Does My Neighbor Have to Trim Their Trees in San Diego?

Does My Neighbor Have to Trim Their Trees in San Diego - View

Does my neighbor have to trim their trees in San Diego if they are blocking my view?  What rights do I have and what laws govern my enjoyment of our view(s)?

Questions such as the height of trees, whether a neighbor has to trim their trees and how they relate to boundary lines in San Diego are known as “boundary disputes” between neighbors.  There are many different factors that will determine the legal outcome when it comes to trees, specifically.

We are often asked “Does my neighbor have to trim their trees?” A common issue locally is a tree or trees growing to block a neighbor’s solar panels or view.  In the case of solar panels, one of the questions will be the age of the trees at the time the solar panels were installed.  If the neighbor’s trees were 10 years old at the time of the solar panel installation, there won’t be the same legal impact as there would be if the trees were planted around the same time or after installation of the solar panels.

View issues are very specific to local laws and HOA / CC&R restrictions.  Many HOA guidelines and deed restrictions such as CC&Rs will determine the height of landscaping as one of the specifications of home ownership.  In some cases, the preservation of a view is protected by law.  When neighbors are involved in these kinds of issues it is important to seek the counsel of an attorney with years of experience and expertise in real estate boundary disputes.

The Watkins Firm has served the San Diego real estate community for more than four decades, and we’ve handled hundreds of these types of cases.  The first issue will be the laws and deed restrictions that apply to the specific properties involved.  The second issue is the relationship between neighbors, and if there is a possibility to reach a fair and equitable negotiated resolution.

Another really common real estate related, neighbor related issue is a view dispute. Dan, that tree’s blocking my view. This, it’s a $10 million view and your tree’s blocking my view. What does the law have to say about that?

Dan Watkins Founding Partner of the Watkins FirmPro-Tip: “The view laws are a bit fickle. Some situations, the law says no, you can’t block that view. In some situations it says yes you can. And after doing this a long time, in some areas there are no view corridors. In some areas there are some. It goes down to community, down to CC&Rs, down to title reports, down to local municipality ordinance. Yes. So when you have one of those situations, I can’t tell you right now, no, you don’t have a right to block someone’s view or Yes, you do.

It is all different in every location. It’s unique. Those are one of the situations where call your lawyer and see if they can give you a straight answer and determine if you have rights or don’t. And if you don’t, then that’s the way it goes. And before you buy, call your lawyer or check with your title officer and see if there’s any restrictions or any situation where somebody, this is a big one. People buy a house, they’ve had it for a while, then the neighbor decides to put a second story in and their 10 year view just goes away and they’re like, I didn’t know. So before you buy, check it out to see if anyone’s going to build it in front of you.

It’s also really important not to take this into your own hands. How expensive is it to replace a tree that you cut down in anger in San Diego? The answer: Treble damages. It’s terrible. They had to pass a law to stop it because people just get their chainsaw and say, I can fix this. No problem. And boom. Yeah, it’s frustrating because if a branch is hanging over your property, yes, technically you should be able to cut that. If you killed the tree, how do you know is really hanging over there in trees, mature trees to replace very expensive, like $30,000 for each tree; Palm trees can be $50,000.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you are involved in a boundary dispute with a neighbor or are asking “Does my neighbor have to trim their trees?”  We invite you to review our podcast Episode 44 – Neighbor Disputes as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.