In today’s story, there are trees growing on the property line that need to be removed.

One neighbor claims he can’t afford to pay for them to be removed, but the other neighbor finds a clever way to eventually get him to split the cost.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

Slumlord Neighbor’s Time To Pay What He Owes

The house directly next door to me is a rental property which I had some issues with earlier this year.

The issues came from two massive spruce trees that were growing on the property line and were causing property damage to my property.

In my area it is a law that in the case of trees growing on the property line, the costs of removal must be split evenly between neighbors and because the trees and roots were causing property damage there was a significant case to be made for their removal.

He paid to have the trees removed.

Removing the trees was not cheap, and involved bringing in cranes and multiple days of work due to their size and proximity to structures.

I approached the neighboring property owner about splitting the removal costs and was basically told “I have no money”.

His portion would have been about $4k.

At that point we decided it would be more expensive to hire an arbor attorney and drag this through the courts and then try to collect that money than it is to just pay for the entire job ourselves.

There were more trees that needed to be removed.

Now here is where the revenge comes in.

The tenant that lives there passed away and the landlord decided to sell the house.

During the inspection process they discovered some trees on their property that were hazardous and needed to be removed before the sale could go through. It was uninsurable unless the hazard was mitigated.

He found a way to get the $4k.

In order to get to these trees equipment would have to go through my property.

The lots are small and the way this lot is situated, he would either have to demolish his other neighbor’s garage or use my property.

The owner approached me asking for permission, and my response was that I would only grant permission to use my property for $4k the exact cost of what he owed me.

He tried claiming that it would jeopardize the sale of his property, and I simply replied “I don’t care, this is the cost to use my property take it or leave it”.

The following week he came with a check for $4k and I granted written permission to use my property.

That was a clever way to get the owner to end up splitting the cost of the tree removal!

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story…

This reader thinks OP should’ve asked for more money.

Here’s another vote for asking for more money.

This reader would’ve asked for more money too.

This would’ve been another option to force the neighbor to pay.

This reader wonders if some lawyers really specialize in tree law.

In the end, it all worked out, and hopefully the new neighbor is nicer.

One can dream.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.