Sidewalks, Trees and Fences, Oh My! When Things Go Wrong Outside Your Home, Who is Responsible

by Broderick Perkins DeadlineNews.Com The many jurisdictional variations on who is responsible for maintaining sidewalks, trees and fences behoove you to learn what rules apply if one of these items poses a hazard. Not knowing the rules won't absolve you of liability if someone is injured because you thought your home maintenance responsibilities ended at the front door. "It is very much dependent on each community as to what your responsibility is and it typically extends beyond your house," says David Hofmann an attorney with Steinbock and Hofmann in San Jose, CA. Here's what you should know. Sidewalks Sidewalk maintenance responsibility typically is spelled out in local ordinances. Most laws say if you are a property owner you must make sure passersby enjoy safe passage across walk ways adjacent to your property line. The local public works or building department will respond to your call for an inspection of a deteriorating sidewalk, pathway or other public easement, but you'll have to foot the bill. Often, in the course of its regular, periodic infrastructure inspections, your jurisdiction will inform you when you need to repair a walkway and give you a deadline. If you miss the deadline, you could be cited, leaving the jurisdiction free to do the work but send you the bill. You also could be responsible for damage caused by events other than normal wear and tear of the sidewalk material, say tree roots that displace portions of the sidewalk. If a public works official must remove a tree that's damaging the sidewalk, however, you'll likely have to finish the job and level the sidewalk. Trees Generally, if the trunk of a tree is completely within your property boundaries its care is your responsibility, according to attorney Cora Miner Jordan, author of "Neighbor Law: Fences, Trees, Boundaries and Noise" (Nolo.com, $24.95). "If the trunk stands partly on the land of two or more people, it is called a boundary tree, and in most cases it belongs to all the property owners. All the owners are responsible," Jordan says. If, however, your neighbor has a tree on his property with over-hanging branches that pose a threat to your property or persons on your property, you have a right to trim the branches back to the property line -- as long as you don't work from the neighbor's property without permission or injure or kill the tree. The same applies to damaging tree roots -- you can cut them back, but doing so is often fatal for a tree. Making matters worse, the root shorn tree could fall and injure someone. For the sake of good neighbor relations, you should discuss such matters with your neighbor. Bring in an arborist or experienced tree surgeon to prune tree limbs or roots. If there appears to be no way to exorcise the offending branches or roots without harming the tree, you may have to seek mediation or a legal solution. A good negotiating point is the explain to the neighbor it would be a better to deal with it now rather than have it become a potentially more expensive homeowners insurance claim. Fences The responsibility for fences is somewhat more clear cut. When you build a fence on your property, it's your responsibility should it begin to deteriorate and pose a hazard. Fences on a property line shared by two or more neighbors belong to all those who share the property line and all owners share an equal responsibility for keeping the fence in good repair. Likewise, neither can remove the fence without the others' permissions, Jordan says. Local fence ordinances regulate the height and location of your fence. Typically you'll be restricted to a fence height of six feet in the back yard and often four feet out front -- including natural fences of bushes or trees. Only a special zoning variance will get you a higher fence, say to shield your property from commercial operations or other disturbing activity. There's little you can do about legal fences that don't meet your personal standards for aesthetics as long as the fence doesn't pose a hazard. However, some communities will restrict the materials you can use, the type of fence you can build and, in the front yard, denote set-back requirements. Copyright © 2004 DeadlineNews.Com -- Broderick Perkins, is executive editor of San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews.Com, an editorial content and consulting firm. Perkins has been a consumer and real estate journalist for more than 25 years.