Homeowner devastated by neighbor's questionable modification of prized property: 'You can sue them for this'

In an ideal world, we would all get along with our neighbors and never engage in a dispute over property. However, in the real world, it is all too common to run into an occasional disagreement with those living around us.

One homeowner found out that one of their neighbors had decided to perform some impromptu landscaping on a few of their trees. They took to a tree-based subreddit to seek advice on the future health of their impacted trees.

"It's against the law in a lot of states." — Photo Credit: Reddit

The Redditor provided a single photo that appeared to show a number of trees that had their branches trimmed fairly substantially. "Neighbor 'trimmed' my pines. Will these trees ever recover?" asked the original poster.

Although the homeowner was understandably upset about the situation, the details surrounding the trimming remained unclear. In the comments section, a few users offered their best advice to the original poster, using the information available.

"'Recover' as in the tree as a whole will continue to live: yes," wrote one commenter. "'Recover' as in the trimmed areas will become green again: no."

Trees are typically very resilient and capable of recovering from certain types of damage through processes like suckering and sprouting. They can also survive harsh conditions that persist over an extended period of time.

"Looks like your neighbour only cut the dead branches," suggested another user.

However, another commenter floated the idea of possible legal action against the neighbor in question. "Depending on where you live, you can sue them for this. It's against the law in a lot of states and considered destruction of property," they wrote.

While you can certainly file a lawsuit against a neighbor for trimming your tree without your consent, it is dependent on where the tree is located on the property. Generally, any part of a tree that overhangs a property line is considered fair game for a neighbor to perform maintenance on. But as with any neighborhood dispute, it is best to consult property records and your local laws before taking action.

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