Acts of God

So one of our properties had a tree fall down very close to it.  It was close enough that it looks to have done around $500 worth of damage.  No major damage but 10 feet to the left and we might have had a duplex :)

Here is the interesting part.  The tree that fell was from a neighbor's yard.  Turns out that even though the tree was on his property, he's not liable for any of the damage or even the tree removal.  All he is required to do is remove the tree off his property and leave whatever is on our property for us to deal with.  Apparently it's an act of god (because it was weather related) and it doesn't matter where the tree was.  The only exception is if it's obvious it was negligence by the neighbor, such as he cut the tree down or it was a perfectly sunny day and the tree just fell (the law says he should have known it would fall).  But simply because some wind during a storm blew it down, it's no one's fault and everybody is responsible for their own property.

The only way we could have made the neighbor responsible is if we would have notified the neighbor that the tree was a concern. Even then from what I gather, we only have a 50/50 shot of sticking it on him.

Fortunately the neighbor is a nice guy and we think he's going to pay for the tree removal or at least half of it.

Now that we know this, we are aware of all the trees around us and if we see any that look dangerous, we now know to let the property owner know that the tree is of concern (via certified mail).  We need to take a picture of the tree and include that as well.