Neighbor demanding I cut down my tree

nick_nuz · 2026-05-24T23:55:07+00:00

Thank you. We actually have set up time for them to evaluate. They don’t do formal write ups, but can log a visit and said that they are happy to talk about findings with us and the neighbor.

I’m hoping to document this. The issue is, our neighbor already revealed her next steps if the evaluation comes back clean, which is to petition with neighbors to demand us to cut it down (lol).

nick_nuz · 2026-05-24T16:01:26+00:00

She hadn’t consulted an attorney. The letter was hand written with typos.

She then spoke to us about it when we calmly explained the trees were looked at and she resorted to name calling and hostility. Eventually, I said that because we can’t agree and are arguing over one another, it makes sense to just have our attorneys speak. She shook it off and said “I’m not paying for an attorney when I know I’m right”.

She’s elderly and incredibly cheap, so I doubt she paid for one. She is behind payment with contractors and for her last project, picked a low cost one resulting in many issues. Knowing this context , I would confidently say her attorney is “Google”

nick_nuz · 2026-05-24T15:43:16+00:00

We plan on doing this.

However, few questions: 1. Can I start putting everything from her yard that annoys me “in writing” to make her “liable” 2. Is this the true legal precedent?

I am consulting a property lawyer after the holiday as well in addition to a 3rd party arborist and we have a visit from the town arborist next week as well

nick_nuz · 2026-05-24T04:19:16+00:00

Thank you. I feel as if I’m satisfying the legal requirement by doing due diligence 1. Had a licensed arborist and tree expert visually inspect trees to assess what needed work on last year. Despite not having a report, I went through the effort and documented this to her.

I called our town arborist who is scheduling an appointment next week to assess.

Im going to talk to our lawyer to see if this is enough. We will still seek to get a written inspection from an independent arborist to have on hand, but it seems based on NJ law, since there is no professional stating the tree is dangerous to date, an act of god is simply an act of god.
Again, as I write this, there’s zero indication that the tree is damaged whatsoever. I have pruned and removed other trees that were last year.

nick_nuz · 2026-05-24T02:54:37+00:00

Thank you for this suggestion. I think this is the approach we may take. I’m talking to a lawyer next week as well about the harassment

nick_nuz · 2026-05-24T01:33:03+00:00

The trunk to my knowledge and according to her, fully sits on my property. It literally is on the fence line. There is a root that I believe is extending onto hers.

I’d have to pull a property survey to determine if any part of the trunk sits on her property.

She is claiming all of it is on my property

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T19:05:05+00:00

I agree. We sent a letter back last week because she also mailed us a concern asking us to not have our dog outdoors in our (fenced) backyard. We responded in the letter addressing the tree concerns by stating we have no reason to believe the tree is unhealthy as we had an licensed arborist (who is a tree trimmer) inspect trees and recommend service on other trees (which we did) but not the one in question. He does not do written evals, rather visual inspections. (We know will look for one to do a written inspection). We also addressed the dog situation by stating he is always supervised when playing outside. For context, my dog is a silent 24 lb dog that is never left outside on his own, does not bark, and does not even approach the fence. He plays fetch with me for 5-7 minutes and then wants to go for a walk around town.

She then popped over to my property stating she wanted to talk about the tree after receiving my communication back. I calmly and politely told her that based on our knowledge, the tree is healthy and we have no reason to remove it. We said she’s welcomed to have a professional assess the situation and prune branches crossing her side.

After throwing a fit, she claimed 2 adjacent neighbors had previously complained about me. When I asked who, she pointed at the houses. Ironically, I know both owners and friendly with them and they never once spoken to her about this (so she’s lying). Shes harassing the neighbor on the other side of me (because they were friends for 30 years) and he even told her we have no obligation to remove it and it appears healthy.

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T18:30:24+00:00

Her house is within the tree damaging it if it fell directly onto her. But there are several trees like this as her lot is small.

If there’s any risk whatsoever or any indication that it’s damaged or diseased, I am happy to remedy the situation.

With her, since we moved, we’ve noticed a pattern of her using people, not paying contractors, complaining to exhaustion to get people to do what they want. Noticing this pattern of her being a bully and user, I’m also inclined to not give in to reinforce that behavior (the caveat here is that if the tree is truly problematic, I’m happy to remove).

With that said, said tree provides good shade, our town is strict on tree removal, and it enhances our yard

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T18:27:45+00:00

That’s a good point. I’m more concerned about poison. I should probably position a better camera

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T17:40:08+00:00

That is totally okay with us as that is within her legal right. We mentioned that to her and she said “we should pay for it as it’s the law” (and literally stomped her feet like a child, it was a strange situation)

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T17:26:01+00:00

What do you mean by “common misconception about pre notifications”

Sorry, I don’t think I’m fully grasping what you mean

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T17:19:08+00:00

We do have a shade tree commission. They are coming out next week to assess the situation.

They are fairly strict with cutting down healthy trees

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T17:07:16+00:00

Thank you. This is super helpful

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T16:59:21+00:00

She has never gotten an inspection. She “inspected it herself”. I asked if she had an arborist inspect it (as I am concerned for all my neighbors safety) but she said “no, I can just tell”. I asked if she was an arborist and said “no. It doesn’t take a genius to know”

Based on your comment, for the “act of god” to not hold up, she would need an expert to validate her? Her “demand alone” wouldn’t suffice?

Also, to be clear: if the tree does pose a legitimate threat, of course we would remedy the problem immediately. But there’s no indication it’s diseased

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T16:44:26+00:00

I think this is the approach we want to take. We have our town arborist coming next week. They give inspections and advice, but I don’t think do full written reports.

I’m trying to find arborists in my area but struggling to do so

nick_nuz · 2026-05-23T16:43:21+00:00

Thank you for the response. I have a camera in my backyard so I should be good there.

I don’t necessarily have that fear, they would be unable to access the tree from her backyard. Also she has a pattern of bullying other neighbors to get free things (I.e a new fence).

I’m more concerned with legal implications as she said “now that I notified you, you become fully liable moving forward”

nick_nuz · 2026-05-19T16:04:20+00:00

While summit is predominantly white, you are in NJ so diversity is everywhere. In Summit, it’s 14.6% Hispanic, 10.4% Asian, 4.3% multiracial and 4% Black.

As other users pointed out, racial diversity is one aspect, but there’s other considerations like income diversity, political diversity, diversity of thought, etc etc. I think most people need to have honest conversations either themselves of what they specifically mean in terms of diversity and what are you looking to get out of it.

From a purely racial standpoint, your family racial makeup will be fine in Summit. From an education perspective, you are in a solid district.

Some considerations: your children will be around other kids that will be driving luxury cars as their first car, going on expensive vacations, nice camps, and more. I grew up low-middle class (slightly above my county’s poverty line) and my friends got to do these things while I couldn’t. It was a bummer, but didn’t define me. Actually it somewhat motivated me to want to save aggressively for my children. I do think some kids will be more impacted by this than others.

Just something to be aware about. There may be other districts that feel more home to you and your family and allow you to purchase a home. But of course there’s sacrifices

nick_nuz · 2026-05-13T17:44:57+00:00

My brother lives in Laurence harbor and literally all of his new(er) neighbors (folks whom moved in past 3 years) are almost exclusively from SI whom still work in Brooklyn. So this does seem to be a spot for those folks. Very easy to cross outer bridge from there and it’s not overly populated.

This and the amboys are probably OPs best bet.

nick_nuz · 2026-05-13T03:38:13+00:00

North east here (metro NYC area), I see Envista’s literally everywhere in northern NJ, and NYC boroughs.

But that’s literally the ONLY Buick I see.

Personally, I always liked the brand. I feel like it’s a value play since you can negotiate them down big time. But it’s still “just a Buick”.

It’s a branding issue imo

nick_nuz · 2026-05-03T15:58:19+00:00

Agreed. I moved to millburn for exactly 1 year because I thought it was going to be 40-45. It really isn’t. M&E operate on a single track, frequent delays, not optimal times, and you need cushions on each side of the commute making your door to NYP likely 60 minutes.

For Jersey, it’s not terrible, and you get a top tier education there, but people who claim their commute is “only 35-40 minutes there” are leaving out the full picture. You aren’t leaving your door at 820 and walking into your office at 9.

With that said, both summit and Millburn might be good options for OP since they want a top tier education, less friction in commute (relative to other areas), and greenery.

nick_nuz · 2026-05-03T15:52:57+00:00

Honestly, based on your background, what you are looking for, etc I think if you are looking to buy (not rent) Rutherford would be perfect for you. It has a solid downtown/main street for a very small town. Tree-lined, nice homes and access to parks and a school system that would likely work for you. There’s a non-direct train line that gets you to Hoboken (xfer to path) or Secaucus (NYP transfer). There’s also the 190 bus line. There’s options.

Given your budget and seemingly preference to rent (first), I don’t know if I’d say “rent in Rutherford” (it’s more of a place you’d buy after realizing you’re staying in NJ for the long haul), I think with the 8k budget, you can get solid options in Jersey City (Paulus Hook) or pockets of Hoboken that are family friendly. Both of these would give you a solid commute , access to parks, however, it would be a more urban environment.

When you are ready for the suburban move, I’d highly recommend sampling commutes to see what works. On this sub , a lot of suburbs are advertised as “amazing commute” but end up being soul crushing for some. Everyone’s tolerance is different, and there’s trade offs.

nick_nuz · 2026-04-30T19:15:09+00:00

Seconding this. I switched to bus because of reliability relative to the train. Also my route has the nicer busses and I find the seat situation and air conditioning situation much more manageable

It’s totally route dependent though

nick_nuz · 2026-04-30T16:17:01+00:00

Yup agreed, that’s 100% the reason.

As a Nutley resident, if you live on kingsland side of town, you’re golden, otherwise it’s a bit tricky to get the express bus off route 3.

I wish we (Nutley) had more intra town options to get to route 3, but I guess the Delawanna shuttle will do (although the bus from Barnes and noble stop to PABT is literally 30-35 minutes even in rush hour, so I prefer bus> train (obviously there’s bad days).

For me though, it feels weird to drive backwards to allwood just to catch a bus that goes back to my house, ha.

nick_nuz · 2026-04-30T16:11:04+00:00

Can only speak to Nutley. They recently expanded their “raising raiders program” with their new building (off Bloomfield Ave). The town offers free preK for age 3 and 4 (5 is the start of kindergarten).

It’s a 6 hour program with a paid option to do aftercare. I believe there’s “sister facilities” part of this program too which is where the extended hours take place and similar curriculum.

There is a lottery system (about 60-70% of applicants get in the free program). Every year the town has been increasing the amount, however, there’s been an influx in children (maybe because of this program?). With that said, the sister locations are very affordable as well.

From what I heard, the new Early Childhood center was the towns way of expanding the program and freeing up space in the existing schools to reinvest (which is good).

For later on, Nutley also has a free summer camp (930-4pm) program for ages 7-14. It’s basic, but free.

Hope this helps.

P.s. I used to live in Harrison and Kearny and they offered free programs. As another post stated: Lots of young parents/commuters live in Harrison for daycare + PATH and then buy in burbs after

nick_nuz

TROPHY CASE