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Un-neighborly neighbors
Last month we bought a completely gutted house (flooded in Katrina) & we have just started to fix it up. So far all of the neighbors have been great, coming over to introduce themselves and welcoming us to the neighborhood, but of course, the neighbor directly next door?not so neighborly. 
The previous owner warned us about her at the Act of Sale, but we kind of hoped it was just they clashed personally. As it seems, not so much. Yesterday, (first time either of us have ever seen/met her) she came over while MH was with our contractor & asked if he was the homeowner & then said she has a problem with the oak tree in our backyard and its leaves that fall into her yard. Okay seriously? Leaves? Is that really how you want your first impression to be with quite possibly, life long neighbors? a battle with neighbors over leaves? We plan on giving the tree a good pruning just to be neighborly, but I am not willing to cut it down (per her request). It is a beautiful, 50 year old oak tree.
What are your thoughts? Are we just tree huggers who should cut it down? Or is she being unreasonable & missing out on the joys of home ownership?
Re: Un-neighborly neighbors
I think pruning it a little would be nice enough! I wouldn't cut down a nice tree like that. If I had a house, I would love a tree like that.
You can never do enough to please some people. If you cut down the tree now, I'm sure she'll find something else to complain about.
Your leaves are falling in her yard? Give me a break! It sounds like she's not very interested in playing well with others.
I agree with PP, pruning the tree is plenty. Be polite but firm, you love the tree and it is not going anywhere! I'm sure if the leaves were that big an issue for her, she could find a neighbor kid willing to rake them up for some extra cash. She probably just wants to complain and see how far she can push the new kids.
how rude. I can see being annoyed if the tree was encroaching or damaging their property (but I would still try to start things off on the right foot) - but leaves are not a big deal.
We have HUGE walnut trees in our yard and I don't plan to ever cut them down - mess or no and I'm sure some of the leaves make it over to the neighbors. But Their apple and pear trees drop leaves and fruit on the back corner of my property too - the horror! haha.
I think pruning it would be a good idea, especially if it hangs into her yard at all. (in some places they can cut/prune anything that hangs over as long as it doesn't harm the tree so it might be worth it to pre-empt anything like that...)
agreed!
I agree as well - pruning your tree is fine. Don't cut down your gorgeous tree!
Married Bio
I agree with this too.
If it makes you feel any better, one of our neighbors is a wacko. We share a long driveway with three other townhouses - we're all the way at the end, and she's next to us. On the day we were moving in, we parked our car at the very, very end of the driveway, right next to the gate to our front courtyard, so we could unload stuff. It wasn't blocking anyone's garage so we figured it would be fine for the 10 minutes it would take.
Within 2 minutes our neighbor came out of her house and over to our car. I figured she was being friendly, so I cheerfully introduced myself and Ben and said we were moving in that day. The first words out of her mouth? "You can't park there. It's against the rules. You have to move your car, because I can't get out of my garage." Ummm....what? First off, we were clearly getting moving boxes out of our car - it's obvious that we weren't just leaving our car there. Second, our car wasn't anywhere near her garage! The entire driveway was free - the only area we were blocking was access to our garage.
In the year since then, she's come to our door twice to tell us that someone visiting us is blocking the driveway (they're always all the way up at the end, far from her garage). Some people just like to complain...
Ditto.
Cerclage placed @ 21w6d due to CI (IC)
Add me to this list too.
As long as the tree is pruned so that no part of it sticking into her property, I think that should be fine!
Wow...some people just really don't have anything else to complain about! Like the others said, pruning the tree is enough! I would kill for a tree like that (we live in a new neighborhood so all we have are those tiny trees, the ones that look like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree!).
Tell your neighbor you will gladly prune the tree to make her feel better and than send her the bill.
j/k!
HUG THE TREE!
Uuuugh I hate these types of people! Hand her a rake and tell her to get to work and that exercise is good for her.
Whatever you do - don't cut down your tree!!!!!