homeowner's insurance question - liability for "acts of god"

[chiver78]

I recently met the homeowner for the house on the other side of mine, where I'd only already met the (pretty cool) tenant. my roommate had met this woman last summer and had pretty much the same conversation I had this week, which left me wondering some things about liability and homeowner's insurance coverage. 

last spring, I had a 6' privacy fence installed around my backyard for my dogs. before the installation, I had my yard surveyed (and cornerstones placed) and had some trees removed, that were in the way. I did not touch a tree on the adjacent yard that's very much dead at the outer extremities, and listing badly toward my yard. I thought it might actually come down last winter with one or another of the larger snowfalls, but thankfully it hasn't. 

so, roommate and I have both separately pointed out the dead tree to the landlord and asked about her inclination to remove it. she has told both of us that HER insurance company told her that whatever was hanging over my yard would be covered by my insurance, and they would cover the rest.    um.......that wasn't my question, but sure. so let's back up a minute - you don't really GAF that your dead tree will take down my fence. that's neighborly of you. 

she then proceeds to tell me that I am free to cut what's hanging over my yard, she won't object. I politely informed her that there wasn't much that was actually hanging over my fence at the angle the tree was currently listing, but that if I were to cut anything, it would be anything that could possibly fall on my fence. AND, since I'd be doing it myself, it probably wouldn't be an aesthetically pleasing job. 


so my question is - say this thing falls and wipes out some panels on my fence. does this still fall under my policy, even after it's been brought to the homeowner's attention and she is refusing to do anything about it? can I send my insurance company after hers? 

[hoops902]

It may not fall under your insurance, because a dead tree falling over isn't an act of god. If your insurance determines that it IS an act of god, then it doesn't really matter that the tree is dead or thriving.  It's all going to hinge on whether they actually call it an act of god (you bringing it to their attention may not even matter in that determination...other than it allows for proof that the tree was dead). 

[dee27]

Chiver,

Our neighbors that we were friendly with acted the same way about their tree. They had a dead tree that hung over our fence, and we'd asked them for years if they would please take care of it, but they didn't. Then the neighbors needed to reroute a drain near the tree and had to take it down because the roots were in the path of the new trench. Said neighbor, who knew nothing about cutting a big tree, insisted that he would cut it down. Eventually he hired family members to remove the tree which took down part of our fence. His insurance would not cover the fence damage because it was under his deductible which he refused to pay and he used laymen for the job. After DH spoke with him several times, he finally reimbursed us for the repair to our fence. The clincher was the trench he dug to drain his sump pump had the water dumping directly into our yard that became a soupy mess. DH informed him, he would have to move the trench to drain in his own yard. In an effort to save money, our clueless neighbor ended paying a lot more money and needless to say we were no longer friendly with our neighbors. Some people are really shortsighted!

[chiver78]

ugh, dee...... this woman took the name and number of the tree guy I had used, and said "maybe she'd ask him to cut the dead stuff..." so there's some hope. maybe. 


hoops - she admitted that the outer edges were dead, so there's that, too. 


here's hoping she follows through, I guess. sounds like it could turn into a huge mess, b/c I'm certainly not going to be paying for her f*cking dead tree, when it's been pointed out to her more than once. luckily there's no drainage issues. 

[Icelandic Woman]

I know there are other insurance people here but as far as how our company handles something like this is if your neighbors tree falls into your yard and causes damage it should fall under their homeowner's liability coverage and there is no deductible for that.

[dee27]

May 5, 2017 19:54:07 GMT -5 Icelandic Woman said:

I know there are other insurance people here but as far as how our company handles something like this is if your neighbors tree falls into your yard and causes damage it should fall under their homeowner's liability coverage and there is no deductible for that.

Thanks for the info. Maybe, the damage was not covered because the neighbor did not hire a tree company. Of course, what I related is what the neighbor said.

[andi9899]

If the tree is dead and falls on your fence, his policy pays. It is not subject to their deductible. If it's alive, it's your baby.

[dee27]

May 5, 2017 20:32:02 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

If the tree is dead and falls on your fence, his policy pays. It is not subject to their deductible. If it's alive, it's your baby.

The neighbor turned out to be a cheap azz!

[andi9899]

May 5, 2017 20:37:01 GMT -5 dee27 said:

May 5, 2017 20:32:02 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

If the tree is dead and falls on your fence, his policy pays. It is not subject to their deductible. If it's alive, it's your baby.

The neighbor turned out to be a cheap azz!

Did he tell you that it wasn't covered, or sis his agent? If he did, he lied. Ask any person who does insurance. They will all tell you the same thing.

[dee27]

Neighbor did.

[Tennesseer]

chiver78 -take photos of the tree. If the tree is known to be damaged/dead and it falls, the damage is paid by the other property owner. No act of God if the tree is sick.

[justme]

Don't ask me. I'm still trying to figure out how damage from a clogged ac drain isn't covered by my insurance nor the idiot with the clogged pipe.

[chiver78]

thanks, wxyz. that's the kind of detail I was missing.

I guess the next question I have is, what kind of qualifications of an arborist would I need to provide a report like you describe? I have no clue if the guy I use is an actual arborist. I guess what qualification for expert opinions is needed in order to drive a liability claim like this? (I'm not expecting that landlady to do anything with the contact info I gave her)

[justme]

May 6, 2017 11:40:54 GMT -5 @wxyz said:

justme:

Probably because your policy has an exclusion that applies.  It may be covered by the policy of the idiot with the clogged pipe if you can show he was negligent in some way.

I just don't see how water damage sourced by a different unit is able to be excluded from insurance coverage. I get it if I did it, but it's just ridiculous the things they exclude.

[zibazinski]

For your own peace of mind, cut everything that is on your property line. That is legal. I did it once when my neighbors were uncooperative. I never had to do it again because they kept it trimmed back after that. 

[Bonny]

May 7, 2017 8:34:38 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

For your own peace of mind, cut everything that is on your property line. That is legal. I did it once when my neighbors were uncooperative. I never had to do it again because they kept it trimmed back after that. 

Be careful with this advice.

We got into with one of back yard neighbors. Two 100' eucalyptus trees with 40' branches into our yard. The property was coming up for sale and of course their agent  tried the "you can cut the branches on your side of the property line". I immediately stated we were not going to play that game. The trees were on a steep hill and I knew that if ANYTHING happened to those trees during a storm (we got 60 mph last winter) and those trees tipped over or were damaged they would try to blame the damage on the work we did.

I insisted that the trees be cut or I would file a complaint with the City and that complaint would affect the ability to sell the property. We sweetened the deal by advancing the money to take down the trees ($10k) at no interest for 90 days or when the property sold whichever came sooner. Trees came down, property sold and we were repaid.

Ironically the "nice" neighbors who lived next door them had been complaining for years about another tree next door to them that kept dropping branches and cracking their skylights. They talked to the new owners about the problem for about a year and a half . Sure enough, we got those high winds last winter and that 80' eucalyptus tree blew down and bifurcated the nice neighbors' house. Although they were in the house, fortunately no one was hurt. They are now out of the house for NINE months as the tree appears to have damaged the main beam of the house and the water damage was extensive.

 

[zibazinski]

It was a letter from the city that said we could do this. The city wouldn't act on our complaint.