It would be an act of god. I think that if the tree owner KNOWS for sure that a tree is diseased and an imminent hazard , that brings up some liability.

And insurance companies now send around inspectors for new homeowner policies, looking at hazards to the house they are insuring, not the neighbor's house (I don't think...)

Thanks, sushipup. Well, there's no question but that if it fell in the wrong direction it could squash that little house flat. Oh well, the wood of the tree would be valuable enough to pay for a fair amount of repair work. You could get boards three feet wide from parts of it.

If you're really concerned about it, just have a tree guy check it every year before storm season. If it appears to be dying in any way, have it cut. But really, you're only liable if you KNOW it is an issue ahead of time.

I'm in Florida, with a neighbor whose Oak started to lean our way. If it had fallen, the neighbor would have been responsible for any damage to our property. We (we with the neighbor) had our city's arborist check it. The arborist confirmed that there was a risk to property so it was okay to take it down, we split to cost of removal with the neighbor.

We had a neighbors tree fall on our house during a mega storm one year, and she had no liability for it at all. In order for her to have had some responsibility, it would have been necessary for me to have communicated to her that I had a concern prior to it blowing down, either verbally or written. I'd done neither - the tree had been there more decades than I am old and I'd never given it a second thought.

My insurance paid for removal, new chimney, partial roof (it was one year old), gutter and cedar siding repair. I did not have coverage for the damage to my landscaping. (Washington state)

Thanks, everyone. The tree appears well-cared for -- pruned to a nice open canopy, no signs of disease, etc.

However, it's all moot now, since they thought for sure they'd get the house since they offered the listed price the first day, but they just learned that someone else offered 15K over the asking price, so that's that.

My comment doesn't matter now since they didn't get the house but insurance laws vary by state. Five years ago my neighbor's large white pine blew over in a storm and damaged my fence and broke my beautiful Southern magnolia in half. He was not responsible - not even to clean up the mess on my side of the fence.

Last year the remaining white pine died and he didn't do anything about it. I was worried that it might hit my other magnolia or damage my cedar shed. I called my insurance agent and she told me that he would only be held liable for damage to my property if he were aware of the risk. She suggested that I have my attorney send him a certified letter making him aware of the dead tree and informing him that he was responsible for any damage.

Oh, they put an offer in when we looked at it, ncrealestateguy, which was about two hours after the listing went live. I wasn't asking just about this particular house; there are a couple of others in that neighborhood with similarly huge trees.

ETA I will say, though, that snap decisions about big purchases like a house are hard for me. I always want to go home and think about it overnight, and it really bugs me not to be able to do it. It's lucky I'm not having to move in this market.

Bad storm 2 years ago; a large limb broke from our tree and landed in the neighbors drive. The neighbor is not a lawyer but he pretends to be one. He tried to insist we remove all our trees. I got an inspection and had the arborist prune back some of the "sail" from the one that lost the limb, and he certified the trees for 5 years. Informed the neighbor. That was that.

Writersblock... i missed that you did in fact move quickly and did put in an offer. And, yes, buying in a hot sellers market can be very frustrating.

Day before closing on our house in NY, our tree came down during a snow blizzard and landed on my next door neighbors house.

We had to pay to have the tree removed and to repair our neighbors roof. Our insurance paid for the neighbors roof but not the tree removal.

Jane

Was the tree known to be diseased or unhealthy prior to falling?

If not, owner would not have been liable for removal from neighbor's lot nor for neighbor's roof repair in any home I have owned.

The tree was healthy probably 80 ft tall. It was a late spring snowfall and the tree was starting to leaf out and the weight of the heavy snow split the tree in half. It knocked a hole in the neighbors roof.

Many of our trees were damaged. We had over an acre with large trees. It cost us a lot of money to clean up the mess the day before closing. The snow was up to our hips and we were trying to get gardeners to come and help cut up all the wood and haul it away.

I felt like it was a bad omen. I was so upset about leaving my house of 43 years and this had to happen.

Jane

My neighbor had two large trees in his front yard. Couldn't grow grass, but it was lovely. As he was doing a renovation, he called the tree guy to ask about the health of the trees. He was told that tree number one was in bad shape and needed to come down. So, he took it down. He kept healthy tree number two.

Fast forward two years. Thunderstorm rolls through the area. Supposedly healthy tree number two comes down from the roots. It lands on top of his brand new addition. The tree breaks through the spine of the roof and tears off the dormers.

Now he can grow grass.

I was living in Silverdale, WA, in the 1970s while stationed at the Navy Yard. Built a new home. Lots of woods and trees.

I built a stone wall about 10 feet inside my side property line. Sold and moved on. A few years later my neighbor to that side decided to remove a tree in "his" woods.... actually on my old home's property.

Felled it into the garage roof of my old home's garage.

That's one amazing useful thread..we have one tree that I'm actually very worried about..does have some healthy branches but overall..I'm really not sure. Also huge. Also can fall either on the house, or worse-on the road hit somebody's car..that'd be the end of me. So we need to call an arborist..pronto. Maybe can be partially saved?

Anyway, recently I noticed a woodpecker coming to it..several times already

Started immediately googling woodpeckers and which trees they prefer- dead or alive..didn't get a definite answer since depends on the kind of a woodpecker..established the exact zoological name of the damn woodpecker...:) also they say it depends and all..since every tree has some dead bark in it..

will be around 4K to remove that tree I think. If the arborist will say it has to be removed completely. I wonder if the city would split with us..since it is partially over the street..