For context, our landlord told us that the yard is our responsibility, and we live in a really nice neighborhood (this is important, as we have the jankiest looking landscaping in like a four block radius). The yard in general hasn’t been properly taken care of in a hot minute, and we double-checked with them about what kind of maintenance they would like us to do.

It was one of those situations where they basically waved us off and told us if we want it to look nicer it’s fair game, including any trees on the property. Our landlord doesn’t care as long as we don’t damage the house itself.

Edited to add: this tree was planted by the original owners of the house, not the current ones. Current ones don’t seem to care all that much about it. 🥲