My neighbor is demanding I remove or cut back my tree. Do I have to?

What is actually happening

Most demand letters about trees mix three different complaints: the tree is dangerous, the tree is damaging something, and the tree is annoying. Only the first two create any obligation. The owner's problem is that they cannot tell from inside the argument which complaint is real, and a tree company asked to look will see a removal job.

An independent report sorts it out. If the tree is fine, you have a credentialed document saying so, which ends most disputes and protects you if anything ever happens. If the tree has a problem, you find out from your own arborist rather than from the neighbor's lawyer, and you fix it on your terms, with the permit path mapped.

What California law says

• It is your tree. Civil Code 833: the tree belongs to the owner of the land the trunk stands on. Nobody else may remove it, and in most cities neither may you without a permit.
• Your duty is reasonable care. Civil Code 1714: you must take reasonable steps to keep the tree from injuring your neighbor. That means acting on a hazard you know or should know about. It does not mean removing a healthy tree.
• Encroachment is their remedy, within limits. The neighbor may trim roots and branches at the line at their own expense, but Booska v. Patel requires them to act reasonably; cutting that injures your tree makes them liable, with Civil Code 3346 doubling damages for wrongful injury.
• Damage is a nuisance question. If your roots are lifting their driveway, that can be a private nuisance (Civil Code 3479), and you may owe the repair. If the roots are not yours or not the cause, you do not.
• Notice changes your position. Once a neighbor has told you in writing, with evidence, that your tree is hazardous, a later failure is hard to defend as unforeseeable. Take written notices seriously and answer them with facts.

What your city adds

Almost certainly protection. Trees above a size threshold, and some species at any size, cannot be removed or heavily pruned without a permit in most Bay Area cities, and a neighbor's complaint is not grounds for one unless the tree is hazardous. Penalties for unpermitted removal are real. In Oakland, Berkeley, Tiburon, Belvedere and Sausalito a view ordinance may also apply, with its own process. Permit rules by city →

What the report does for you

1. Confirms the ownership frame from the trunk position.
2. Assesses condition and risk: whether the tree has an elevated likelihood of failure, what the target is, and what would reduce it. In plain professional terms, with photographs.
3. Traces any roots or limbs in dispute and states whether they are causing the damage claimed.
4. Writes a pruning specification if work is warranted, so you fix what needs fixing and nothing more.
5. States what your city permits, and the permit path if removal is actually right.
6. Gives you a document to hand back. The $150 neighbor letter puts your response on letterhead.

Dispute Assessment Report, from $850. If the demand is a view claim, the View Obstruction Report, from $950, answers it in the ordinance's terms. Pricing →

What to do this week

1. Do not remove or heavily prune anything in response to a demand until you know whether a permit is required.
2. Keep the letter and photograph your tree, dated, from the base to the crown.
3. Get the independent read. Start a report or text (415) 881-0124 with photos.
4. Respond in writing with the findings, offering reasonable work if the report calls for it and declining if it does not.

Sources

1. California Civil Code § 833, § 1714, § 3346, § 3479.
2. Booska v. Patel (1994) 24 Cal.App.4th 1786.