A dead tree and vacant house - what should I do?

Call your insurance agent. Have them come out and take a look. At least you will have your concerns documented. Insurance Company may be able to get the ball rolling on removal by the owners/mortgage holder.

A lot of good advise here, but if it falls on your house or property your insurance will still be the one responsible even if the other property has insurance . This is from experience.

PM sent

Update...I called the county Code and Quality of Life (CQOL) office a few minutes ago. They were EXTREMELY helpful. They took down all the information and according to the person at CQOL, they take care of locating the owner and putting them on notice for you.

Unfortunately, it probably means the owner will get a citation for not maintaining the property. That was not my intent, and if the real estate agent had just returned my call with information of how to contact the owner, it could have been avoided.

It's an unintended consequence, but my homeowner's policy has a $1,000 deductible and I don't want to have to use my policy.

Thanks for all the advice.

Hooty Hoot said:

Take pictures. Send picture to BOA in registered letter. Then call code enforcement.

If you can find out who insures the property, send them a registered letter and picture. Things will move quickly.

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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

A large limb fell from a tree on property line between me and my neighbor and damaged his outbuilding. He hinted that he wanted me to file on my homeowners (even though the tree was technically both of ours). The tree was not dead or diseased. Just a freak accident on a windy day. He thought the tree was on my property because it does appear that way because of where previous owner installed a fence @10 yds from line, but it actually sits directly on line.
My agent told me that the damaged party's insurance pays regardless of whose tree it is, unless there is documented proof that the tree was dead/diseased and the tree's 'owner' had been notified and failed to remedy. Not sure if this varies by policy, or is law.

DannyW said:

Update...I called the county Code and Quality of Life (CQOL) office a few minutes ago. They were EXTREMELY helpful. They took down all the information and according to the person at CQOL, they take care of locating the owner and putting them on notice for you.

Unfortunately, it probably means the owner will get a citation for not maintaining the property. That was not my intent, and if the real estate agent had just returned my call with information of how to contact the owner, it could have been avoided.

It's an unintended consequence, but my homeowner's policy has a $1,000 deductible and I don't want to have to use my policy.

Thanks for all the advice.

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The owner of the short sale is broke. They wont be working on the house anymore much less paying any sort of code enforcement fine.

westcobbdog said:

The owner of the short sale is broke. They wont be working on the house anymore much less paying any sort of code enforcement fine.

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I'd tend to agree with you, but the answer might be yes & no. It may be different there, but here when city/county codes has to do any clean-up on a house, that bill is attached to the tax bill which will then be cleared at final closing.

Even on bank owned foreclosures this can happen, although most banks (mortgage companies) will try to avoid those added costs.

I certainly agree though they it would likely be a chilly day in Hades before the "seller" paid anything at this point.

ribber said:

A large limb fell from a tree on property line between me and my neighbor and damaged his outbuilding. He hinted that he wanted me to file on my homeowners (even though the tree was technically both of ours). The tree was not dead or diseased. Just a freak accident on a windy day. He thought the tree was on my property because it does appear that way because of where previous owner installed a fence @10 yds from line, but it actually sits directly on line.
My agent told me that the damaged party's insurance pays regardless of whose tree it is, unless there is documented proof that the tree was dead/diseased and the tree's 'owner' had been notified and failed to remedy. Not sure if this varies by policy, or is law.

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Had this same thing happen. My insurance paid my damage, neighbors insurance paid his. The insurance adjuster said unless the tree was identified and documented as being a hazard each party was responsible for his own damage. That said your insurance co. has a vested interest in determining the condition of the tree and its potential to cause damage to your property.

ribber said:

A large limb fell from a tree on property line between me and my neighbor and damaged his outbuilding. He hinted that he wanted me to file on my homeowners (even though the tree was technically both of ours). The tree was not dead or diseased. Just a freak accident on a windy day. He thought the tree was on my property because it does appear that way because of where previous owner installed a fence @10 yds from line, but it actually sits directly on line.
My agent told me that the damaged party's insurance pays regardless of whose tree it is, unless there is documented proof that the tree was dead/diseased and the tree's 'owner' had been notified and failed to remedy. Not sure if this varies by policy, or is law.

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This is the law, generally. This is also why notice should be given to all other parties asap. This will give your a shot at recovering your deductible if your insurance company has to pay. No notice, no liability.

Yes...I have had this happen 40 years ago. Not sure if the laws are the same but back then if the property owner knows the tree is a hazard (through you officially notifing them), or because it was something they should have reasonably known though observation, all damages, on both sides of the fence are on the owner of the tree (or their insurance company).

If it was a healthy tree, and the damages are a result of a storm, their damages stops at the fence line.

I want to make sure they know that their tree is a hazard.

good deal, I was going to say if you know there name
you can look up in the county clerks office public records
and see if they have a current address for them do to les pens
or other legal doc's.

Odds are the person who buys this house is not going to want to pay someone to remove the tree even if he can. His insurance definitely is not going to pay for the removal. I would assume he'll just let your insurance pay you if it falls. Just sayin'

Little Insurance

You could tie the tree off with a rope and come along to assure the tree doesn't fall your direction........

I had a dead tree fall across my boat breaking it in half from a vacant lot next door. I went to court house and found out who owned the property and contacted the owner telling him what happened and he did not want to pay for damage. I did research and found that if you have dead or diseased trees on your property they must be removed. I had him served to appear in court and he settled before court paying me for the damage and for cleaning up the trees from my yard. If the bank has control of the property they are the ones you need to contact.

An update for those who are interested…

Unexpectedly, the owner transferred the property title to her ex-husband from 5 years ago. The county tax records gave me his name and address. A registered letter, along with photos, has been sent to him. But here is the problem.

I called my insurance agent to see if they would get involved. This would seem to be a logical approach to me…it will be much less expensive to take the tree down than it will be to repair the damage if it falls. And it will damage something if it falls. But the agent told me that they would only become involved after damage has occurred. They would not take preemptive action.

We discussed it a little further and the agent told me that since the house has been vacant for over a year, the insurance rates would be far higher than normal since it is unoccupied, and that it’s unlikely the owner has a current policy. Furthermore, the mortgage company (whoever that may be…I still haven’t found it) definitely would have insurance on the property, but it would likely be a limited policy just covering the dwelling itself. The limited policy would not include things like coverage for damages caused by dead trees, etc.

So despite doing everything that I am legally required to do, it appears that I am out of luck, and my $1,000 homeowner’s deductible, if this tree falls on my house. I always have the option of going to court in an attempt to get my $1,000 reimbursed, but that requires a lawyer which might cost more than I would gain.

It sucks, but I guess life is not always fair.

Insurance agents, as sad as it sounds, will not do anything to effect the outcome of their year end bonuses. If you want to know where your Insurance "company" actually stands on the liability and mitigation of this issue then contact the company via their 800 number directly.

They may very well have a different take on this situation.

JustUs4All said:

Because dangerous situations must be noticed to the responsible party, certified letters would be my first step, one to the owner of the property, one to the listing realtor, one to the bank holding the mortgage. Property owner can be learned from the tax digest, mortgage holder can be learned from the Deed records, Realtor can be learned from the yard sign.

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JustUs4All said:

....notice should be given to all other parties asap. This will give your a shot at recovering your deductible if your insurance company has to pay. No notice, no liability.

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If you have given notice to all three and you have to use your insurance the deductible you wish to recover is well within the limits of Small Claims Court or whatever they call it now. The filing fee was under $50 last time I was there and you can represent yourself.

Have you talked to code enforcement again ?

rayjay said:

Have you talked to code enforcement again ?

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I have spoken to them four times. It seems that they cannot legally come onto the property in question...they can only act on violations that can be observed from the street. And since the tree is in the back yard you can't really see it from the street. I offered - twice - to let them come into my back yard and see the tree from that vantage point. All they had to do is call me and I would meet them at my house. I am still waiting on the phone call.

So while that initially seemed to be a reasonable path to resolution, it has pretty much reached a dead end.

Someone suggested that I send the real estate lady a registered letter. This might be a good idea because it should obligate her to disclose the information to potential buyers, which in turn could cause the yet-to-be-determined mortgage holder to take action...maybe.

I just wish I had a way to determine the mortgage holder.