any damage to your property should be ideally covered by your homeowners policy. Hence, you may file the claim with your insurer. However, you may also wish to inform your neighbor about the damage and he/she might volunteer to pay full or a portion of the damage, but its your insurance policy which should address to the damages.
Hey this may be the case when the incident in accidental. However, if the reason for these damages were long since known to the neighbor or have been reported by you to him, his homeowners policy should address to the damages for its client's negligence.
Hence, its important to know the reason for these damages? Pls OP let us know how this has happened?
Well I was only curious if my neighbor's big tree fell on my roof and damaged it, would my homeowners insurance cover it? Or should my neighbor's homeowners cover?
It depends 'why' the tree fell if it were a storm then yours should be the policy that covers it, assuming it was a healthy tree...if the tree was dead or dying and the neighbor knew or should've known then their liability would pick it up... _________________ **************************************
Life gaurantees a chance NOT a fair shake
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I think you just answered my question there Lori. I was wondering what the case would be if the tree had a good potential for causing damage and the neighbor refused to remove it. I am sure it has happened to someone a t sometime. How would they go about proving it if they did ask the neighbor to please remove the tree due to future risk of damages?
It's pretty hard to hide a dead tree...if it's dead it's a hazard and can fall at any time...therefore there is negligence on the part of the owner for not addressing it...now if the tree is healthy and a storm causes it to fall then how could the owner of the tree be negligent? _________________ **************************************
Life gaurantees a chance NOT a fair shake
**************************************
FIND a way EVERY day to lighten the load of another
**************************************
It all comes down to what happened. Storm - it is an accident. The tree is dead and the neighbor refuses to do anything about it - you have to prove he knew it was dead and could cause damage. I would take pictures of it and document when you talked to the neighbor about it. Even if the tree falls 2 years later, you still can show you tried to remedy the situation. _________________ Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. - Ferris Bueller
Your home owners insurance would cover the loss, with some limitations. The only way the other person's carrier should address the loss is if the owner of the tree was negligent. That is, they knew or should have known that the tree posed a threat and they did not take corrective action. I'd say that many times it is difficult to know that a tree poses a threat.
If you suspect that a neighbor's tree poses a risk, you best bet is to let them know. If they don't do anything, you may want to send them a certified letter letting them know.
Hey I like that idea. Certified letter...theres some really good proof..here I was thinking of one of those cameras that put the date on the picture to show proof of the condition of the tree but I really think your idea is great!
Pictures are a very good idea and would probably do the trick. It would also be less offensive (after all, no one wants to create problems with neighbors). If the neighbor can see the damage to the tree and show this in a picture, then it's not a far leap to say that the owner of the tree _should_ have also known about the condition. If the OP were to take the time to take a photo of the failing tree, then it would not be hard to accept that he/she also told the owner. The hurdle is that it needs to be shown that the owner of the tree knew or should have known that the tree posed a threat. Problem is that they usually fall over in a strong wind. So was it the strong wind alone that cause it to fall or was it also the condition of the tree.
if the tree looks like it might fall do to lack of upkeep from your neighbor then take pictures of it as well as let your neighbor know about your concerns about the tree to see if maybe they were planning on fixing it anyways
at this point if the tree looks like it might fall and you didn't make any attempts to let your neighbor attempt to fix the tree then it would be your insurance that would have to pay for it as well as it might not be the amount that your hoping for depending on what your insurance company classifies the tree falling on your house as
