We are part of a subdivision association here in Michigan. We live next to a Conservation Area which the MDEQ has say over but the association owns and is responsible for “maintaining”. The area is/was packed with many ash trees that have all died. We have removed all of them on our property and last fall the association paid to cut down more than a dozen in the Conservation area as they were both an eye sore and potentially dangerous to individuals walking/playing in the area. There were two large trees near our property that didn’t get cut down as there was some delay in the assn paying the tree service as well as some confusion on the assn part about obtaining approval from the MDEQ to cut down trees dead or alive.
Fast forward to last week. One of the two fell and landed on a couple of trees on our property. No real damage other than a few limbs broke but the tree is leaning against our trees and is both a danger if it fell and an eye sore. It needs to be cut down and out of our healthy non ash trees.
I contacted the MDEQ and got permission to cut down the tree that fell and the much larger dead one next to it.
Our association board claims that the dead tree that fell is an act of God and therefore it’s up to me to pay for its removal and they don’t see any need to remove the remain
I understand a live tree falling is an act of God but a dead ash tree in a wet conservation area falling isn’t really a surprise. I’ve read different things regarding liability with dead and live trees.
My questions are; is the association correct in stating they (insurance company) has no liability for the tree that fell? And more importantly, can I legally have the larger dead tree that is still standing removed on my dime? I did get a written statement from a tree service that the standing dead tree is likely to fall and could potentially damage my property fwiw.
Fast forward to last week. One of the two fell and landed on a couple of trees on our property. No real damage other than a few limbs broke but the tree is leaning against our trees and is both a danger if it fell and an eye sore. It needs to be cut down and out of our healthy non ash trees.
I contacted the MDEQ and got permission to cut down the tree that fell and the much larger dead one next to it.
Our association board claims that the dead tree that fell is an act of God and therefore it’s up to me to pay for its removal and they don’t see any need to remove the remain
I understand a live tree falling is an act of God but a dead ash tree in a wet conservation area falling isn’t really a surprise. I’ve read different things regarding liability with dead and live trees.
My questions are; is the association correct in stating they (insurance company) has no liability for the tree that fell? And more importantly, can I legally have the larger dead tree that is still standing removed on my dime? I did get a written statement from a tree service that the standing dead tree is likely to fall and could potentially damage my property fwiw.
